Month: March 2015

Called to order at 7:03 p.m.

Chair: Tammy

1. Welcome and Introduction (round) – no representatives from BB9 or Beavers in attendance
2. Team rep job description:  please read and abide by
3. Important dates:  please make a note of these, send to your teams and attend
4. Review AGM items:  recap of AGM

Co-Chair: Elan

1. Forfeit bond:  will be returned to teams with fewer than 4 forfeits in a season (be sure to pick up your cheque at Finals)
2. Insurance coverage prior to roster submission: fill out the SPN form for new players, then they’ll be covered under insurance for practices and games between now and when rosters are submitted on May 11
3. Skills clinics – there will be two sets, prior to season start (April) and after the Lil tournament (June) for your continued improvement
4. Lil – proposed new location for Lil – people have been asking for a change of venue for this tournament, looking to get all the fields together like we have at the Finals. We think we have found an available set of fields, Bobolink Park 2510 Hoylake Avenue and will be applying for the four fields there for the Lil. We will still book Trout Lake as a back-up. If we get Bobolink we will cancel Trout Lake. If not, the tournament will stay at Trout Lake this year and we will keep investigating alternatives for next year. We will ensure there are food options at whichever field we end up at.

Stats: Kris

1. Anticipated teams and divisions – once Registration is complete on March 9^th we will know how many teams we have and into which divisions they will be divided.
2. New Players List – will be updated and sent to team reps in the next week or so
3. New Scheduling System – Historically Mondays are our only non-playing days. Kris is working on not having teams play every weekend this year. Waiting on field confirmations to find out which days we will play on this year. Games projected to start on April 25^th . Rainouts will likely be scheduled again for Sundays at Beaconsfield. If there are fields we can get during the week we will try to do rainout reschedules for those.

Question regarding the radius of all fields. Not known at this time but Amil will look into it.

 Fields: Amil

1. Selection of fields for 2014 – ongoing

UIC: Shannon

1. Rules Clinic/Umpire clinic  – Pat Dooley of Softball BC will attend the April team rep meeting. Please ensure you send someone to hear the important information he will have regarding rules changes and rules clarifications. Please consider becoming an umpire. If you get certified and then ump 5 games in the Mabel League this season, your certification fee will be reimbursed by the league.
2. Rules & Grievance Committee – we form this every year and need a volunteer from each of the divisions to be on the committee. We haven’t convened the committee in years, but it is part of our bylaws that we have one.

 Registrar: Sarah

1. Team registration forms due March 9
2. Any teams with significant changes to roster?
3. SPN/Roster forms due May 13^th (players can be added after this date)
4. Lil registration and forms due May 13^th
5. New team guidance package
6. New players list

Treasurer: Connie

1. 2015 Budget
2. Team fees. We anticipate fees to remain the same at $1200, however this does depend on the number of teams. Lil fee $350.
3. Team deposit $250 Due March 9 Balance due May 13^th . You must pay the deposit on March 9^th to have your team registered. The schedule takes a while to prepare so we need to have the number of teams nailed down on March 9^th. Remainder of fees ($950) plus forfeit bond ($200) due May 13^th. If your team is signing up for the Lil Tournament as well, that fee ($350) is due May 13^th as well.

 Special Events: Brianne

1. Meet Mabel social February 28^th, Princeton Pub
2. Mabel League Meltdown TBD, but will be run by a team this year, not the Executive (who hosted last year’s 25^th anniversary Meltdown), so we’re looking for a team to volunteer
3. Volunteering – all teams are required to volunteer for a task over the course of the season. Bri has a list of tasks which will be emailed to team reps, please contact her to sign up. List will also include the breakdown of points available for each activity. The team with the most contribution points at the end of the season gets $500 off their next year’s league fees. 2^nd place is $300 and 3^rd is $200. 2014 winners were somethin’ naked, 2^nd place Kugars, 3^rd place Oddballs

Public Relations: Allie

1. Newsletter – will be coming out to team reps in a couple of days. Please also like Mabel on Facebook for regular updates.

 Member-at-large: Stacey

1. a) Interleague play with Connaught League for Competitive division – discussion to be held after the meeting for the competitive division team reps (see below for Minutes).

New Business:

1. Call out for coaching. Reach out to past players. Hoping to make this a fundamental part of our recruiting process – please talk to Sarah if you’d be interested in coaching.
2. Recruitment
3. Spirit Award – a spirit award is being instituted this season. Each team will choose a spirit player from the other team and submit their name when they submit the game score on the website (both teams will be required to submit game scores this season). Points will be added up and a spirit award presented to the player on each team with the most votes.
4. Mentoring – If existing teams would like to mentor a new team, please advise the Exec. Any new teams looking for a mentor, please advise the Exec.
5. Gear – if you have any old gear, please pass along to new teams looking for gear. New teams looking for gear, please advise what you’re looking for
6. Discounts – if you are aware of any League discounts, like the one Abbie’s sports offers Mabel Leaguers, please advise Sarah so we can inform the rest of the league
7. Inter-divisional Play is integral to the Mabel League. It is where teams of different divisions play some regular season games against each other. I.e. the top teams in intermediate play some games against the teams in competitive and the lowest teams in intermediate play some games against the top teams in recreational. This way teams get a clearer picture of where they stand skill-wise and the Executive gets insight into how to assign teams to divisions in the following season.
8. Standings are determined 50/50 by points throughout the season from regular season games and placement at the final tournament. The Lil games do not count towards standings.

