UCSSL MEETING MINUTES FOR JANUARY 20, 2016
The following is a summary of our league meeting of
30 were in attendance with all 21 teams (eventually) represented.
League officers for 2016 are again:
Pete Osborn Commissioner/Treasurer
Rich Grossberg Director of Operations
Paul Brody Commissioner
of 50s Division
Norm Stumpf Coordinator of 60s
Division
John Malone Advisor
Bob
Greco is the new team manager of Top Line Appliance. Kerry Gelb and Joe McEvoy are the
acting/current managers of Contact Lens & Vision and Creative Industries
Too, respectively.
American
Legion Post 229 (Roselle) is the new sponsor for the former Robin's Nest team,
and The Decorating Store replaces The Office as a sponsor.
The
final 2015 financial report was distributed and reviewed. We had a $769.97
surplus for the year. At their annual yearend meeting in November, league
officers agreed that even with reasonable (and as yet unknown) increases in
costs this year our finances are such that no increase in fees is needed for
the upcoming season. Therefore, Player
fees for 2016 remain at $75, and $135 for those who play in both the
50+ and 60+ divisions.
Registration/waiver forms were emailed in late December. Managers are reminded to check them for
accuracy, legibility, and completeness when received from team members.
Players should be encouraged to include their email addresses if they are
interested in receiving regular league updates and announcements. Please bring completed forms to future
meetings as you receive them rather than waiting until April to submit the
entire team together.
Sponsor
letters were emailed to managers in December.
Sponsor fees of $500 per team are due at the beginning of the season.
Managers were
reminded of UCSSL Rule 4.4. -- "REGISTRATION:
The League entry fee and team roster (preliminary) must be submitted
before the scheduling meeting that is held in mid-April. Final rosters are due by May 15th of each year. No
changes can be made after that date unless deemed necessary by league
officials."
Managers were
also reminded that any player who expects to transfer from one team to another
league team this season must inform both the league commissioner and their 2015
team manager by January 31.
The annual
league banquet/awards night, held Friday, October 2, was reviewed. There were 95 paid attendees, almost as many
as our most ever last year. We also had
several guests, including 5 league ASA umpires and two 25+ year league veterans.
Managers seeking
new players should let the commissioner know so he can direct inquiries to
those teams most in need.
Although
improving, there is still a need for additional team leaders/contacts !! – duties
include completing team rosters and/or submitting results/highlights with a
Friday night deadline. Most teams do a
great job with these responsibilities, others need improvement.
Weekly
highlights and standings, league schedules and rules, and other UCSSL (as well
as other county's) information is available on the NJSSA website: http://njseniorsoftball.com/ , which is updated regularly.
Managers
agreed to utilize SB-12 softballs again this season.
Shirt order
forms are to be returned by the March league meeting. Teams in need of equipment should let Gary
Wiese know.
Fields are likely
to be similar to last year but we are seeking to add dates at additional fields
if at all possible, and at this time are uncertain as to the status of
UCSSL
Teams/Divisions in 2016
60s:
A B
Awnings II American Legion
Kilkenny
House DeBellis Associates
Creative I Creative Too
Decorating
Store Avengers
In the 50+
Division, by league rule Linwood Inn moves up to the A Division, Contact Lens
& Vision moves down to the B Division.
50s:
A B C
Deegan Roofing Contact Lens Waxtel Constr.**
Roselle Legion Top
Line Appl. Linda #2
Linwood Inn Awnings
Galore D & K
LLG Cranford VFW A J Jersey
Riverside Inn **
** Waxtel Construction has made it known that
they would like to remain in the B Division and Riverside Inn has stated that
they would like to remain in the C Division.
Officers agree that this is a better arrangement, and it is also allowed
by past precedent, so Waxtel remains in the B Division and
The season will
begin on Monday, April 18 with Game 24 of 50s (26 game dates, 2 byes per team)
on Thursday, July 14, and Game 24 of 60s on Wednesday, July 13.
The second NJSSA
winter meeting was held this past Saturday morning. The #1 topic at these meetings is always the
state tournaments. A proposal was made at
that meeting to transform at least part of the 50+ tournament to an
inter-county league "all-star" tourney because it has been difficult
to get some of the better teams from other counties to participate for a
variety of reasons. The suggestion is to
have each league form two teams consisting of players selected by each of two A
Division managers from that league. It
is hoped that there would be anywhere from 6 to 12 teams playing a double elimination
format tournament.
The other 50+
Divisions and the 60+ tournament would continue as they have the past two
years. [July 23 for 50+, August 27 for
60+, both in Linden (and elsewhere if necessary?)]
Also, the
tournament committee is looking for some younger guys to step up and help to
run the tournaments. If you have an
interest in helping out, please let it be known.
There was not
much support by UCSSL managers for this proposal to change the 50+ A Division
format. The belief is that league teams
with tournament level players would participate in our NJSSA tournament if we
would avoid the major tournament weekends such as the
Information
for the NJSSA newsletter due by May 1.
Please let us know if you would like to submit an interesting
(non-softball) article about a team member or would like to highlight one of
our successful NJSSA tournament championship teams.
A proposal to
further "level the playing field" in the 60+ Division by allowing 70+
year old players to use "tournament bats" was briefly discussed. It was decided to have 60+ managers discuss
this option as well as our current accommodations for our "les strong
teams" at our February meeting.
50+ Division managers
voted to increase the limit on the number of out of county (
Remaining 2016 meetings (Wednesdays):
February 10 -- Initial discussion of possible revisions to our current league rules.
Breakout into separate 50+ and 60+ groups to discuss possible accommodations for games between stronger and less strong teams.
March 9 -- Discussion and possible revision of rules.
Please review current league rules and begin preparing
wording of proposals for change.
Shirt orders due.
Field selection, if possible.
April 6 -- Distribution of balls, rule books, scorebooks and umpire checks.