Hello All! We held our February APA Board meeting via conference call on Monday, February 15th. Our meeting was packed full of important information and many decisions were made! A full report will be available soon via the official minutes but I’d like to provide a brief summary to keep you all in the loop with what is happening at the Board level.
- APA Meetings in 2016: In an effort to keep our meeting streamlined, effective, positive and productive, our Vice President David Finch presented a “Meeting Norms” document for us to review and adhere to going forward. He also presented us with a “Code of Conduct” document to review and sign which essentially asked us to abide to a high level of conduct during the Board Meetings. Lastly, he suggested we all complete an evaluation of our Board Meeting so we can continue to evaluate and improve our communication and effectiveness during our meetings. The Meeting Norms, Code of Conduct and Evaluation were met with enthusiasm and we all agreed it is a great plan to use them going forward. The Board also agreed to meet monthly going forward on the third Monday of each month, with a few exceptions in March, April and October when the Board will meet the Monday of the fourth week. We all look forward to meeting more regularly and being more productive during our meetings thanks to these new meeting standards!
- Nationals Location: Through the efforts of a few of us working closely together with the Fisk’s and the manager of their farm in Harvest, Alabama – we reached an agreement to hold our Nationals tournament at their farm in October this year. We are grateful and excited to be given this opportunity and look forward to providing you all with more updates soon regarding Nationals this year! But for now, please mark your calendars for Nationals to be held at Harvest Farms in Alabama the weekend of October 7th, 8th and 9th!! More information on requirements will be coming after the March Board Meeting.
- Chief Umpire and Umpire Panel Update: We have many updates regarding the Umpire and the Umpire Panel. First, the Board approved a change to the By-Laws to include four umpires (one from each zone) to be on the Umpire Panel. The reasoning for this change is so decisions are made by a panel of umpire experts rather than just by one person (the Chief Umpire) going forward. After that decision, the Board unanimously approved the Umpire Panel of Seth Alcott, David Firmin, Prissy Rumel and Rahul Desai. Then our Chief Umpire, Daniel Johnson, unveiled his new Umpire Program and Certification Process. We were impressed at the changes he is implementing as we see it as a way to help keep the Umpire Program more consistent in all zones. We also agreed that if he is able to implement his program as he described, it will assist in unifying the Umpire Body, creating more knowledgeable umpires and making educational opportunities available throughout the year for our membership. Overall, we are pleased with Daniel’s process and anticipate great things to come from him and his new panel in 2016!
- The New Rulebook: As promised at the January APA Board Meeting, Daniel Johnson presented the final changes and updates to the rulebook. Much hard work has gone in the review and editing of our new rulebook by many people – and after the presentation and review of the new rule book, the updated APA rules were unanimously approved. Going forward, Daniel has created a process in which feedback will be sought from the Head Umpires at each tournament. Additionally, Daniel stated that the rules will be reviewed regularly by the Umpire Panel. So going forward we may have updates to the rulebook annually based on feedback gathered from those sources.
- Availability of the New APA Rulebook: We know how important it is to get the rule book in everyone’s hands as soon as possible. Expect the new rulebook to be made available via the website shortly for download – and are planning for the printed version to be available in March. We will send an update via email and on the FB page as soon as the Rulebook is available on the website.
- Sponsorship Opportunities: To help us with the printing costs of the new rulebook, we are seeking sponsorship ads. Sponsorship ads are available for this rulebook will be available until March 15th and at prices of $200 on the inside front or inside back cover and $100 for full page inside the book. Please contact Laura Humphreys at katelyn.p.james@gmail.com Rob Caldwell at jrcaldwell2@aol.com for more information on getting your ads into the rulebook. They will need to be printer ready by March 15th.
- Student Memberships: The Intermediate Membership will now be called the Student Membership with the same age allowances as before (18 – 23) and are for those who are currently enrolled in college.
- PDP U16 Coach/Manager: The PDP committee that consists of representation from each zone, voted for these positions for this year. Nick Balogh and Becky Cooper have been selected as the 2016 YDT U16 coach and manager.
Thank you for your time and for your support! I look forward to providing you with an additional update soon regarding the availability of the new rulebook.
Until then – happy trails!
