SUSSEX SQUASH RACKETS ASSOCIATION

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Black Lion Patcham

11/12/2007

MINUTES

Present: Paul Millman (PM) (Chair), Simon Tunley (ST) (Secretary), Fiona Western (FW), Ian Robinson (IR), Karl Manning (KM) and Karla Pett (KP)

Action

1. Apologies for absence

Chris Markham (CM), John Parr (JP), Jenny Wagg (JW), Mike Tonge (MT), Graham Stevenson (GS), Tim Vail (TV) and Justyn Price (JP)

2. Minutes of previous meeting/Matters Arising

The minutes from the 10/09/07 were accepted as an accurate record.

3. Newsletter

FW brought with her the latest edition of the newsletter. She was happy with the overall final product although stated it was hard to get copy from county teams other than the results themselves. She is planning another edition for April 2008. ST agreed to chase up Phil Ayton and Graham Fisher to try and get more detail of the 0’45 and 0’55 county weekends

4. Senior County Closed

Event has been confirmed for the 19-20 January 2008 and the venue will be Middleton SC again. However committee were concerned based on the timescales that at present there is no information on the event being advertised around the clubs. ST has agreed to chase.

5. Hon. Treasurer’s report

JP sent updated accounts to ST, which he distributed to the committee. At present the balances look good. JP had concerns regarding the junior accounts, as he had not heard from Vanessa Prosser. However she did manage to send some accounts through to John before the meeting. Vanessa stated there had been no major expenditure so far and Tim had sent through 95% of the registration squad fees; she was still to add the finances for the junior county closed and was awaiting accounts from Graham Stevenson.

JP raised the issue that both Brighton SC and Sawyers have has yet to pay their membership fees to England Squash. He believed that CM had spoken to both the clubs and was in a better position to impose penalties. The committee agreed that CM should contact both clubs again to get a definitive date of when they plan to pay otherwise they may have to be pulled from the leagues. ST also stated that the information supplied by ES seemed to imply that Dragons Copthorne had over £647.50 to pay and Dunnings Mill had £55 outstanding on their fees. JP to confirm whether this is the case and if so who should contact the clubs to try and encourage them to pay ASAP.

6. Senior and Junior League Reports/ Knock Out Cups

CM stated all was ok with the men’s leagues. However ST raised the issue of players playing for two different teams in the same club. The example of Brandon Handley was given who has played seven times in the premier and twice in the first division for Middleton. Although in principle this was not wrong, the committee discussed this issue and stated there was the option to initiate the ghosting rule from the start of the season to prevent this happening. IR suggested we followed the same guidelines as the Surrey cup, which made a player team tied if they played for that team twice. The committee asked if CM could write to Middleton to question their rankings, as they do seem odd and to also get clarification on their plans for the 2^nd half. The rules on rankings for next season may need revising to prevent this happening again.

FW had a number of issues with the ladies leagues. The main concern was the issue of walkovers and teams gaining free points for no shows and other teams being penalised. FW felt now the ladies only played 4 string matches any deduction should be 8 points rather than the usual 10. FW hoped we could scrap the penalty point’s rule. PM/IR stated this was not possible half way through the season and would have to be raised at the AGM in July 2008. FW suggested walkovers would result in the winning team only getting a 15-0 win and not to gain the extra 5 points for winning, plus no negative points for the team that could not fulfil the fixture. The committee felt an easier solution in the short term is to try and re-arrange the fixtures to stop clubs getting free points, however there was a need to re-look at the situation for next season. FW also felt going to 3 leagues has meant limited fixtures for teams and it was suggested they perhaps played each other more than twice a season as they do in the men’s premier league. KM confirmed this was not ideal but could be done on the LMIS.

JW could not attend the meeting but sent through a report and results for the committee to look at. She stated it had been a struggle so far this season. She is still awaiting registration fees from LA Fitness Gatwick and Sawyers and has not received ranking lists from Bognor, Dunnings and LA Gatwick . JW is finding it hard to manage the leagues due to other commitments however FW brought Karla Pett along to the meeting who was keen to help support county squash. The committee welcomed her to the meeting and were more than happy for her to help with the running of the junior leagues and also support the junior county girls squads. FW to discuss the possible handover of the junior leagues with JW and KP.

7. County Teams/ Organisers

ST stated all had gone well so far and some results were in the latest newsletter and on the website. ST confirmed the racketball team had won their first round and were now through to the national finals plus the men’s 0’45’s had also a winning weekend, giving them a promotion chance next half. ST to get ladies 0’40 results from Jo Crosby

Junior county squads seem to be going ok although the girls still need more admin and coaching support. The committee felt KP could perhaps help ND with the admin/finances of the squads and also with some coaching as she is a level 2 coach. ST/FW to talk to ND to look at this process and KP if able will come to the squad session this Sunday. ND to confirm squad training dates ext half of the season. ST to also ensure next season that there are enough players for an age group before entering them into the national county championships.

8. England Squash

PM/IR attended the recent ES AGM and stated one positive suggestion of the meeting was to try and get counties to share best practice by arranging joint meetings. They also stated there were to be more Area Managers appointed which would help reduce the workload of others and allow them more time with individual counties. Justyn Price would still cover Sussex.

ST stated ES through Justyn Price had found funds to support a level 1 coaching course for club members of chartered clubs. The course was advertised in the newsletter and Justyn was keen to generate more interest as at present only one person was signed up.

9. Junior Development

MT could not attend the meeting but confirmed junior clinics had been arranged on the 16^th/17^th February 2008 at the University of Sussex. He also hoped Dunnings were planning to become a chartered club and ST confirmed the University of Sussex was looking at this as well. ST agreed to advertise through the County Sports Partnership.

11. A.O.B

Look to attract Mike Phillips to the committee as he has good experience in developing junior squash and has worked for a CSP before as a rackets coach. PM/IR to contact.

PM asked ST if he could contact the CSP to see where they see squash sitting in the county.

Date for next committee meeting the 26^th February 2008 at the Weald SC. ST to book.

CM

FW/JW/KP

ST/FW/KP