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Login: | Somerset Squash AGM 2019 - Minutes of last meetingSomerset Squash AGM 2019Tuesday 13th Aug – Wyvern Squash Club – 19:30
Please see the minutes of the last meeting below - thanks to Keith again for doing the minutes
Somerset Squash & Racketball 2018 AGM – MinutesSomerset Squash & Racketball AGM 2018 held at the Wyvern Sports & Social Club, Taunton on Tuesday 7 August 2018. Attending: Derek Truman (Chairman)(‘DT’), Adrian Smith (Treasurer) (‘AS’), Keith Griffiths (Secretary), Luke Bishop (‘LB’), Sam Price (‘SP’), Tom Watters, Tim Drew, Luke Vincent, Chris Wall, Andy Anderson, Dave Heaslewood, Ralph Gale, Kim Sadler, Mike Huntingford, Gavin Jones, Paul Cornish, Jorge Pineda- Langford. Apologies: Lee O’Donnell, Matt Gentle, Andy Hatch, Martin Williams, Tony Milford.
DT opened the meeting at 7.40pm. The minutes of 2017 AGM were accepted without any objections.
AS reported income was slightly down on last year, with slightly more expenditure. The overall balance was down slightly. DT mentioned subscriptions were lower, and that West Somerset have not paid their league fees. SP agreed to chase West Somerset Leisure Centre. DT proposed no change to the league fees (£56). Chris Hall suggested an increase might be sensible, given the accounts balance is down on last year. An increase to £70 was proposed and the resolution was agreed on a show of hands. DT asked that payment be made by 1 November, via electronic payment, and proposed a penalty for late payment. This was not agreed as it was felt this would be unfair on clubs who do not control the payment. DT mentioned ESR are pushing the subscription system on their website. They are encouraging all clubs to register their players as members as it helps with the rebate. DT asked which clubs are affiliated to ESR and all clubs represented confirmed they were affiliated.
LB reported on the mens team results. He said it was the best team Somerset have had for some time. The first stage was held at Wyvern and they played SE Wales and Cornwall. They beat Cornwall, but lost to SE Wales, finishing second. They made the promotion group in which they played Derbyshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Somerset fielded a strong 8 man team and beat Bedfordshire but lost to Derbyshire and Buckinghamshire. LB said it was a good inclusive team and that he had organised training sessions which were well attended. DT said there was no ladies team this year. The county entered an O50 team run by DT. They lost both the stage 1 (due to injuries) and stage 2 fixtures. The county also entered an over 55 team run by DT as Paul Cornish was not playing. Stage 1 was held at Wyvern and they won the fixture and made the promotion group. The stage 2 fixture was cancelled due to snow and was not re-arranged. DT was unsure what ESR proposed to do. DT reported that ESR are changing the structure of the inter-counties competition and from an e-mail received from ESR it seems as though all stage 1 categories will be playing on 3/4 November and the second stage will be played over a 4 day period in February. Further details are awaited. It looks as though the junior categories will be played on the same dates. This will preclude players from playing in more than one age category. For 2018/19 it was agreed the county would enter the following teams:
SP said he had tried to run an U19 team but most of the eligible players were away on the stage 1 weekend and he was unable to raise a team. Gavin Jones said on behalf of Tony Milford that Tony would try and run an U17 team next season but may be short of a couple of players. SP said he knew of some players he would introduce to Tony. SP said an U17 team was entered this season but did not have the details of their results. Dave Heaslewood mentioned that his daughter Becky played for Avon this season because she was not asked to play for Somerset. SP said he would be getting involved in sorting out the junior teams next season and would report on this later. LB said he would like to run a racketball county team next season. Kim Sadler asked what could be done to promote more female players. LB suggested the existing female players could get more involved in promoting the sport. There followed a discussion about how to target more female players through e-mail communication.
DT said he has put together a proposal for the divisions and fixtures for 2018/19. He is proposing 3 divisions, basing team positions on levels of performance from last spring. DT is proposing to put all of the cup fixtures at the end of the league season. This will help scheduling because there will be fixture gaps owing to 7 teams being in divisions 1 and 2. SP mentioned he has a concern about school-based teams struggling to fulfil certain fixtures owing to half term weeks and the Christmas holiday. He suggested school-based teams could have fixtures arranged to avoid those dates. DT said this may be possible and asked that school-based teams e-mail him with any dates to avoid. There was a debate about the PAR to 15 scoring system. This is creating some problems with late finishes to some fixtures, especially when multiple teams are playing at home. There was a proposal to adopt a rule that the PAR to 15 scoring system would apply unless both captains agreed to adopt PAR to 11 scoring. The resolution was passed. DT said he would update the cup rules to make it clear that the stronger team always starts on “0”. There was a discussion about changing the league night from a Monday but it was pointed out that this issue has been well rehearsed in the recent past and most people agreed the current rule is acceptable – fixtures will be played on Monday nights unless both captains agree to play on a different night. There was a proposal to change the bonus/penalty points system but on a show of hands this proposal was defeated 12/2.
DT explained the proposal to play all cup fixtures at the end of the season owing to the lack of fixture dates during the season due to the league structure. There was general consensus that the existing cup rules are fine. DT clarified that the strongest team starts on “0” and it is sudden death at 14-14.
DT said no problems have been reported. He asked captains to let him know if they do change a fixture date.
See section 2 above.
LB suggested SP should run the county closed, and SP agreed. SP said he would like to run it at the Wyvern on the 29th or 30th September. SP proposed running the event with 8 players in each grade. There will be mens and ladies grades. It will be run in a MONRAD format with each player guaranteed 3 matches. He proposed the first match be played in the fortnight before the tournament date, with the draw released on Friday 14th September. The reason for this is to avoid players having to play 3 matches on the tournament date. Matches will be PAR to 11. Andy Anderson pointed out a problem with this approach is that there would be no markers for the first round of matches. SP said if fixtures are played at the Wyvern club he will try to arrange a marker. The default position is that if players disagree on any decision they play a let. Gavin Jones said that Tony Milford is happy to host the junior county closed at Street on the set date in September. DT asked about a county racketball competition. SP said that in his new role he will be organising this and other tournaments, including a masters event. SP invited anybody to contact him with ideas for events.
With no-one putting themselves forward for election to the committee, DT (Chairman), Adrian Smith (Treasurer) and KG (secretary) were all re-elected for another year. SP was formally appointed as county development officer.
SP said he has made most of the points he wished to make throughout the meeting. He said he had limited time to devote to the role last season, but from September 2018 he would be a full time squash coach and would have no other jobs competing for his time. SP invited all clubs to contact him with ideas and proposals for the help they need with coaching and development. One issue he will be investigating is the availability of development funding from ESR.
Chris Wall mentioned that, like most other clubs, Huish is reducing in numbers. He went to an ESR event in Bristol and off the back of that he is thinking of encouraging school year groups into the club to have a go at squash. He hopes this will encourage some new players into the club. Kim Sadler mentioned that Wellington has informally twinned with a club in Crete. Wellington sent a team there last season and the return fixture will probably be held next spring. They would like to open it out to the county when the fixture is arranged to get as many games organised as possible.
DT reported there had been no play-offs this season. He therefore applied the rule that the winner of the spring half is the winner if no play off is organised. DT presented the league and cup trophies to those teams represented at the meeting, as listed on the agenda.
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