Heart of America Lacrosse Association

General Meeting - 9/17/02

Rockhurst HS 7:00-8:30 PM                                                    Meeting Notes dated 10/7/02

 

 

Meeting called to order by David Steffano, President.

 

I.        General Business

A.      USL Chapter Submission Update

1.Proposed geographic area would include Kansas and the Northwest corner of Missouri, including St. Joseph.  Columbia and Springfield regions would still fall under St. Louis chapter.

a)      Post Office can provide zip codes now that we have determined counties

B.      John Campbell (current Board member) is moving to TX.  We will need to send out notice calling for nominations.  Phil Johnson has expressed a preliminary interest.

C.     Fall Face-Off in St. Louis – 10.13.02

1.HOA sponsoring bus to St.Louis.  See www.kclax.com for details

D.     Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference (GRLC)

1.New conference recently formed for collegiate programs in the Midwest area.

2.Kyle Hawkins- commissioner, Troy Hood - co-commissioner

3.Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nebraska and parts of Western Kentucky and Western Tennessee schools will be included.  The conference will be a part of the CCLA.

E.      Assignor for Officials

1.What can HOA do to assist Chuck and Chris in assigning officials and dealing with game scheduling?

2.Can we place someone in a position to assist them with this task?

F.       Field Availability

1.This remains a difficult issue for most programs.

2.Is there anything that HOA can do to assist in this?

3.We have discussed development of fields for lacrosse use under the guise of HOA.

4.Eric Olson has been in contact with Leawood Parks & Rec.  There is tentative interest in allowing for field usage for next summer.

II.     Committee Breakouts

 

A.     Finance/Fundraising

1.      Attendees – John Bartel, Chris Berger, Jay Coleman, Dave Steffano, Jack Yates

2.      501.C.3 tax-exempt status as an organization is the #1 priority – greater potential for fundraising from individuals and organizations.

3.      Grant writing – John Bartel has experience.

4.      Develop a presentation to inform people about who HOA is and what we do.

a)      John Bartel would like to help develop presentation

b)      Jack has digital video studio access

c)      Matt Kinnan works at Take-2 Productions (video production house)

d)      Targets – WIN for KC, Sports Commission, Parks & Recs, etc

5.      A lot of the fundraising opportunities piggyback on other events & programs.

a)      Fees for entry at HOA events

b)      Concessions at HOA events

6.      Developing cross-cultural opportunities within the sport…women’s side and minority programs.

a)      Dave Smith – Exec Director of Boys/Girls Clubs

7.      Summer League – run post-HS (college/club) league for benefit of HOA.   

a)      Action Items

(1)   Determine if anyone is interested in developing plan. 

8.      Create tentative budget for 2003

B.     Programs/Events

1.      Attendees – Chris Buchinger, John Culbertson, Ross Dessert, Greg Goss, Paul Muller, Cory Samaras, Chris Schepmann, Tom Schmidt, Peter Schwartz, Justin Wetterer

2.      Players/Coach Clinic - Possible Dates:  11/9-11/10, 11/16-11/17, 11/23-11/24, 12/7-12/8…

a)      *Need confirmation on the MSLA scheduling meeting

b)      Need more information on what Brine is willing to provide

c)      Possibly bring in top East Coast youth coach for coaches/athletes

(1)   Action Items

(a)    Determine Weekend

(b)   Move forward with Brine

(c)    Investigate US Lacrosse Clinician program

3.      Youth Education Program & High School Start-up Program

a)      All agreed this is a priority

b)      Need presentation for high schools in November/December

(1)   Action Items

(a)    Research grants and equipment

(b)   Contact schools (elementary)

(c)    Create high school starter program kit (loaner stick program?)

4.Lacrosse Festival

a)      Possible Dates: first 2 weeks in April (let scheduling meeting determine best time)

b)      Possible sites: Rockhurst, Barstow

c)      Chris Schepmann indicated interest in coordinating event

(1)   Action Items

(a)    Determine date

(b)   Secure location

5.First Aid/CPR

a)      Easy event to implement

b)      HOA to subsidize cost?  Food?

c)      Bring trainers out to discuss common injuries after the course is completed

d)      February date looks best

(1)   Action Items

(a)    Select date

(b)   Secure location

(c)    Contact American Red Cross

6.Geographic balance – consider having an event on the Kansas side

7.Positive Coaching Alliance – consider embracing program

C.     Communications/Membership

1.Attendees – Cathy Cravens, Nancy Hannan, Cheryl Holub, Eric Olson, Matt Ruemker

2.Media Outlets

a)      Standardized HS Press Release template for scores

b)      Group discussed opportunities to publicize HOA formation/ history of Lacrosse to local media outlets.  The group agreed to formalize a standardized template that could be utilized by both HOA and local teams.  The team felt that this would be the most effective form of communication to the media at this time.

c)      Committee members are going to leverage personal contacts to effectively breakthrough to the media.  Cheryl Holub has some radio contacts that she will be in touch with to identify opportunities.  Additionally the team is going to try and establish contacts with other local media personalities.

d)      Publicizing events

3.Materials

a)      Lacrosse Info Pamphlet - speak to HOA and what Lacrosse opportunities there are locally as well as info about US Lacrosse. 

b)      Design HOA standardized logo

c)      Another opportunity uncovered was create a video similar to what US Lacrosse has done that is an introduction the game and what is available locally

d)      Team also felt that it was important to design a presentation that would be suitable to present to a school board, so when parents, coaches, or players are interacting with school officials they would have a solid platform to introduce Lacrosse on.

4.Online communications plan

a)      Develop website plan – i.e. stand-alone web site possibly modeled after the Minnesota Chapters site.

b)      Build email address dbase

5.Program Start-Up Kit – for new programs, etc.

a)      Covers all bases; features & benefits of US Lacrosse, etc.

6.USL Membership Benefits Education

a)      Insurance coverage, etc.

7.Investigate opportunities with local high schools to participate in a sports night to create awareness of Lacrosse programs locally.  Additionally partner with local parks and rec depts. to drive awareness of youth and high school programs.