San Diego Table Tennis Association

Board Meeting

 June 19, 2012

Balboa Park Activity Center Board Room

This meeting is open to all members of the SDTTA. Call to order 7:15 pm by Ron. SDTTA Board Members Present:  Ron Spencer, Frederick Cheung, Borko Dragojlovic, James Kahn, Shelley Hardy, and Shariq Ansari SDTTA Board Members not present:  Bill Chang. SDTTA Member present:  Jerry Harris The motion to approve May 15, 2012 SDTTA Board Meeting minutes was made by Ron and seconded by Shariq. Communications not on the agenda have a limit of 3 minutes. Action Items:

1. Treasurer’s Report:

a.   Bill Chang gave the Treasurer’s report to James and he will give the report to the Secretary tomorrow and will go over the report at next month’s meeting in June.

b. The status of money returned from cancelled tournament is that the form has been turned in to BPAC director Michelle.

c. The SDTTA board members wanted to discuss whether or not to renew D&O policy with Wells Fargo Insurance was of any value.  The Board asked former board member Jerry Harris to attend and answer this question.   Jerry stated that it protects us board members against any law suits against as board members whether they are frivolous or not.  The Board members voted that it is in our best interest to continue the insurance policy.

2. Webmaster Report –No report
3. Peewee/Jr report/ Angie – Brana – Earl:  The name of this group has been changed to the Juic Team.
4. Equipment/Executive Director’s report:
   1. Net breakage is down.  On one new table it has been observed that the plastic support under table holding the metal base has cracked so we need to put an orange sticker on it to have it held evaluate the damage.
   2. James Kahn gave an update on the new Friday night top table.  It is a work in progress and will be continued to see if more people come Friday night as an incentive.   James is in charge and will reserve two rows and it will start at 5:45 pm.
5. Membership report: Current membership is 237.  It was stated that children in families may not be registered and to add them a fictional email address needs to be made on them so that the registration site will accept them as members.
6. Old Business:

Tournament update:

1. The Neil Smythe Memorial Table Tennis has been tentatively set for November 10 and 11, 2012.   Ron will contact BPAC to see if the date is open and he will contact USTTA for setting the sanctioned tournament.  James will look for a tournament director and email the board members in one week.  Ron stated that if no one else would volunteer as Tournament Director that he would do it.  James has a list of members who are interested in helping with the tournament.
2. Frederick Cheung:

1. Recommended that writing up a statement explaining the purpose of this tournament be put on the SDTTA website for our members to read and increase interest in this tournament.  Ron volunteered to write and have Daryl put it in the website.
2. Put on the board a list of suggestions on how to run this tournament smoothly which included:
   1. Check in – tags to ID players
   2. Table Chiefs – enforcement policy

1. Enforcement policy
   1. 2 min warm-up enforcement
   2. No stalling
   3. Only tournament matches in area

3. Scheduling – electronic vs. manual schedule and most players prefer round robin style rather than single elimination.   A first time category will be decided later.

4. Clean up and set up:  The possibility of hiring a cleanup crew on the last day has been suggested.

b. Sample barriers and table from HiQua TT – Frederick will check with HiQua when he goes to LA about the barriers.  Ron wants to evaluate the quality of the HiQua tables before purchasing any.

7. New Business:   SDTTA annual picnic date has been scheduled for September 15th at 12:30 pm.

The motion to adjourn was made by Ron and it was seconded by James.

The next meeting is July 17, 2012.

Respectfully Submitted,

Shelley Hardy, SDTTA Secretary

Hi, Our second attempt at Top Table went much smoother. We tried to get the better players (Koji and Ron) to start at the bottom and move up. We had 7 tables participating. Games all ended at the same time when the first winner was done. For one hour between 6:00 and 7:00 games went quickly and partners were changed. All in all it was fun. Most of us got to compete with some different players than usual. Fridays are getting quieter and starting at 6:00 might be late for some since the early players are getting tired. Not many people coming in later than 6:00.  

Hi, Our Friday night experiment with Top Table went pretty well. Most people enjoyed the opportunity to play a lot of different people that they never get to play. The lower seeded players were delighted to have the chance to beat someone above them in one game. (I lost a lot, thank you.) We didn’t structure the table order real clear. Maybe I will put numbers on tables. The best players should have started on the bottom tables and worked their way up. We allowed late entrees to pop in. Nobody wanted to stop their game until it was finished, which left people standing around waiting for a winner. I started it early at 5:30 since the 4:00 players were already getting tired and the room wasn’t crowded with new people coming. Almost everyone joined in except Frank and others hadn’t warmed up yet and weren’t ready for competition. We will keep it going and advertise it better. The summer at the club might start becoming a bit quiet. Thanks, James Kahn

Have you ever played “Top Table”? Come on down to the club and join the fun! Just ask board member, James Kahn, for help! The fun starts at 6pm.

