HRH Committee – Minutes – April 26th, 2008
MINUTES
Hardball Roller Hockey Conference Call
April 26th, 2008
Committee Members participating in the Conference Call: Bill, Barb, Jim. J. Don, Pat, Toby, P.J., and Jimmy T.
Treasurer’s Report: Jim J. Addition from an anonymous contributor of $15,000 toward player expenses ($5,000 for both the Men’s “B” WC and the Ladies WC and $5,000 toward expenses for the Club WC in Reus, Spain).
Minutes of the March 15th Conference Call: Motion made by PJ that they be accepted, seconded by Jim J.
The Ladies Training Camp in Bremerton went very well. Frankie was unable to participate in this Conference Call and will give more details at the Call in May.
The Ladies’ World Team will be announced the afternoon of Saturday, July 5th after a short Training Camp that morning.
Don said that the U.S. will not be able to attend the Men’s Copa America Tournament, July 14th – 20th in San Juan, Argentina because it is back-to-back with Nationals and only 3 players could get the necessary 2+ weeks off from work.
Barb reported on the Confederation Sud Americana de Patin (CSP) that she and Daniel Vianna attended in Iquique, Chile. As a result of a careful examination of the FIRS statutes, it was concluded that FIRS did not communicate their information properly to the countries they fined. Neither was the information on which Mr. Marotta based his decision correct, that all participating countries in the last Men’s Copa America Tournament in Recife, Brazil competed with their National Teams. Only three players on the U.S. Team were on one of our National/World Teams. This situation will need to be addressed at the highest level between FIRS, USARS, etc. since the outcome affects three sports (Speed, Artistic and Rink/Hardball Roller Hockey), not just one sport.
Regarding Nationals in Utica, NY, Bill Schmelcher told Bill Sisson that hotel information had been sent out and should arrive in a few days. All team entries for Nationals must be at the USARS office by Monday, June 9th. Any teams submitting entries received after June 9th will be charged late fees. A team from Spain will be participating again at Nationals (as was done in the Cumberland, MD Nationals) arriving July 6th and leaving on July 12th.
The Men’s World Team will be announced the evening of Friday, July 11th after a short Training Camp that will begin as soon as Nationals ends.
Bids to host the 2009 National Championship must be submitted to Bill (Sisson) by the beginning of the “Open Meeting” at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 5th. The decision regarding the location of the 2009 Championship will be made during that Meeting.
Bids for 2010 Nationals must be presented BEFORE the 2009 National Championship begins.
Regarding Macau’s 25th Anniversary Tournament, August 20th – 24th, their Plan “A” for getting sponsorship to pay for our air fares did not work out. They are working on Plan “B.”
Regarding the 2nd International Club Tournament in Reus, Spain, September 22 – 28th, the U.S. will be providing 4 floor players and 2 goal keepers and Australia and Macau will each provide 2 floor players. Jimmy will train this team two days before the tournament. We may need to request an interpreter for Macau Players.
We are waiting for information from both the Japanese and South African Federations regarding the Ladies’ World Championship and the Men’s “B” World Championship, respectively.
Don has prepared comprehensive information on “How to Start a Hardball Roller Hockey Program.” The Promotion Committee needs to review this information.
We discussed the Chilean Federation’s hopes to organize a Ladies Tournament in August, 2008. [We have subsequently learned that this will not be an official tournament, but rather a competition between only a couple of teams.]
The following subjects were taken from the forum in P. J.’s web site under the HRH Committee Category: (1) Where and when the Training Camps will be held for the Men’s, Ladies’ and Sub 20 Teams will be addressed at the 2008 Nationals; (2) At the 2008 Nationals, the Ladies will play against the Silver Division teams, Sub-20 will not play as a team and players trying out for the Men’s Team will play the Spanish Team twice; (3) Inclusion in the Olympics. It appears that the web site mentioned is promoting Inline Hockey. CSP passed a motion to submit a letter requesting admission to the Pan Am Games [the first step] signed by all of the Delegates, including Mexico and the U.S.; (4) Regarding the rumor that Miller Beer wants to sponsor us, Jim J. will contact Mike Merkle about where this rumor is coming from. If the sponsorship becomes available, it will be addressed with USARS at that time.
The next Conference call will be Saturday, May 17th at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jim Jost