• No doubt clubs are in the midst of their ‘silly season’ as you work through the grading process. Soccer is complicating things as it appears to be taking an extra week to complete its Final series this year. At this stage our numbers look to be encouraging.

• Just a reminder about the important dates for the upcoming season

• Assessment day for Dispensations will be 29th August… the Assessment Panel will have to be put into place over the next week. If the start of the season is pushed back a week then the Assessment date could be 5th September – however that would be a rush to have paper work completed by September meeting. which is 8th September.
• I will be overseas in that period not returning until 1st September. That will have an effect on the preparation of the draw. Team nominations for first division competitions are going to have to be by 17th August. Can clubs achieve that – or would you prefer that ALL competitions commence on 12th September? Nominations for those competitions commencing 12th September the team entries can be 31st August.
• The Rules night will be 3rd September at Riverstone RSL 7pm start. Compulsory attendance by at least one member of each team’s coaching staff. Failure to attend will result in a $50 per team fine plus is either no points awarded or no participation allowed, until the team is up to speed. Club officials may attend as a last resort but will be required to certify that they've passed the material on to the affected team and satisfied themselves that the team understands it...
• The T Ball coaching and instruction for coaches will be Sunday 6th September at Castle Glen.
• A reminder that we will play on the 3rd October (which is the first day of School Holidays and the Saturday of the October long weekend). We will not play the 10th October (first week of World Masters Games) but will need to play the 17th October. Corbin will be unavailable on the 17th October so we will just need to juggle the draw the best we can.
• Under 8 T ball will commence 19th September.

٠ The second Level 0 course will be conducted on 23rd and 24th August at Ashley Brown. Need to pre register with Greg Robinson as spaces are limited to six candidates to each instructor. Jeff Catt conducted the first part of a Level 0 course Sunday.

• The Finals of the winter competitions were completed. The season was disrupted by rain however the structure of the competition ensured that no team was disadvantaged

• Under 16 :Quakers Hill Red 4 d Quakers Hill Black 1
• Under 14 : Hills Kings 7 d Baulkham Hills 1
• Under 12 :Winston Hills 10 d Misfits 6
• Under 12 :Dragons 16 d Rouse Hill 10
• Next season would prefer to conduct Under 11, 13 and 15. – that of course is dependant on team nominations. There will be a change in costs with non Hills players having to pay the Hills’ registration fee of $11.

• Was a bad month emotionally with the tragic death of Liam O’Flaherty following a motor scooter accident and Barry Shipley’s re admission to hospital. Things turned brighter last week when Trent Oeltjen was ‘called up’ to Major League with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He certainly had a dream debut with two hits, including a home run, two stolen bases and threw out a runner. Trent ‘picked up’ another three hits (including another home run) on Monday

• Last meeting we deferred the decision re the venues for the representative home games. There has been no alteration to the structure of the draw – Macarthur are able to ‘use’ ex Bankstown players with the rule requiring players to sit out a season when changing Associations being rescinded by the Board of BNSW. The draw itself has altered – however the recommendation has not altered from last meeting. That is as follows:

• 30 August v Greater West Sutton
• 20 September v Ryde Kellyville
• 27 September v Convenors Corbin ( only two games)
• 8 November v Manly Castle Glen
• Stand alone Under 16 games
  • 4 October Kellyville
  • 11 October Sutton
  • 22 November Ashley Brown
  • This means that Hawkesbury and Kings Langley ‘miss out’ however Hawkesbury will host the Hills’ Grand Finals in March. Along with Ashley Brown they will be considered for whatever ‘top four’ games Hills host in Under 12 and 14.

• In the correspondence there are two letters. One from Castle Hill and the other from Rouse Hill complaining on what they believe is encroachment into Shopping Centres in their area by rival clubs. We have been able to satisfactorily deal with which Schools clubs are responsible for – Shopping Centres I am not so sure – however I have some sympathy for both Castle Hill and Rouse Hill.

• The issue of bats need to be clarified. Last season the meeting ‘banned’ the high performance bats (two piece, carbon fibre and connexion type bats) in Under 14 and Under 16. The ABF has issued a bat standard – the problem with that is there is no way an old bat (without an exit speed ratio shown on the bat) can be determined as legal. What is not proposed to alter is the rule preventing 2 5/8” dia. bats being able to be used in Under 14 Street South

• The Representative team trials continue. None of the three age groups have been selected. I think the Under 14 are the closest to naming a team. They are taking 15 players with three Reserves in an 18 player squad. Under 12 trials were deferred as the majority of players were in Japan.- it needs at least one more trial- at this stage it is possible that it will be a 13 player squad. Under 16 are nearly there – they will play a Japanese team on Friday night at Kellyville. Both the Under 16 and Under 14 are struggling somewhat with the quality of players available- especially the lack of pitching depth. Bankstown has requested assistance in the form of supplying up to three players for its Youth League team. We are hoping to enter an Under 12 team in Association Cup.

