News
Fall 2024 Meeting Minutes
8/30/2024
Ladies Interclub Tennis League
Fall Meeting Minutes
August 27th, 2024
President Sally McClanahan called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM at Another Broken Egg restaurant and welcomed everyone in attendance. Betty Austin was then asked to bless our food and she did so.
Secretary Tracy Crutchfield then called the roll and the following Clubs were in attendance; Brook Highland RC, Country Club of Birmingham, Gardendale Tennis, Greystone CC, Highland Racquet Club, Homewood Park, Hoover CC, Inverness CC, Lake Cyrus, Levite Jewish Community Center, Life Time Fitness, Mountain Brook Club, Old Overton Club, Pelham Racquet Club, Pine Tree CC, Riverchase CC, Trussville Racquet, YMCA Greystone and YMCA Mountain Brook. Tracy then asked for a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the Spring meeting-Heather Morgan made the motion, Betty Austin seconded and the minutes were approved.
Sally then asked Treasurer Betty Austin to give the Treasurer’s report and Betty reported that our previous balance was $10,581.66 with total expenses of $7,300.22 and deposits of $4,190.00, our current balance is $7,471.44 .
Our Vice President in charge of Scheduling - AnneMarie Wilson was then called on to give her scheduling report. Annemarie noted we have 52 teams registered for Fall play and that is the same number from the Spring season. She also reported that since no Byes were requested, we will not have any byes for the Fall season. Our season will begin Tuesday September 3rd. Annemarie also reminded everyone to enter scores for forfeits with names of players that are available and scores as 6-0 6-0 on score sheets. Also please make sure player and sub lists are up to date before the matches begin. She added that while we don’t have a Strength Roster, Strength of the Day must be played and that stats are collected and analyzed in order to make play fair for all. Players that continue to win will be monitored to make sure they are playing at the correct level. We also need to try and play all the matches as scheduled and in case of rain, consider moving the match to the visiting team’s courts if conditions are favorable. She also asked for rescheduled matches to be played, if at all possible, during the season and for everyone to try and not delay playing those matches after the season has concluded. We then discussed how our scheduling and Soft Court scheduling differ and how important it is for team forms and checks to be received in a timely manner. Someone then asked if a 10 point tiebreaker can be played in lieu of a 3rd set, and while it is not encouraged, if all parties agree to that format the score should be entered as 7-6 for the 3rd set. Again this is not encouraged as our format of best out of 3 sets is an intricate part of our league.
Lavonda Keel then gave our Ethics report and stated that several players made stats and will be moved up and we had 3 players approved for move downs. These players have been notified and all Level Coordinators should take note. We also had 3 teams move up-Old Overton Simonetti/Elder 4.0-4.5, Riverchase Lennex 4.5-5.0, and Trussville Racquet Burson 5.0-5.3/5.5. Lavonda also reiterated the Strength of the Day rule and reminded everyone that subs can play any court other than 1st.
Sally then asked Janet Simonetti to give a PickleBall report and Janet reported we have 5 teams playing in the first PickleBall season this fall.
Tracy Smith then announced our Spring winners and runners up and that is available for view on our website. The prizes for spring are $25. Amazon gift cards for winners and $20. Amazon gift cards for runners up. She has been emailing Captains with the info for accessing the cards. A question was then asked about the Winter season winners and it was discovered that since our Spring meeting was held before the winter season ended we had not awarded those first place teams. Tracy will be rectifying this and those winners will also receive the $25. Amazon gift cards.
We then discussed the Susan Briggs Tournament and Betty Austin reported that we had 64 players and a profit of $2,281.92 was made and notified everyone that applications for scholarships are available for young women to help defray cost for their tennis fees as is our custom for this tournament. Volunteers are needed to continue this important part of our league and anyone who has an interest should ask Betty or AnneMarie Wilson.
New Business
Sally notified us that all registration forms and fees were received on time and we had no need to penalize any teams for being late. We will continue to have the rule about lateness for registration and that fee will remain $50. per team. Sally then asked if we need a Sub-committee for PIckle Ball and much discussion ensued. It was decided that we would have a Level Coordinator assigned to this league and Janet Simonetti agreed to take on that position. She will hold a meeting for captains and will report back to the board. It is agreed that more teams and more clubs need to be involved for this league to flourish and there are plans to make sure communication is being shared with all clubs and facilities. Some of the current issues for this league are the use of proper and sanctioned pickle balls, and this will be addressed with all the teams involved and also some match format questions were brought to our attention. Janet will report all changes and updates to the Captains before the season begins. USA Pickle Ball rules will be enforced and the home team will provide balls and visiting team will choose balls from those provided. There will be rotating courts and the 3rd team that rotates in needs to be at the courts by 10:00 AM. Again Janet will report all rules and changes to the Captains before the season begins. Sally asked if anyone else had any questions and they did not.
Tracy Smith then gave out door prizes and Sally adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Tracy Crutchfield
LITL Secretary 2024
