Minnesota Lacrosse Umpiring Association

(MLUA) Annual Meeting, 11/12/05

Location: New Hope Fire Station

Opening Address :  Tom Eliason, Chair of MLUA

1 .      Nominations* and Voting for the Following Positions:

a.      Chair of MLUA (incumbent: Tom Eliason)

Nominations from the floor: None given.

b. Treasurer of MLUA (incumbent: Dave Holdsworth)

Nominations from the floor: None given.
Although quorum was not reached, since both candidates ran unopposed they will resume their positions for the next two years.

2.       Meet Your Association Staff:        
a.      Tom Eliason, Acting Chair of MLUA
b.     Julie Carlson, Assigner
c.      Dave Holdsworth, Treasurer
d.      Dave Holdsworth, MSHSL Liaison
e.      Emily Wells, Youth Lacrosse Liaison
f.       Julie Carlson & Holly Souza, Vice Chairs of MLUA
g.   Amy Ruuska, Secretary of MLUA/Recruiting Chair

3. Association Reports/News

Lance Sannes' passing was reported.

a.      Chair Report, Tom Eliason

Moving forward in our quest to run the organization.

b.   Vice Chair/Training Report, Julie Carlson & Holly Souza

              -- Training Requirements for Returning and New Officials

Blaine winter league will be the site for being field rated. Feedback forms will be completed for each official. (1/8-3/5, 1/30-3/20 Eden Prairie 7:15-10:00 p.m. ). 3/25/06 , 9:00 a.m. rules interpretation and MLUA meeting at Hopkins HS. Other rules interpretation: 3/28/06 ( Roseville ) and 4/6/06 (Blake).

              -- Call for Umpire Consistency

Will be discussed during the 3/25/06 meeting. Emily suggested that we have consistency and standards set for membership. Tom mentioned a score card that we will use during the season to ensure consistency. He will be in charge of this task. Dave suggested posting the score card on the MLUA site. First draft should be made within 3 weeks. Julie suggested a mentoring program and night.

              -- District Rating Opportunities

Funds are available to help officials who are interested in obtaining their district rating out of state ($500). Discuss interest with Dave. Holly described the level of experience that can be obtained from immersing oneself in this type of experience. Julie and Holly will distribute dates and locations of opportunities (last e-newsletter from US Lacrosse was August 2005). The umpires' manual describes the procedure for obtaining a rating level.

Holly discussed feedback received from college coaches that have visited and who commended the level of officiating.

Emily raised the issue of not receiving any feedback during the season. Julie

vowed to get this done this year, it has been made a part of the assignor's

duties. Given the workload of the assignor this season, the feedback element

was allocated to Holly. She will forward on all feedback received from

coaches throughout the season, and will work with her fellow training

associates to address any training issues and trends in coaching comments.

Feedback received will be streamlined immediately upon receipt. Coach feedback is optional. All comments made by coaches will be shared with the appropriate officials, a fact that will be made known at the beginning of the season. J.C. mentioned that soccer has a card system, where you rate the team, give it to the coach and then he/she mails the completed card in. Current budget allowances of the MLUA would not permit such a measure.

c.  Treasurer Report, Dave Holdsworth

Distributed by Dave. Refer to 2006 MLUA Umpire Fees. Fee increase to cover new umpire recruitment materials.

d.  Secretary Report, Amy Ruuska
Minutes will be posted to the MLUA site (mn-lacrosse.org)

e.  Recruitment Report, Amy Ruuska

$100 reward will be offered to the current official in good standing that refers the most new officials that make it through the season. Please forward all referrals to Amy, who will distribute the information to the rest of the MLUA Board.

We should try to shoot for recruiting at least 10 people to help cover the upcoming season. Recruit from out of state, as needed.

JC suggested talking to other assignors about recruiting officials. Julie said that she spoke to other assignors in the past, but fears that there was not much interest in other sports. Dave suggested handing information out to fans (e.g. business card). Jim and Tom will work together to create a business card with visiprint.com Holly will pursue the Women's and Sports Expo and Magazine. All of us would need to be have access to the web to add our information to the score card on MLUA, managed by Amy. The three district raters will come up with one rating form, which will be posted on the MLUA site (Holly will take the lead).

f.  Youth Report, Emily Wells

MN Youth Lacrosse Board met in October. Emily will follow up with them and report back any news to share. At present she is aware of the board's efforts to standardize the youth season as a spring versus summer sport. This will create a problem with any lacrosse official who wants or has helped in the past.

g.  Assignment Protocol, Julie Carlson

We will use Assign By Web software again this year.
Julie has asked that all officials visit the site often to confirm assignments, which will begin with seasoned officials being assigned priority games. Location considerations will try to be granted, but may not depending upon game coverage needs. A full schedule of assignments will be made available on the MLUA web site. Seasoned referees need to take on the role of pre and post game chalk talks and mentoring/guidance of new officials (i.e give feedback often). Also, seasoned officials should also report any new officials who may need extra guidance prior to their next scheduled contest.

h.  MSHSL News, Dave Holdsworth
22 varsity teams are slated to play this year and the same number of club teams (48 teams total). Included in the new club teams are the International School in Eden Prairie and a school in Rochester .

i. Association News, Tom Eliason
None to report.
 
4.  2006 Rules Changes, Tom Eliason
Refer to the 10/4/05 e-mail from Tom or visit uslacrosse.org. Note: These rule changes will be in effect for winter league play.

 
5. Fee Schedules for 2006, Dave Holdsworth
2 Umpires                                            
                  1st game            2nd game                      
2005-06             $51                   $37

2006-07             $53                   $39

3 Umpires
                        1st game            2nd game    
2005-06             $37                   $26      
2006-07             $38                   $28

6.  Policies and Procedures Update
Julie will gather all suggestions for policy and procedure changes, which will then be discussed by the MLUA Board.

7.  By-Laws Update
Will be voted on via e-mail due to lack of quorum at the meeting today. Member involvement is needed, so watch your e-mail for further information.

8.  Board Evaluation

9.  Yearly Calendar of Events
                      -- End-of-Season Meeting and Party in 2006 (Jon and Jim will take the lead on organizing this event, to occur within one week after the MSHSL tourney).

Julie will post all pertinent dates for the year on the MLUA site.

10.      Adjourn