NETX CTA Board and Officers
Minutes of meeting:

March 28, 2012

(Modified March 29, 2012)

Present were: Daryl B., Jan B., Sam H., Edward K., Bill L., Ken McAllister, Lisa M., Robyn Readicker, Jim S., Amanda Shaw, Tracy W.

6:00pm Meeting called to order; dinner and general discussion.

6:35 Introduction of Attendees

6:44 Minutes of last board meeting approved as presented

6:45 Financials report:

• $2 from each adult league participant goes to NETX for programing

• 6:52 JTT fees were a surprise for Sulfur Springs; JTT letter had already gone out to perspective participants before new fees were announced. (Fees increased from $10 to $12/ person)
  Motion approved to reimburse $2 for 18 players = $36

• 108 registered for JTT in NETX.

• JTT fees: $3 to TennisLink, $3 to JTT coordinator, $3 for JTT Balls
  which leaves about $3 per player for NETX programs.
  Texas Section pays their way and augments the JTT coordinator $3(10&under) or $2(11&older)/player

• 6:59 discussion of JTT scheduling opportunities and format

  • Tournament format is great, kids love the action but not possible to complete all the matches in a timely fashion on a Sunday afternoon. (Many players are not available before 1pm)

  • Dates this year included a Sunday, the Saturday before Easter and the Saturday after spring break.

  • 7:07 Discussion of Home & Home format vs. tournament format, meeting the 3 match requirement, finishing before regionals and getting better dates while taking into consideration the East Texas Tennis Calendar and School matches.

  • 7:12 Fall schedule for JTT is better with less going on.

  • Amada was league coordinator in West Texas Section and shared her experiences with similar challenges in her section. She used Sundays because of no UIL.

• Financials approved as presented.

7:25 Ken went over his handout on the USTA CTA Expansion plan

• Predicted that JTT will be bigger than adult leagues in 5-10 years as 10 and under attracts kids and adults alienated by tennis's historical approach to teaching.

• 7:40 went over CTA health index as a barometer for measuring initiative.

• 7:43 encouraged support of 10 & under and JTT (Tyler Junior College and Tyler Tennis and Swim have blended courts)

• 7:46 Use league fees to support NETX grass roots programing; "many ways to skin that cat"

• Jim mentioned how hard Andrea works mentioning as an example the hundreds of calls he had forwarded to her over the last few weeks with regard to the Seniors Mixed Tournament being hosted at Holly Tree.

• 8:03 Ken encouraged us to think about nominating for the Executive committee (3 year term)

  • two person maximum on the Executive from each qualified CTA (our region includes Waco and Dallas)

  • currently there are two scheduled meetings: February and July.

• Late summer applications will open for 16 of 20 committees. (2 year term), he encouraged our participation. (Sam and Jim both serve on the League committee although Sam will soon be rotating out)

• 8:06 Encouraged more representative participation in all tennis facets; help tennis look like our population

• 8:10 Jan explained NETX initiative to work with Ronnie Blake at John Tyler H. S. to promote and fund expansion in feeder schools.

  • At one time there was middle school tennis

  • Lisa shared her experience of middle school tennis in Sulfur Springs, 56 kids signed up after she initiated a new program.

• 8:12 Ken encouraged us to advocate for tennis with our respective ISDs and Cities

8:19 Senior Sectional Plan

• September 16-18th. Special program is still up in the air although the Richeys were well received in 2011 and general consensus was they would be well received again.

• This is our last year to host Senior Sectionals; three tournaments up for bid are: 1) 55& older, 2) 18 mixed and 3) 40 mixed.

8:29 Grant requests from member CTAs

8:33 Discussion of NTRP promotions and 4.0 bunching.

• How does one get bumped back down?

• Jim mentioned that League committed at state level was listening and approved 2 team leagues to encourage the growth of leagues with fewer participants. (3.5 & 4.5 for example)

8:38 Discussion around combo league as a league format not a tournament. Again scheduling opportunities: leagues moved up a month this year.

8:42 Discussion of Playdays as a great way to get kids involved in a fun atmosphere with no mandated fees. Ideally we could coordinate playdays across NETX and for example, each CTA could have a playday (at least 5?)  culminating in an end-of-summer super playday / JTT style tournament.

8:49 next meeting will be May 10th at 6pm at Jan's house.

Meeting adjourned.