Called to order at 7:06 p.m.

 Chair: Tammy

1. Welcome and Introduction (round)
2. Executive update – Connie has had to step down as Treasurer. Rebecca has stepped into the position in addition to her role as Secretary.
3. Update on proposal for Connaught inter-league play – after consultation with teams in the Comp. division the plan to interplay with Connaught has been scrapped. What will more likely happen will be a Mabel League team joining the Connaught league, made up of players from the Comp. division. We hope this will foster community between the two leagues and perhaps encourage a Connaught team or two to join the Lil Tournie.

Co-Chair: Elan via Tammy

1. Forfeit bond – stack your rosters! – please have enough players on your roster to ensure that you won’t have to forfeit any games. Please feel free to pick up subs as you need them (just make sure they’re signed on to SPN for your team first)
2. Skills Clinics – April dates – TBD. Watch Facebook for updates.

Registrar: Sarah via Tammy

1. Team Registration forms Due $250 – Rebecca is collecting registration forms and league fee deposits
2. SPN and Roster forms due May 11 (but players can be added after that date) – the Mabel roster will change a bit this year. You will still need to sign a paper form, but we will be requiring an electronic form to be filled out with player information as handwriting has proven too difficult to read in years past.
3. LIL Registration forms and fees due May 11
4. New players list – the list has been updated and sent to all team reps. Please keep Sarah informed if you pick up any players from the list so their names can be removed. We encourage you to pick up players to ensure that you don’t forfeit any games this year
5. New teams update – looks like we have three teams joining the league this year. Please contact the exec if you need any guidance.
6. Team Rep and Exec Contact info – to be emailed out after registration forms received.

Special Events: Bri

1. Meet Mabel report – the event was a success. We think quite a few new players landed on teams they met at the event.
2. Volunteer assignments – those who emailed in a preference were given that volunteer position. The rest will be filled at the meeting. Teams not in attendance will be assigned the leftover positions. Volunteer jobs will be emailed out, along with a description of the job expectation.
3. Meltdown – Corsa has volunteered to host the event. They will work with Bri to bring you the good times you’re used to! Watch Facebook for details.

 UIC: Shannon

1. Umpire training dates – March 28^th for Level 1. Contact UIC if you need details.
2. Getting Mabel league members involved in Umpiring – We encourage all teams reps to encourage their players and coaches to get trained as umpires as it is beneficial to us all if we have homegrown umpires
3. Rules Clinic update – Pat Dooley will attend the next team rep meeting. It is a requirement that each team have at least one player in attendance for this important meeting, and you are encouraged to invite your whole team to attend.
4. Rules & Grievance Committee update – The committee has been struck. Shelley will represent the competitive division, Paige the intermediate and Suzanne the recreational.
5. Team colours – now that we know which teams are returning and how many new teams there are, we can discuss colours for the new teams. Please stay after the meeting to give UIC your preferred colours. Note that you can’t be the same colour as an existing team for safety reasons.

Treasurer: Rebecca

1. Team deposit ($250) due
2. Balance of team fees ($950 + $200 forfeit bond = $1150) due May 11
3. LIL fees ($350) due May 11
4. Budget update – the budget remains the same as previously presented. It will be revised now that we know we have 19 teams (previous budget was formed assuming 17 teams) and presented at the next team rep meeting

Stats: Kris

1. Anticipated teams and divisions – with 19 teams now registered we will have to confer about where the division lines will be drawn.   Please stay after the meeting if your team has had significant changes to the roster that should affect your placement. Divisions and positions will be disseminated in the next day or two, along with interdivisional play proposals.
2. Schedule – the schedule should come out in the beginning of April. We couldn’t start on it until we were sure how many teams would register and the divisional lines were decided. Please note that all teams will be given an equal number of weekday and weekend games.

Fields: Amil

1. a) Update on fields: our traditional fields are booked. We are looking into some others, but have to wait until teams grandfathered on those fields have finished booking them. We have Trout Lake booked for the Lil. We are also trying to obtain Bobolink Field. If we do, we’ll use Bobolink. If not, we’ll be back at Trout Lake as usual. We will advise once we know either way.

New Business

Team Sway is looking to purchase a pitching machine this month. Once they have, it will be available for all teams in the league to rent.

Off the Rail, a new brewery run by Trigger, has offered to give a discount to players in uniform who show up after games.

Any new teams feel they would benefit from a mentor? Corsa will follow up with Heartbreakers.

Meeting adjourned at 7:32 p.m.