• The style of the Kenko ball has altered. Gone are the dimples and the ball now looks like a regular baseball. The new ball is manufactured to the ‘low bounce’ specification of the slightly larger B Class ball. The trouble is that we are caught between styles of balls – the old C Class ball and the new ball. Seems the best way out of that problem this year is to specify what balls will be used in what competition. Means I will need to swap some of the balls already issued to Quakers Hill and Kellyville.

• Our meetings have ‘outgrown’ the Boardroom at Rema Industries so we need to find a new location. Neither Peter nor I, favour a venue with food and a bar so we may move back to a venue such as the clubrooms at Fred Caterson Reserve.

• We conducted two camps in the July School Holidays. The first camp was the better of the two in relation to standard of the players attending. Overall 32 players attended the camps.

The Secretary’s report was accepted.

Mr. Schmidt reported on the July meeting

• It addressed the four touring teams plus the conducting of the Pan Pacific tournament that will be held at Andrew Road complex on 15th - 17th August, 2009, involving teams from Japan (two), Singapore and USA.

Mr. Whatson advised that the JLSC had not met since the Hills Meeting in July.

However since the last meeting the developments have been a mess.

In July the JLSC decided that Macarthur could not select previous Bankstown representative players in its representative teams. Macarthur were given a deadline to withdraw these players from its squads. Macarthur objected and the Board of BNSW overruled the JLSC. In the process BNSW altered the rule about players changing Associations and the rule has now been deleted. This means that Macarthur are now able to select the former Bankstown players.

• Hills has placed the matter of H. Woo being selected in Ryde’s SJC team, when according to the rules that applied at that time, he was clearly ineligible. It was the consensus of the Hills’ meeting that despite the ruling by BNSW this matter should remain on the Agenda.
• There are special nights planned at BOP as part of the Major League season where Junior players will be provided the opportunity to ‘play’ on the diamond prior to first grade games.
• Mr. Schmidt stated that the JLSC , sadly, do nothing. It has no input into rules for the SJC competitions, no discussion re Little League, no promotion of the sport.

• Statement of Financial Position was presented.
• Payments were approved.
• Debtors and liabilities were disclosed.

Come and Try Days - Clubs reported that their Come and Try Days were successful. Carlingford will have two possibly three extra teams. Quakers Hill achieved a good conversion rate out of its Come and Try Days. Blacktown – from 50 players attending resulted in approximately 30 extra registrations. Castle Hill held two Come and Try Days with a combined attendance of approximately 120 children. The ‘pick up rate’ was up to 80 players. Schofields reported a poor response to its two come and Try Days.

Club Territories - Mr. Niemi advised that Castle Hill was extremely disappointed with the lack of respect from another club re what it considers an invasion on its territory during the player registration period. This was a result of Baulkham Hills recruiting in the Homemakers store at Castle Hill. Mr. Schmidt advised that the problem related to an unwritten agreement among clubs as to which club ‘targets’ a particular shopping centre.. Mr. Schmidt further advised that we have the right level of management in area of club’s responsibility to schools. He questioned whether we need to regulate access to shopping centres, railway stations, garages etc. There was a consensus that whatever we do in the area of recruitment, we do it collectively at an Association level. Castle Hill were asked what they wanted to happen as a result of this situation? The thoughts on possible alternatives included having a presentations/display at Shopping Centres as a type of a ‘Road Show’ event, with details being fed into the Club’s Come and Try Days. A Come and Try Day (at say BOP) and allocate prospective players to clubs according to the players Post Code address. Make it a rule that club s have to seek permission to move into a shopping centre that is outside their geographic area. Mr. Schmidt advised that he does not see an easy way to overcome the problem. Making rules will be extremely difficult – but without rules the system may not work. One obvious answer is that there be a expectation of do-operation – clubs and individuals work a little harder to see the other person’s view.

Association Presentation Night - Mr. Catt suggested that Hills conduct an Annual Presentation night. He is looking at what level of support such a night would attract.

Venues for Representative fixtures - It was agreed that the venues for the Representative fixtures would be as per Secretary’s recommendation. 30th August vs Greater West @ Sutton 20th September vs Ryde @ Kellyville 27th September vs Convenor’s team @ Corbin 4th October vs Cronulla (U16 only) @ Kellyville 11th October vs Bankstown (U16 only) @ Sutton 8th November vs Manly @ Castle Glen 22nd November vs Macarthur (U16 only) @ Ashley Brown

Future meeting venue – It was agreed that there is a need to find a new meeting venue as the meetings have outgrown the Board Room at Rema Industries. There are to be investigations made as to whether the clubrooms at Fed Caterson Reserve can be made suitable as a venue.

Bankstown requested the loan of Under 16 players. Bankstown has requested that Hills supply it three players for its Under 16 Representative team. We have agreed to that request and will canvass players not selected in the Hills’ team.