Meeting Minutes

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Monday, November 29th, 2004
Hall of Fame Room Acadia Arena

Present: Dave Duncan, Doug Eaton, Lynn Connors, Carrie Hemmings, Mike Graves, Sheila Bower-Jacquard, John Curry, Cam Pongoski, Paul Murphy
Absent: Larry Rodriques, Dave Upton, Harold Fisher, Dave Deacon, Scott Bigelow, Karen Smith

The Minutes for the October 22nd, 2004 meeting were approved.

$10,000 NOTICE QUICK START GRANT

Dave Duncan reported that we received a Nova Scotia Recreation Commission Physical Activity Grant. The children in this program will be tracked annually which will provide the Association with an opportunity to obtain further funding for this group as if they progress through the minor hockey. Parents will be asked to sign a release of information form and any information gathered in relation to the players will be held in an internal government data base. Renee Murphy, who was involved in the Quick Start Program can make further additional funding requests for renewal of this grant on an annual basis.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The cash flow statement prepared by Carrie Hemmings was approved and is attached as Schedule "A". Carrie noted there was a requirement to prepare a budget to get Directors' Liability Insurance and she and Sheila Bower-Jacquard will prepare one.

PLAYER EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE

There was a lengthy discussion in relation to the Evaluation Questionnaires. Lynn Connors advised that the Parent Questionnaire had originally been developed by Dave Upton and Dave Duncan. The On-Ice Personnel and Off-Ice Personnel and Coaches Questionnaire were developed from comments made by Paul Murphy in an e-mail, review of the material from the Regina Minor Hockey Association in relation to how the promotion system should work, discussions with coaches in the system, and Lynn's own observations. Because there have been changes in the questionnaires from the original version previously forwarded, it was decided that finalization of the questionnaires would occur on Sunday evening, December 5th, 2004 at a time and location to be set by Dave Duncan. Doug Eaton and Paul Murphy expressed their support of the questionnaires in principle.

Lynn Connors made a motion that she be appointed to review the evaluation process which was seconded by Mike Graves and approved unanimously.

KAMHA RESOLUTION

Mike Graves briefly presented the KAMHA Resolution, a copy of which is attached as Schedule "B" (below Schedule A - same document). The question of when a public meeting would occur was deferred and Sheila Bower-Jacquard suggested that it would be more appropriate after the questionnaires had been returned and reviewed. There was discussion in relation to this agenda item and the previous agenda item of a news letter being formulated quickly to keep the membership current as to the activities of the Association. Motion made by Mike Graves to table the discussion as to when the public meeting with KAMHA would be scheduled. This was seconded by John Currie and unanimously approved.

FEMALE JAMBOREE

Karen Smith's report is attached as Schedule "C" (below Schedule B - same document).

COACHING CLINICS, MENTOR PROGRAM AND HDW

Attached as Schedule "D" (below Schedule C - same document) are reports from Paul Murphy in relation to the above-noted topics. There was a lengthy discussion concerning Hockey Nova Scotia's inflexibility in scheduling necessary Coaches' Clinics in our region which potentially compromises the ability for certain coaches to continue in their capacity. Paul advised that all division coordinators had to contact all of their coaches and advise Paul by no later than Thursday, December 2nd, 2004, which coaches needed to re qualify and at what level. At that point, Paul would submit the names which meets the requirement of the 10 day registration in advance and would also meet the requirement if a cancellation occurred five days before the commencement of the course. It was noted that the scheduling of the coaching clinic had been a nightmare province wide.

In relation to questions raised concerning the Hockey Development weekend, all teams received equal ice time and it was noted that Sunday's schedule was cancelled because of weather. In relation to the Mentor Program, it was noted that the attendees were novice or house coaches, that the package of material provided would address most ongoing coaching questions at a competitive or house level. Doug Eaton discussed the necessity of encouraging coaches to have a binder with the following information in it:

1. Executive phone list;
2. Players' health forms;
3. Accident insurance form;
4. Phone number for Regional Director of Hockey Nova Scotia, coaches and/or managers in their division with other Associations; 5. Information on how to update your hockey passport.

It was noted as well that the Mentorship Program is voluntary and that there has been one referral by a parent of a coach thus far. Doug Eaton and Paul Murphy will be scheduling hot stove meetings to be hosted by each division to deal with specific coaching issues and to provide an exchange of information.

REGISTRATION

Total registration for Acadia Minor Hockey is 633 players.

ICE TIME

Ice time attached as Schedule "E" (below Schedule D - same document) is the current ice schedule and there are no anticipated changes at this point other than to attempt to obtain more ice from the Kentville arena.

