Burlington Youth Basketball Association (BYBA)

Board Meeting Minutes - May 5, 2013

Open Discussion on League Participation:

  • There is no longer a Middlesex League for youth basketball.
  • BYBA is considering participation in the Metro League which has 5 divisions.
  • C Teams could possibly play in Division 5 for instance.
  • Typical Burlington teams would not play in Division 1.
  • Metro North and South teams play 12 league games on Sundays.
  • Non-league games would be played on Saturdays.
  • There is the possibility that Middlesex League teams will move to the Metro League together at a cost of about $250/team.
  • Eastern League and River Valley League will be more expensive and require more travel.
  • Stoneham has decided to participate in the Merrimac and River Valley Leagues.
  • Watertown, Lexington, Bedford, Concord, Winchester, Medford, Melrose, Belmont, Arlington, and Woburn remain from the Middlesex League.
  • If Burlington joins the above towns they will become the Metrowest League.
  • Scheduling opportunities will be enhanced.
  • The depth of towns will allow C teams to have more games.
  • With 5 Divisions, teams will be better placed based on skill level.
  • Most towns will have A and B teams and will most likely play Middlesex towns.
  • Bruce Morey recommends that BYBA enter the anticipated Metrowest League.
  • Have to decide by June 1st. The cost will include playoffs.
  • Board voted and approved to enroll BYBA in the Metrowest League.
  • Mark Melanson commented that there was not much competition for C teams in the Middlesex League but with 5 Divisions in the Metro League there will be appropriate competition. Only known drawback is that there might be some additional travel but it is better than having no game scheduled.
  • Teams will be able to move up or down in Division based on record.

Old Business:

Status of McCarthy Revenues & Expenses (if available):

  • Final profit/loss cannot be determined yet because BYBA is still waiting on payment from nine teams that participated in the tournament as well as three advertiser’s payments.
  • Raffle took in about $1024.
  • Start-up money per till is unclear therefore admission and concession revenues cannot be tallied.
  • President Paul Noonan will contact previous President to discuss.

Recap of Past Season:

  • Overall, it was a successful season in terms of youth playing basketball. 13 boys’ teams and 9 girls’ teams.

Formally Address, via BYBA Mailing List (if we get it), the accusations made:

  • If BYBA cannot get the official BYBA email list, a new one will need to be created.
  • An email will be sent to last year’s coaches for their team email list.
  • Board plans to get in touch with Robin Vallerand to have registration information transferred to new Registration Director Terri Rosberg.

New Business:

3 on 3 Tournament/BYBA Family Day:

  • Permit request has been made with the Recreation Department for June 22nd (rain date June 29) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Food permit is required and needs to be approved by the Board of Health if there is food served at the tournament.
  • Tournament may include skills competitions, e.g. 3-point contest, free-throw contest, H-O-R-S-E, etc…
  • Plan to have notices go home with students in early June.
  • Cost would be free to BYBA players.
  • Non-BYBA players’ fee would be $45 per team or $20 per individual
  • Paul will ask Robin if NW Pest Control would be interested in donating shirts again. If not, maybe another business (landscaping, construction, dealerships, etc…) will donate shirts.

Summer Skills:

  • Mark Melanson, with help, will run Black Top Hoops: pickup basketball games with 5-on-5 format at Wildwood Park.
  • Mark has submitted to Paul a Sunday, June 8th start plan.

Incoming 6th-8th grade girls at 2:00-4:00

Incoming 6th-8th grade boys at 4:00-6:00

  • It will be more of a pick-up basketball game than formal skills sessions since kids prefer to play games rather than run formal drills.
  • Need to decide who will coach the teams and who will keep the time.
  • BYBA will need to reserve Wildwood Park.
  • Paul to request from Dr. Conti about placing notices in backpacks.

New Website – League Athletics

  • Paul will send Dianne Barrucci initial work he began last year.
  • Board voted and approved up to $1000 for League Athletics.

CORI New Members:

  • In depth discussion was tabled to the next meeting due to limited time remaining in meeting.
  • Paul suggests that we look into the possibility that if we hire an attorney to review and help with the Bylaws that we use the same attorney as the BYBA CORI reviewer.

