Rye Little League

Rye Little League Meeting Minutes
Monday, June 8, 2009, 7:30 p.m. RJH

Attendance: B. Monahan, J. Sexton, D. Crisp, M. Shepcaro, R. King, S. Turner, S. Turner, P. Kendall, C. Keehbler, R. Neitz, B. Sexton, D. Wilson

Team Standings – The team standings were reviewed as of this date. Based on the current win / loss records, the standing were accepted as follows:
1 – Pirates 10 – 4 2 – Dodgers 9 – 6
4 – Cardinals 2 – 12 3 – Braves 8 – 7

Tournament Schedule – The Major League games must be done on June 20 in order to not overlap the All-Star schedule. Taking all of this into account, it was voted and approved that the tournament play would begin on Saturday June 13. It was noted that the pitch count of the regular season play is separate from the play-off tournament games. This is a double elimination tournament (play-off games). The Board will make any necessary changes to the format, if there is a problem with getting games played due to rainy weather. The following is the approved schedule for the tournament play.
June 13 Saturday Game 1 Team 1 vs. Team 4
June 13 Saturday Game 2 Team 2 vs. Team 3
June 15 Monday Game 3 Loser of game 1 vs. Loser of game 2
June 16 Tuesday Game 4 Winner of game 1 vs. Winner of game 2
June 17 Wednesday Game 5 Winner of game 3 vs. Loser of game 4
June 18 Thursday no game due to graduation at RJH
June 19 Friday no game rain make-up time
June 20 Saturday Game 6 Winner of game 4 vs. Winner of game 5
June 20 Saturday Game 7 only if needed to break a tie

All-Star Teams – The commitment letters will be emailed to the Major League Managers to be distributed to their players Tuesday 6/9. The letters need to be turned in to Bob no later than Thursday 6/11 so the ballots can be ready for Saturday 6/13. The Major League players will be brought to center field between the 9:00 and 11:00 games and John will give the instructions on the voting procedure. Only the players that can make the complete commitment to the All Star schedule are to turn in the letter. Sunday 6/14, the All-Star Manager will call the players who are voted on to the team. Sunday 6/14, the Player Agent and /or designated Board Member, will call the players who did not make the team. The players will know who made the team at this point. The All-Star team will be introduced after the Championship Game on Closing Day 6/20. It was recommended that the Mangers remind the players who are selected, that this is a time to demonstrate maturity and sportsmanship, by being respectful of the feelings of their friends and team mates who are not selected.

The team will have 12 players on the roster with 1 manager and 2 coaches. The players, managers, and coaches each vote for 9 team members. The votes are tallied by the Chief Umpire, given to the President in alphabetical order. The manager is allowed to choose 3 players to add to the ballot voting for a total of 12 players, or can use the top 12 voted players to make the team. The vote values are managers = 2, coaches = 2, players = 1. This balances out any possibility that the players vote based on popularity vs. skill levels. If there aren’t enough players in the 11/12 group, clearance from the head office is required in order to pull up players from the 9 / 10 group to fill the roster. If there aren't enough players in the 9/10 group, a try-out session will be scheduled for any National League 9/10 yr old players who can make the commitment.

All-Star Managers – The regular season winning manager is offered the opportunity to manage the all-star team. If that manager is unable to take on that commitment, it will be offered to the manager with the next best record, and so on until there is someone who can make the time commitment.

Verification of Age and Residency -- Dianne will provide the birth certificates for the All-Star players so the families don't have to make another copy. She will collect these from the managers after the All-Star season has completed. The families of the All-Star players will be required to PROMPTLY provide the required proof of residency. This includes: 3 copies of a bill or statement that has the family name and address written on it, it cannot be a PO Box address, and / or a copy of the driver's license of the parents. This must be turned in to Bob on Sunday 6/21.

All of the above was voted and accepted.

Flash Jenness Award Nominations – This honored award was explained and it was noted that this is an award to recognize the player who best demonstrates sportsmanship, leadership, and athletic ability. This is not an MVP award. There is a detailed description regarding this award on our website. www.ryelittleleague.org The nomination form is posted on the website under the Flash Jenness tab. Only Board Members are allowed to nominate players for this award. All nomination forms are to be turned in to John Sexton no later than Tuesday night, 6/16. The Board will not be accepting any late nominations. In alphabetical order, John reads the nominations as they are written on the form. The voting members of the board are the only ones who vote for these nominations. The ballot for voting is in secret. The secret ballots are given to John who counts them and seals the winner in an envelope and no one knows who it is, except for John, until the announcement during the Closing Day Ceremonies. A trophy is purchased for this winner, but there is no name on the name plate. This meeting will take place on Wednesday 6/17 at 7:30 p.m. / or right after the Major League game / whichever comes first. This is for the voting members of the board only.

JFS Award – This is the John Sexton Award recognizing a dedicated volunteer who has given of their time, efforts and abilities to the Rye Little League in such an outstanding fashion as to be worthy of lasting recognition and gratitude.

Katie Mickel Volunteer Award – Bob announced that he had nominated John Sexton for this award a couple of months ago. John was unanimously chosen, at the District level, to receive this award for 2009. His name will be recognized in the Laconia District Office Headquarters. The award will be presented to John at the last home game during the All-Star season on July 11th.

Closing Day Picnic – Rick is trying to connect with a restaurant that will cater the picnic for us this year. If this falls through, we will plan on the family style picnic as done in the past. Dianne will send out the agenda for the Closing Day events after Wednesday this week. A proposal was made to have an organized event scheduled on the field during the picnic, with the purpose to (1) avert a safety issue of unsupervised play on the ball field after the Championship game and ceremony (2) have the picnic all inclusive of the 4 levels of play in our league (3) to allow an opportunity for the younger players to experience the "big field" during an "exhibition inning" with their name / number announced on the PA. There was much discussion regarding how this could be done so that the games would still be played as scheduled for the Major League Championship and the National League final game in the afternoon.

This is the approved schedule / agenda for the Closing Day Picnic Saturday 6/20/09.

8:00 a.m. T-Ball League Exhibition Inning
9:00 a.m. Major League Championship Game
Award Ceremony to follow, if there is no tie in the standings
11:00 a.m. Picnic Lunch --- ongoing games as scheduled
12:00 p.m. American League Exhibition Inning (2 teams)
12:30 p.m. American League Exhibition Inning (2 teams)
1:00 p.m. National League Game
3:30 p.m. National League Game
5:00 p.m. Major League Tie Breaker Championship Game (if needed)
Award Ceremony to follow, if this game is played


Next meeting – Wednesday, June 17, 2009 for Voting Members of the Board only for the Flash Jenness Award.