50/50

Sheila Bower-Jacquard reported that the 50/50 draw is struggling. She cited that historically more KAMHA than East Kings parents have been selling which has contributed to larger draws. She noted that the draw number has dropped and there may be other factors which have contributed to this such as the late start up of the program and late access to parent lists. However, Sheila's primary point is the unhappiness of KAMHA parents with decisions being made at the Board level is impacting the interest and/or commitment of parents to sell tickets from KAMHA. In particular, because KAMHA parents are only receiving $.75 per ticket as opposed to $.90 per ticket, she advised that this, in combination with unhappiness in the KAMHA community, over decisions being made at Board level has resulted in a drop in ticket sales. Her recommendation was that parents from each Association should receive the same benefit from the 50/50 draw to reduce any feelings of "them v. us". Her recommendation that all Associations, KAMHA, East Kings and Acadia provide a $.90 credit back to parents to provide them with an incentive to sell tickets. Further, the prize for the most tickets sold would also help to stimulate more interest in the ticket program. It was noted by John Curry and Carrie Hemmings that an East Kings Board was coming up this week to deal with the question of a 50/50 draw and a decision in relation to this issue was deferred to the anticipated Sunday, December 5th meeting.

BANTAM AAA PLAYERS

5 Bantam AAA players have been named to the Hockey Nova Scotia under 15 and under 16 All Star team. There are 2 first year Bantam players and 3 second year Bantam players named to these teams.

PEE WEE AAA TEAM

Dave Duncan reported that a Renegade group of three sets of parents have created discord with this team which is affecting the children's ability to play. David Upton has been accused of verbally abusing one of the players on the team which, based on an investigation conducted by Mike Graves, from his perspective, has been shown to be false. Dave Duncan recommended that the Executive had to take control of this situation. Lynn Connors reported on her discussions with Dave Duncan on Wednesday, November 24th, 2004, on how to address the abuse allegation and deal with the upcoming practices and weekend. She reported to the group that she has requested that Dave Duncan line up a well respected hockey person with mediation skills to meet with the parents and the coaches and try to resolve this matter before it reached Board level in the interest of preserving the season for all of the AAA players involved and also, preventing any negative fall out for the rest of the Pee Wee Division. She also recommended to Dave Duncan that he contact Risk Management with Hockey Nova Scotia right away. She noted that the recommendations she made in relation to the upcoming Thursday practice had been followed. She also noted her discussions with Mike Graves in relation to Mike's request that the parents put their allegations in writing and sign it before the matter was brought to Board level. Lynn noted that Harold Fisher had contacted her on Thursday, November 30th, 2004, and asked that the removal of Dave Upton be added to the agenda for this evening's meeting and that she had advised Harold that any request to remove Dave Upton had to be clarified; was the request being made to have him removed as a coach, or as a member of the Board of Directors because the process was different. Lynn advised the Board that in her discussions with Dave Duncan on Wednesday, and her discussions with Harold Fisher on Thursday, she advised both that she was in a conflict because of her contact with both Brady and Harold Fisher because her son had played for two years with Brady and had been his line mate on many occasions and also had attended hockey camps with him.

Dave reported that in his discussions with Wayne MacPherson, Risk Management Hockey Nova Scotia, he advised that the parents be provided with a letter stating the following:

• Their children's involvement in Minor Hockey was a privilege, not a right;
• Parents were expected to behave appropriately and support all players on the team and respect the team structure;
• There would be consequences if parents did not comply with the above and in particular, that parents would be asked to not attend the arena when the children were playing; and
• The final penalty would be that the child would be removed from the team.

Sheila Bower-Jacquard and Lynn Connors strenuously objected to this dictatorial approach suggested by Hockey Nova Scotia and reiterated the request for mediation. Mike Graves reiterated the results of his investigation and his concerns about the legitimacy of the allegations of the parents in relation to Dave Upton's coaching of the team and in relation to any potential allegation of abuse because it was not reduced to writing. Lynn responded that in her discussions with Harold Fisher, he verbally advised her of the particulars of the allegation of abuse and from her perspective, that was enough for the Board to respond to. Dave Duncan advised that the parents had appointed David Hayes to act as an intermediary between the coaches and the parents and there was a meeting scheduled for Saturday.

December 4th, 2004. Sheila and Lynn expressed concern because of the potential lack of support for Mr. Hayes in trying to deal with the situation. However, Doug Eaton recommended that the parents be allowed to have their meeting and attempt to resolve the matter on their own. Doug and Paul Murphy advised that they were quite prepared to meet with the parents and the coaching staff in a timely fashion to try to mediate some resolution and report back to the Board by not later than Thursday, December 9th, 2004. If Doug and Paul were unable to resolve the conflict, they would make recommendation to the Board on how to proceed.

Meeting adjourned at 12:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
LYNN M. CONNORS
Secretary