Meeting Minutes for SCBOWBO

Meeting Minutes for February 7, 2009

SCBOWBO/SCBOA General Meeting Saturday, February 7, 2009 Everett Community College Gymnasium 1815-13th Street Everett, WA 98201 8:15 AM to 9:00 AM:    apprentice meeting led by Todd Weber and Nathan Murphy 9:05 General mtg called to order by Kevin Stride 9:06 Lee Ottini encouraged all new officials to buy the 3-person guidebook before next season.  Dan Taylor mentioned that there a ton of games on Feb 10 and Feb 12 and he needs as much availability as possible.  9:10 Wayne Sneva thanked all officials for their participation in the "Pink Whistle" campaign, the most important thing our associations will do this season.  Thanks to the girls association for purchasing all the pink whistles.  Officials should keep their pink whistles in case we decide to participate in the Pink Whistle campaign in future seasons.  Over $3000 was raised.  Coaches also participated in their own cancer awareness and fundraising effort. 9:12  Mike DeLong mentioned that we picked up approximately 30 new officials this year and reminded us that "word of mouth" from officials is our most effective recruiting tool.  He also mentioned that we will start recruiting via Facebook and Myspace soon.  The football association also needs officials and anyone in our group who is interested is encouraged to officiate football also.   Kevin Stride mentioned that there is a "combined Snohomish County Officials website" at snocorefs.com 9:15  Kevin introduced our featured speaker, Mark Cook. Mark is the commissioner for the NWAACC North (men's community college conference) as well as a D-1 men's official in the WCC and Big Sky conferences. In addition, Mark (along with Pac-10 and Big Sky official Greg Nixon) runs the Emerald City Officials Academy camp at Bellevue Community College in the summer. Mark worked 2 state tournaments in his high school officiating career. Mark first talked about crew chemistry. It starts in the pregame where the R must get the entire crew involved. We need to talk about specific plays that can give us trouble (one example is a block/charge on the center's side before the L was able to rotate). Another example is non-verbal communication when 2 bodies hit the floor and 1 or 2 officials do not know how it happened (the other official can let the crew know that things are OK or that we missed a train wreck). Crews need to be like-minded and match calls on each end. However, don't match wrong calls. Get 100% of the calls that everyone in the gym sees. Be consistent on the rest. Handle coaches/benches the same way on both ends. At time-outs, talk about it things are going (are we keeping it even). Be honest with each other! We need to do what's best for the game. Mark also talked about the way for an official to move up to a higher level of reffing if that is their desire. He looks for how an official looks on the floor. Are they in shape? Do they move athletically? He only wants good people on his staff who have their priorities in the right order. They need to be good people who others would be able to enjoy riding long distances with to games. Officials need to be able to communicate and be responsible (filling out all needed paperwork and explaining situations for reports when necessary). Finally, they need to be good play-callers. Mark talked about how the college game is pretty much called the same way that a good HS game is called... getting the plays that need a whistle and allowing athletes to "play through" minor contact. One difference he noted is that HS "powers that be" generally want a whistle when one body goes to the floor and that can sometimes be passed on in a college game (2 bodies on the floor requires a whistle in ANY game). Mark mentioned that his ECOA camp will be held on the 2nd weekend in July. 9:35  Mark Myers discussed the boys SCBOA rating system. Apprentice officials do not rate. Ratings must be turned in within 2 weeks of your last game. Partners and observed officials for JV and V games are rated. Boys officials simply turn in a list of officials from strongest to least strong. The name and address of the person who will have the ratings sent to them will be e-mailed to the group soon. It has been Dave Butler for the past few years, however Dave has moved to Spokane so it is unsure at this time. 9:40 Kevin Stride mentioned that the girls association also rates at the end of the year, but they rate on criteria rather than turning in a list of numbered officials. Ratings are on a 1-9 scale. Rating forms will be e-mailed to all SCBOWBO officials. 9:43 Don McKinney reminded officials that SCBOA and SCBOWBO will be fielding a "walking team" for the Stanwood Relay for Life (cancer awareness and fundraising) event on May 29-30. 9:45 Bruce Hoffman reminded officials that the Special Olympics basketball tournament is Feb 8. We have it covered, but officials are welcome to show up and give additional breaks to other officials. 9:50 SCBOA elections for VP, 3-year board member, player-of-the-year, coach-of-the-year and host-school-of-the-year were held. Steve Landro was elected to Vice President. Phillip James was elected as 3-year board member. Jordan Nichols of Sultan was elected as player-of-the-year. Nalin Sood of Mountlake Terrace was elected as coach-of-the-year. Grace Academy was elected as host school of the year. 9:53 SCBOWBO elections for board members (2), player-of-the-year, coach-of-the-year, and host-school-of-the-year were held as well as a vote for ratification of constitution changes. Mike Cashman and Jack Palmer were elected as board members. Katie Benson of Snohomish was elected as player-of-the-year. Wayne Edwards of Edmonds-Woodway was elected as coach-of-the-year. Arlington was elected as host-school-of-the-year. Constitution changes passed and are effective immediately. 9:55 Mark reminded officials that the SCBOA end-of-season-banquet is set for March 28 at the Everett Naval Station. 10:00 Shayne Day reminded officials that the SCBOA golf tournament will be held on April 25 at Legion Memorial Golf Course in Everett. The $65.00 per player entry fee includes greens fees, a golf cart, lunch and prizes. 10:05 Kevin Stride asked SCBOWBO officials to e-mail him with the number of years of service that they have given to SCBOWBO. 10:10 Jeff Schireman briefly talked about the WOA officials conference that is held in Yakima each summer. He encourage as many officials as possible to attend as it is a very enjoyable event. It is a great way to network with other officials, play in a golf tournament, enjoy some breakout sessions and have some good meals at a very low cost. The 2009 WOA Conference will be held August 14-15 at the Yakima Convention Center. Meeting adjourned at 10:15 AM.