San Diego Table Tennis Association

Board Meeting

 May 15, 2012

Balboa Park Activity Center Board Room

This meeting is open to all members of the SDTTA. Call to order 7:12 pm by James. SDTTA Board Members Present:  Bill Chang, James Kahn, Shelley Hardy, and Shariq Ansari SDTTA Board Members not present:  Ron Spencer and Borko Dragojlovic. SDTTA Member Present:  Micki Farrell The approval of March 13, 2012 minutes was made by James and seconded by Shariq. Communications not on the agenda have a limit of 3 minutes. Action Items:

1. Treasurer’s Report:  Bill Chang passed out two Treasurer’s Reports.  March is reconciled through March 31, 2012 and April is reconciled through April 30, 2012.
2. Webmaster Report –No report
3. Equipment/Executive Director’s report:  There was a question if we needed any new nets.  It was tabled until the next meeting
4. Membership report: Not available.
5. Earl Alto resigned at SDTTA board member.  Three people were nominated for the position, Mark Adelman, Frederick Cheung, and Micki Farrell.  Ron called in his vote.  Frederick Cheung was voted in with 5 votes to take Earl’s place as SDTTA board member.  Thank you Frederick for joining the board. Thank you Mark and Micki for showing your interest in serving on the board.
6. Bill Chang spoke to Stellan regarding the quarterly payment SDTTA gives the Stell/Angie coaching junior program.  Stellan stated that he didn’t want the payment.  Bill will come back to the next board meeting to clarify the clubs relationship with Stellan and Angie Bengsstrom.
7. Old Business:

a. Tournament update:  A meeting has been called for board members to meet Saturday, May 26 at 11 am to decide if the Neil Smythe memorial tournament is still possible this year.  We need a tournament director and a date.

8. New Business:
   1. SDTTA yearly club membership dues are $50.  The motion proposing to keep the fee of $50 until Oct 1, 2012 and then charging $25 until the end of this year was made and seconded.  The SDTTA board voted this proposal to be made effective immediately and to have this notice put on the website.  The SDTTA junior fee will be adjusted accordingly to $15.  The SDTTA family fee will be adjusted accordingly to $50.
   2. The SDTTA is aware that some members may have a hardship and are not able to pay the membership fee.  The SDTTA board has set up a protocol for these persons to contact Suresh Kanecar and he will make the arrangements known to the SDTTA board regarding the member.   This arrangement was made on past SDTTA boards and the present board members agree that this is a fair and respectful resolution for hardship cases.  There will be a posting on our website regarding this issue.
   3. James brought up the possibility of stirring up interest for Friday nights at the club by having a floating round robin.  People who are interested can sign up on the sheet posted on our board.  This is a work in progress and adjustments to make it enjoyable will evolve.  Everyone starts at the same time.  The first players who reach 11 will stop and everyone stops.  The winner goes forward and the loser backward.  For those who haven’t finished, whoever has the highest score advances (if there is a tie they play for last point and that person advances).  The Floating Round Robin will begin June 8th.  James will be the leader for now.  This will be posted on our website.
   4. James volunteered to check into a logo SDTTA table tennis shirt.  He will report back to the board his findings.

The motion to adjourn was made by Bill and it was seconded by Shariq.

The next meeting is June 19, 2012.

Respectfully Submitted,

Shelley Hardy, SDTTA Secretary

Our very own Brana Vlašić, who trains in the JUIC Competitive Coaching Group, made it to the semi final round of the 2012 College Table Tennis Championships! She represented her college, UCSD, in Plano, Texas where the event was held. Be sure to congratulate her! Check out some of her excellent wins along the way, including victories over Sara Hazinski (rated 2438) and Marcus Jackson (rated 2445)! For the full results, click here.

Every Sunday at noon, there is an open round robin at Santa Monica College. Since we were closed for Earth Day, some SDTTA members decided to drive up and compete in it with some good results! Last Sunday, our very own Earl Alto and Ron Spencer took 1st and 2nd place, respectively. View other past winners and get more details by clicking here.