WESTERN REGION GENERAL MEETING
November 19, 2009
Chair’s Report
The ORA Board met on November 7, 2009.
New Northwest Regional Director
Connie Gould has been appointed Northwest Region Director.
V.P. Administration
Sheri Markle was hired to be Eagle Lake camp director for 2010.
Review the proposed Fair Play Policy and hazing submission.
V.P. Technical
We have a concern regarding the availability of officials for the Guelph ranking tournament. There is an NRL event happening in Richmond Hill the same weekend. A flag should have gone up in September about this. Depending on the answers, we may revisit the offer from Richmond Hill. Note: Officiating should be reviewing tournament applications before the sanctioned tournament listing is finalized
V.P. Communications
That for the 2009-2010 playing season, teams registered in the 18+ “A” division be exempt from the Ranking Formula stipulation that any tournament with associations included in league play will be considered in region and no out-of-region factoring will be applied.”
Regional Directors Meeting
Chris Nielsen is working on a terms of reference document for two-team players which will include criteria to be considered that will allow it. It addresses two-team player contracts.
The directors will come up with guidelines for associations to use when declaring their AA and A teams.
The directors will review the wording of the closest association document by December 1. They will then review the document with their regions and present it to the Board in January.
Release policy – a set of guidelines with terms of reference will help regions deal with player movement and tribunals. Central will put together a document to look at and work from. Ideally, we would like to have similar outcomes between regions. Variations in decisions may be reduced with guidelines in place.
Costs for tribunals – different costs between regions. Deferred to next meeting.
Executive Meeting notes
Retention analysis – Ringette Canada wants to look at player retention at the different levels for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 and have asked ORA to supply data.
G&T would like approval to meet in January at the Waterloo tournament. The ORA Executive feels that they can have their meeting by email and conference call(s) to seed the U12 provincial teams and review the Cambridge and Whitby ranking tournaments. If they want to meet in Waterloo, expenses will not be paid.
Before participating in sanctioned events, teams have to be registered with ORA.
Tournament teams – there are teams that are formed to play in tournaments only and not play in leagues, especially in the 18+ Open division. Associations should be encouraged to have 18+ Open divisions in their tournaments since this is a growth area.
Approval has been given for the LTAD committee to meet during the Whitby tournament. They will be looking at commitments over the next few years. The Athlete Development committee will be invited to attend as well as ADP Southern.
Arrangements will be made for the AAA Challenge Cup scores to be posted on the website.
Western Region 1st and 2nd Vice President positions.
AAA Challenge Cup St. Marys November 27 – 29. Come support our Western Region AAA team.