UCSSL MEETING MINUTES FOR JANUARY 20, 2016

 

The following is a summary of our league meeting of January 20, 2016 --

 

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 Rahway River Park.

 

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 Riverside in the C Division.    

 

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 Manassas Virginia tournament.

 

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 (OOC) players per team from 7 to 8 in 2016.

 

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.