[spolym-l]: August Parents' Meeting Minutes

[spolym-l at news.gocolumbiamo.com]

PARENT & COACHES MEETING NOTES
August 24, 2004


Meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.  

We will be attending the Mavericks game tomorrow night.  The van will leave Parkade at 4:30 p.m.  Frances handed out tickets to those participants who want to meet over at Taylor Stadium.

Beginning in September only those people who called to be on the mailing list will receive a newsletter.

Volleyball Tournaments * September 12th * Marshall, MO * only 18 years and older will be allowed to go so our youth team will not participate in this tournament.  We are having the Area/District tournament here in Columbia at the Armory on September 26th.  We will need 4-6 parents to help out that day.  Frances will contact you later about working.  The state volleyball tournament is October 22-24 at Ft. Leonard Wood.  It may be a 1 or 2 night stay.  If it is 2 nights there may be no breakfast on Sunday.

There is a mandatory training for athletes on abuse.  Those athletes who ride the vans to any event must participate.  It will be held on Tuesday, September 14th.  Female athletes will meet from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and male athletes will meet from 7:45-8:45 p.m.

We will start taking basketball registrations as soon as the newsletter is mailed out.  We will have practices 2 nights a week * Mondays will be for youth and Tuesdays will be for adults.  Practices start November 1 and 2 beginning at 6 p.m.

Frances will be on vacation from September 1-10, 2004.

Bowling starts this Saturday at Town & Country.  There will be 2 packets of information given out at practice * one for the athletes and one for the coaches.  Frances will go over the packet with the athletes on Saturday * we may not get to bowl our 2 games on Saturday due to the amount of information that has to be given out.

Frances would like to have responsible adults down on the lanes to help this season.  She will be going over the rules each week with the athletes and have them posted on the lanes as well.  She also would like to have a few "gatekeepers" to make sure the athletes are where they are supposed to be during practice.  Each person will be responsible for 4-6 lanes this season.

This year bowlers may only bowl in 1 event.  Frances will find out the first practice who is interested in going to state competition and in what event.  To bowl 3 games, bowlers must have an average of 50, otherwise they bowl in 2 game competition.

There are different criteria for advancing to state this year:  gold medal at Area (it is not an automatic qualifier), attendance in practice, behavior in practice and cooperating with coaches.

Tentative Tournament Dates for bowling:  October 10th * Unified Tournament in Kansas City * a minimal cost of $5-6.  A registration form is included in the packet of information to be handed out.  October 30-31, 2004 * Area Bowling at Jefferson City.  Youth Bowlers will bowl Saturday afternoon and adults will bowl on Sunday.  If athletes want to attend state competition, they have to attend this competition.

The end of season banquet will be on Friday, December 10th at the Holiday Inn Executive Center.  The cost will be $10 and it is a more formal banquet so no jeans or tennis shoes.

No bowling practice on September 4, October 23 and October 30.

Annette will be the floating coach for the youth and David will be the floating coach for adults.  Glenda will be in charge of the ramp bowlers.  

Absences need to be marked on the scoresheets.  Assessments will be based on the first 3 weeks of practice, not the first 3 games.  Frances will check with Town & Country to see if athletes can come at some other time to make up for football Saturdays.  If athletes bowl on their own, they need to be sure to report the scores to Frances.

Parents will need to sit at the tables and not on the lanes if they are not assisting athletes.  Coaches need to remove distractions from bowlers.

Frances' goal for bowling is to see athletes improve from the first game to the last game.  We can do this by minimizing distractions for the athletes.

The bids came back on the uniforms.  The cost is going to be $50 however it is not the same uniform as we saw previously.  We can order different size pants and tops if needed.  If you want to purchase the uniform, $50 needs to be paid to Columbia Parks & Recreation by September 18th.  The uniforms are to be worn for competition only.  There was discussion on the sizes of the uniforms.

There was discussion about fundraisers and where the money goes.  Rose voiced concerns about buying uniforms for the coaches and wanted to know about assigned uniforms to them that they would turn back in when they stopped coaching or splitting the cost from the fundraisers.  Frances said the best way to do this would be to have a fundraiser for Columbia Parks & Recreation rather than for Special Olympics.  We could host a unified bowling tournament where the money would stay here to pay for uniforms and equipment.

Frances suggested at a future parents' meeting we make a "wish list" of the items we would like to have in our programs and also discuss how we would like to spend the money from fundraisers.

Bowl for Gold made $3,000 between registrations, silent auction and raffle for the Central Area.

The parents' helped Amanda Bjorklund celebrate her 24th birthday.

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.



Frances McCoy
Recreation Specialist
Columbia Parks & Recreation
PO Box 6015
Columbia, MO  65205
(573) 874-7312
fgmccoy at gocolumbiamo.com