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Mr Yard
provided this written report ...
• The
Winter junior Competitions are up and running- but not
without a fair deal of effort. In the end we have a
total of 14 teams, four each in Under11 and 15 and six
teams in Under 13.
I hope
that the difficulty in attracting teams and players
is not an indication for the coming summer season. I
have a feeling that that the sport is struggling for
players. If the rumour is true and Ryde can lose 400
players in a single season, then it can happen to
any Association. We rely on our Under 8 competitions
to maintain our playing numbers, without that
support our playing numbers would fall dramatically.
• Dean Frew
and James McCallum have been selected in the Cal Ripken
team.
• The
Development Program is about to move into a third phase.
We will commence a Thursday night program mainly for
pitchers and catchers. It will be conducted at
Kellyville. Participation will by invitation.
I am
concerned that the standard of play continues to (free)
fall. I am particularly concerned about standard of
catching at Representative Level. All three teams appear
to lack depth in catching.
We can make
a very limited number of places in Monday night
Development for catchers however the players should be
out of the Under 12 age group.
• Suggested
Rule changes for next season are due by Tuesday night.
Thoughts so far are:
-
Amending the rule requiring a play off for fourth
place be replaced by the results of teams involved
in the same manner as other final places are
determined.
-
Rewriting the ‘must slide rule’ to an anti-
collision rule.
-
Revision of Pass Ball rule in Petroff and Daisley.
Even to point of abandoning this Rule in Mod Ball.
-
Introduction of protocol for Scorers
-
Deleting the rule that prevents runners from
advancing home on balls that evade the catcher in
Leonard South. It is thought that the present rule
‘slows’ the game up. Also by ‘delaying’ the seventh
run crossing the plate it accelerates the number of
pitches thrown.
As a
guide line (in a higher level of Baseball) coaches
expect pitchers to be able to ‘complete’ an innings
in 15 pitches and throw a strike percentage of 65%.
We had
previously agreed to amend the rule covering late
starts in the situation where the early game
finishes late. Becoming tempted to draw Leonard
South games as always 10.30am starts.
• We need
advice of each Club’s Executive that were elected at
Club’s AGM.
•
Nominations for the position of Hills’ Executive will
close at the conclusion of June meeting.
• I have
forwarded the details of the Level 1 Coaching
Accreditation courses. There is an opportunity that
Hills could host one of these courses. I am not
convinced that if we took advantage of that opportunity
that we could get ten people to the course on two
specific days. The finding of a venue will not
necessarily be easy. The two dates on offer were 29-30
May and 19-20 June. I wrote to BNSW to check if either
date was available. To date I have received no reply.
The Level 1
Umpires accreditation course is scheduled for 4th
September.
•
Nominations of Representative Coaches are to close at
the June meeting. There needs to be a discussion as to
what is the best package of coaches in each age group.
Trials
will need to start in late June. They need to be
completed by late July, early August given the
various overseas tours.
• Macarthur
and Auburn Orioles have merged. I cannot see the
advantage of the merger for either Organisations. The
merger does not ‘give’ the organization an improved
Junior base.
• In a body
blow to this season’s Under 12 Representative Team,
Hills will lose the services of Julian Paramanov.
Julian’s family has re located to Canberra.
• Peter
Whatson has advised of his resignation from the Hills’
Board of Directors. Peter’s resignation is due to
business reasons.
We
thank him for his contribution to the Board and for
his efforts as Delegate to the JLSC – a job that is
both difficult and frustrating.
Another
resignation is that of Kathy Foley who has resigned
as Secretary of Winston Hills. We thank Kathy for
her efforts and commonsense she brought to the
Board.
In addition
to the written report, Mr. Yard suggested that we again
look for an alternate meeting venue. Also there is a
Level One Coaching accreditation course that Hills could
‘book’ for 19th – 20th June, however there are doubts
that we would be able to have people all wanting to do
the course on a particular weekend.
Business
arising from Secretary’s Report:
Mr. Niemi
advised that Castle Hill was organising a mid week Level
One Coaching course. Mr. Yard stated that this may be a
better alternative than Hills attempting to organize a
weekend course.
The
Secretary’s report was accepted. |
