USA Rink Hockey

    March 15th Conference Call Participants:  Bill, Jim J., Pat, Toby, Frankie and Barb.  Don’s help at his rink cancelled just before the Call began and P.J. needed to attend “birthing classes” so neither was able to participate.  The call lasted a record of 1 hour and 5 minutes!

    Jim J. reported no activity in the Federation account since the February Call.

    There were no changes in the February 16th Minutes other than to correct the spelling of names.

    The report from the February USARS Board Meeting includes the following:  The officials nominated for Nationals and the World Championships were approved.  The hockey team entry fee to Nationals is raised to $500 with $50 going to World Team expenses; USARS will collect it and it was requested that we have the money deposited into the Foundation account.  For the ‘08 – ‘09 season, USARS is going to a fiscal year accounting system so hockey cards will be raised to $40 which covers a 16 month period, 9/01/08 – 12/31/09; an additional $5 will be added to go toward Hardball Hockey World Teams, for a total of $45.  All disciplines are in financial straits and are doing fund-raising to support World Teams.  The U.S. sending teams to Spain and Macau was approved; approval for sending a team to Argentina for the July Copa America Tournament was postponed until more information is available regarding certain circumstances (see below).

    Regarding the Confederation Sudamericanna de Patin (CSP) Extraordinary Meeting, April 11th – 12th in Iquique, Chile, Barb and Daniel Vianna will be attending that meeting as there are a number of serious issues to be discussed.  There is a major issue with Catalonia participating as anything other than a club team.  This has to be straightened out before the USA will be allowed to participate per FIRS regulations.  The current Catalonia situation is causing some major issues in FIRS.  

    If the U.S. cannot participate in the Men’s Copa American Tournament in Argentina in July, Toby and Pat expressed concern about where the World Team can train.  Jimmy was very concerned that , because of the financial situation of many of the players, any tournaments that we commit to must be used as train for the Team.

    Tryouts for the Ladies World Team will be held at the end of the “Mini” Camp that will be held 7:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon, Saturday, July 5th just before Nationals begin in Utica, NY because not enough HRH Committee Members could attend the April Training Camp in Bremerton.

    At this time, at Nationals, the Men’s World Team will have no separate training time.  This could change after the April CSP meeting.  Players trying out for the World Team are encouraged to wait to make airline reservations until after that April meeting. The World Team will be selected at the end of Nationals on July 11th.

    Frankie’s idea of an “Annual Club Mixed Challenge Tournament” was discussed  USARS said that it could be held at Nationals as a “special event” for which the entry fee could go directly into our Foundation account.  Because there is an issue of whether or not there would be enough time for this, Pat suggested that we consider a separate tournament in the middle of the U.S. for this, or a “Mini” Nationals.  We will wait until the June 9th deadline for teams to register to decide whether or not there will be enough time during Nationals to hold this Tournament.

    Gus Luzano said that a Spanish club team would like to participate in our Nationals again as they did in Cumberland; it will be the same team as before.  Pat suggested we use this team for World Team training and to have them arrive later in the week at Nationals.  Jimmy said that this would be great as the France tournament would not provide the competition we need.

    The decision about whether or not we will compete in the 2nd International Club Tournament in Reus, Spain after the CSP meeting in April.  Jim J. stated that we must have all the facts on these tournaments before we can commit to any of them.

Regarding the 2009 Men’s “A” WC, tentatively scheduled for July in Vigo/Pontevedra, Spain, Barb emailed Harro the dates of our Nationals, July 4th – 10th, so that any conflict could be avoided.

Respectfully submitted,
Jim Jost, Secretary-Treasurer