Rob Caldwell
APA President
FROM THE PRESIDENT:
Hello All! We held our February APA Board meeting via conference call on Monday, February 15th. Our meeting was packed full of important information and many decisions were made! A full report will be available soon via the official minutes but I’d like to provide a brief summary to keep you all in the loop with what is happening at the Board level.
APA Meetings in 2016: In an effort to keep our meeting streamlined, effective, positive and productive, our Vice President David Finch presented a “Meeting Norms” document for us to review and adhere to going forward. He also presented us with a “Code of Conduct” document to review and sign which essentially asked us to abide to a high level of conduct during the Board Meetings. Lastly, he suggested we all complete an evaluation of our Board Meeting so we can continue to evaluate and improve our communication and effectiveness during our meetings. The Meeting Norms, Code of Conduct and Evaluation were met with enthusiasm and we all agreed it is a great plan to use them going forward. The Board also agreed to meet monthly going forward on the third
Monday of each month, with a few exceptions in March, April and October when the Board will meet the
Monday of the fourth week. We all look forward to meeting more regularly and being more productive during our meetings thanks to these new meeting standards!
Nationals Location: Through the efforts of a few of us working closely together with the Fisk’s and the manager of their farm in Harvest, Alabama – we reached an agreement to hold our Nationals tournament at their farm in October this year. We are grateful and excited to be given this opportunity and look forward to providing you all with more updates soon regarding Nationals this year! But for now, please mark your calendars for Nationals to be held at Harvest Farms in Alabama the weekend of October 7th, 8th and 9th!! More information on requirements will be coming after the March Board Meeting.
Chief Umpire and Umpire Panel Update: We have many updates regarding the Umpire and the Umpire Panel. First, the Board approved a change to the By-Laws to include four umpires (one from each zone) to be on the Umpire Panel. The reasoning for this change is so decisions are made by a panel of umpire experts rather than just by one person (the Chief Umpire) going forward. After that decision, the Board unanimously approved the Umpire Panel of Seth Alcott, David Firmin, Prissy Rumel and Rahul Desai. Then our Chief Umpire, Daniel Johnson, unveiled his new Umpire Program and Certification Process. We were impressed at the changes he is implementing as we see it as a way to help keep the Umpire Program more consistent in all zones. We also agreed that if he is able to implement his program as he described, it will assist in unifying the Umpire Body, creating more knowledgeable umpires and making educational opportunities available throughout the year for our membership. Overall, we are pleased with Daniel’s process and anticipate great things to come from him and his new panel in 2016!
The New Rulebook: As promised at the January APA Board Meeting, Daniel Johnson presented the final changes and updates to the rulebook. Much hard work has gone in the review and editing of our new rulebook by many people – and after the presentation and review of the new rule book, the updated APA rules were unanimously approved. Going forward, Daniel has created a process in which feedback will be sought from the Head Umpires at each tournament. Additionally, Daniel stated that the rules will be reviewed regularly by the Umpire Panel. So going forward we may have updates to the rulebook annually based on feedback gathered from those sources.
Availability of the New APA Rulebook: We know how important it is to get the rule book in everyone’s hands as soon as possible. Expect the new rulebook to be made available via the website shortly for download – and are planning for the printed version to be available in March. We will send an update via email and on the FB page as soon as the Rulebook is available on the website.
Sponsorship Opportunities: To help us with the printing costs of the new rulebook, we are seeking sponsorship ads. Sponsorship ads are available for this rulebook will be available until March 15
th and at prices of $200 on the inside front or inside back cover and $100 for full page inside the book. Please contact Laura Humphreys at
katelyn.p.james@gmail.com Rob Caldwell at
jrcaldwell2@aol.com for more information on getting your ads into the rulebook. They will need to be printer ready by March 15
th.
Student Memberships: The Intermediate Membership will now be called the Student Membership with the same age allowances as before (18 – 23) and are for those who are currently enrolled in college.
PDP U16 Coach/Manager: The PDP committee that consists of representation from each zone, voted for these positions for this year. Nick Balogh and Becky Cooper have been selected as the 2016 YDT U16 coach and manager.
Thank you for your time and for your support! I look forward to providing you with an additional update soon regarding the availability of the new rulebook.
Until then – happy trails!
Rob Caldwell
APA President