Suggestions Going Forward:

Possible Expansion to Lower Grades 1-3:

  • Bruce Morey will touch base with David Grubb about Recreation’s plans with the basketball clinic.
  • Possible BYBA expansion will include grades 1-3 that would be an in town league with 20 minutes of practice and then play a game.
  • This would also provide an opportunity to observe potential future coaches.
  • Basketball player numbers are low because Burlington begins too late.
  • Could possibly have high school players help referee the younger grades.
  • In-town league could have 5 skill sets and general drills with 20 minutes of practice and 40 minutes of games.

Conducting a Coaches Clinic:

  • Mark suggests that BYBA consults the coaches from the high school to help train new coaches.
  • The High School staff is on board with a coaches’ clinic.

MSMS Program:

  • Mark explained the Middle School League.
  • It is a 12-game season that mirrors the high school team with practices after school with 1 to 2 games per week.
  • This came about after conversations with Matt Jackling, a high school coach, who noticed that freshmen were not ready for the time commitment, length of day etc…and believed that a middle school program would better prepare these athletes.
  • The middle school team included 6th and 7th graders.
  • There were ten 8th graders, five 7th graders, and three 6th graders on the roster this year.
  • Game day roster is about 15.
  • Sixth and seventh graders were committed to BYBA first and played in half of the games. They had no problem working in concert with BYBA.
  • Mark would like to work together with BYBA – separate but aligned.
  • Players will receive a lot more practice time and extra games.
  • Practice to game ratio should at least be 3:1 and better if it is 5:1 when playing at the middle and high school levels.
  • Next meeting there will be more information regarding MSMS structure.

BYBA Bylaw Amendments:

  • A committee will be formed over the summer to review and recommend amendments to the BYBA Bylaws.
  • Committee members will include Maria Woods, Bruce Morey, Karen Hoyt and any member interested in participating on the review committee.
  • Committee will consult with an attorney for guidance.

Coaches/Players Code of Conduct improvements:

  • Coaches and Players policies will be revised and require that referees contact Boys or Girls Director if there is a technical foul or ejection or anything out of the ordinary (unsportsmanlike conduct, yelling, etc….) regardless of nature.
  • Policy needs to be tightened up and enforced by Boys and Girls Directors.

BYBA Board Meetings Schedule:

  • Board agreed to have a set meeting schedule held the 1st Sunday of every month, 6:30 p.m. at Shaw’s, unless there is nothing to discuss or decide.
  • Bylaw amendments will include anticipated schedule.
  • The following dates have been reserved at Shaw’s (some dates are not the 1st Sunday due to holidays): June 2, 2013; July 14, 2013; August 4, 2013; September 8, 2013; October 6, 2013; November 3, 2013; December 1, 2013; January 5, 2014; February 2, 2014; March 2, 2014; April, 6 2014.

Combining Fundraising and Registration Director Positions:

  • If/when BYBA transitions to League Athletics then registrations should be through the website.
  • This item was tabled to the next meeting.

Tracy and David MacLean offered to become Girls’ Scheduling Director.

Tryouts:

  • Suggestion was made to alternate boys and girls each night of the week e.g.
  • Girls: Monday, Wednesday, Monday.
  • Boys: Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday.
  • Organizers could then use the remaining week and weekend for team selections or possible recruitment to avoid major cuts.
  • Possibility of using other town evaluators (Woburn, e.g.) to evaluate Burlington; Burlington evaluators go to Woburn.
  • Coaches’ evaluations will be consulted to help establish rosters.
  • Bruce believes that the town’s gym facilities can accommodate at most 25 BYBA teams.

McCarthy Tournament 2014:

  • Possibility of including all BYBA teams was discussed using high school, MSMS, and Memorial gyms.
  • There are too many teams to host in one weekend.
  • Perhaps B and C tournament could be held another week/weekend, over Winter break for example.
  • Other civic organizations (scouts, BHS Athletic boosters, etc…) could operate concessions during tournament and possibly home game weekends, with a percentage/fixed amount going to BYBA.

Other Business:

  • BYBA giving back to the community (i.e. replacing outdoor hoops around town, lining the BHS courts,backboard replacement, wiring the scoreboard at Memorial, etc…)
  • Paul will consult the school department about BYBA’s offer.

Attendance: Paul Noonan, Joe & Terri Rosberg, Mark Melanson, Don & Dianne Barrucci, Maria Woods,Bruce Morey