Committee Meeting

1. Resignation

The committee officially accepted the resignation of Ian Robinson from the position of Club Treasurer.

2. Finances

KS presented the club accounts provided by Estelle Sherman.

YW said she did not want to go through every single item at the meeting. She is planning to closely review the accounts prior to the next committee meeting. YW/0702-01

DW suggested that he may have some questions regarding the senior figures at the end of the meeting.

3. Subs

KS reported that all of the Bronco team had paid their subs in full.

DOS reported that 3 children in the Pony team had not paid their fees.
The 3 children are fringe players and they are aware they would be excluded from the Finals if they have not paid their fees.

DW reported that 4 senior players had not paid their fees in full.
DW explained that all 4 players understood that they would not play in the finals if they have not paid their outstanding fees. DW stated that he believed that Drew, Nick and Eamonn would pay the fees by the deadline so that they could play in the final. DW then explained that Graham would pay his fees at the end of the season as he wanted to be released from the club so he could play for another team next season when he moves house.

DW stated that he had allowed 1 of his players to pay his fees in kind.
The board explained that DW should have entered an official e-mail detailing this transaction so that it could be included in the accounting statement.

DW then queried whether Scott should have received a dispensation as he was a coach.
DOS stated that Scott had not been given a dispensation at the start of the season as he had said he was not able to commit due to his working situation.
KS then added that Scott only attended games and had not run any mid-week practice sessions.
RH then clarified that Scott should not receive a dispensation as he did not meet the requirements of being a team head coach as outlined in the club code of conduct. A team head coach must be both CRB checked and hold a club recognised baseball coaching qualification.
YW said that she thought that the club could do more to clarify the different types of coaches within the clubs and whether they were entitled to dispensations.
RH stated that coaching dispensations should only be allocated prior to the beginning of each season.

DW then queried what the fees should be for a player that only played in 4 games.
KS stated that any player who had played a partial season was charged a 50% fee.

4. Rosters

KS stated that he would need details of the players who would not roster on the BSUK website. He would then send these details to the BSUK offices for manual processing.

KS then briefly explained the procedure for the post season rostering.
DW asked about the procedure for the Pony players who played in the senior team.
KS explained that DOS would need to get playing up forms completed for all of the players. DOS/0702-01

DW then said he had heard a rumour that Gavin Marshall may be returning to the UK to play in the Division 1 finals even though he had not met the 20% eligibility requirements.
The entire committee agreed that KS should take this concern to the BBF board. KS/0702-01

5. Umpires

DW stated that he had not received club funds to cover his umpire costs. He explained the Ian, Graham and Rob had all been paid umpire fees but he had not received a club cheque.
KS stated that he could not release the funds for the games Graham had umpired until he had paid his registration fees.
DW said he would calculate the breakdown of who had umpired which games and send the paper work to the committee. DW/0702-01

6. BBF & Insurance

KS stated that although he had received a request for payment the club had not received an invoice.
RH suggested that this was possibly related to the fact that John Walmsley had recently mentioned that the BBF had still not opened their bank account since their separation from BSUK.

7. Woughton

KS asked for permission from the committee to send a strong letter to Woughton explaining how unhappy we were with the service the club had received this season.
KS added that the Woughton had cancelled a fixture with only three days notice.
DW said he wanted the letter to include the state of the field.
DOS also added the changing room facilities issue when Plymouth visited. KS/0702-02

DW then queried that value of using Woughton for the 2008 season.
RH explained that until the Emerson Valley situation was resolved it was impossible to make a decision regarding Woughton actions.

8. Caps & T-Shirts

KS started the topic explaining that all registered players should have received a cap and shirt according to the registration documentation.

DOS stated she hoped that the youth teams could be provided with caps in time for the finals.
The committee then voted on whether the youth team should receive caps.

RH explained that shirts were less important to players however he thought that the shirts provided to bronco players when they reached the finals in 2004 had turned into well appreciated collectables.

DW stated that the senior team were more interested in changing their team jerseys than receiving t-shirts.
DW then outlined a deal that one of his players could provide a full kit for £45 per person.
YW and DOS suggested that no future BaseballMK uniform should include white pants as they did not look very nice.

9. Final 4

DW questioned whether any of his opposition at the finals should be allowed to use metal bats.
RH stated that he was certain that at both the BBF AGM and Southern League meetings had included statements that all Final 4 games would be wooden.
RH then clarified the mechanism to appeal a decision to the Technical Commissioner if he was not happy about something at the Finals.

10. Indoor Training

KS said that he had spoken with Walton High and winter training would continue on Wednesday evening and could be started when DW was ready.
DW stated that he would like to have a short post season break prior to the beginning of winter training.

11. Sports Grants

DW asked for an updated on the Awards for All grant application.
DOS said that as Ian Robinson was involved and had now resigned the application had stalled.
RH added that there was a lot of work involved in an application.
DW stated that he though the application was very important.
YW concluded saying she thought that the club was missing funding opportunities and more effort should be found to find a volunteer who had the time and experience of applying for grants.