At the request of our members the TRU Board will be releasing their monthly board call minutes and notes. View all of the TRU archived minutes or read on for the most recent notes:
- Roll Call
- Young
- Kurylas
- Wilson
- Martin
- Tate
- Dodge
- Tomsak
- Roche
- Hiller
- Regrets
- Unplayed Forfeit Review
- 3/26
- San Antonio W vs BARC – BARC unplayed forfeit notified Friday night
- Austin Huns vs Grand Prairie D3 – Huns unplayed forfeit Match Change form Friday
- Young: Kat and I reviewed our lengthy list and these appear to be the only ones that had late notifications.
- Tate: Ok, we will apply the forfeit policy as it is written. A reminder, the policy is not fining people for being short of players, the policy is fining people for not playing the game and not giving timely notice to the Union and TRRA. We’re not about kicking a team while they are down but it only takes one person to give the required notice. Played forfeits are fine.
- Young: I’ve sent invoices as of 5/18.
- Alamo City playoff forfeit invoice
- Young: I’ve heard nothing from them so I wanted to leave this in that I sent a reminder today.
- 3/26
- Gulf Coast Super Regionals
- Tate: I want to thank everyone and in particular David Dodge for pulling that event off. It went very well and we were the only Super Regional that streamed the matches. There were some challenges around one of the WD2 teams dropping out and the communication/decision process was handled very well with remarkably little pushback from the teams that participated. That is an indication that the teams felt like they were being communicated with and they understood that we were handling things as fairly as we could. I haven’t spoken with the other Unions about that event specifically but I’ll chat with them later this week. But from watching social media posts everyone seemed to be pretty happy. We didn’t have any Texas teams that advanced from the event. Dallas RFC D1 did advance but since they are the only MD1 in the Gulf Coast region they have advanced straight to the final four without having to play in. We’ve already approved their travel grant.
- USA Rugby Nationals – May 20-22 @ Silverbacks Park in Atlanta, Georgia
- Tate: Best of luck to Dallas as they compete in the MD1 Semi-final on Friday evening at 6pm EST against Belmont Shore. If they win they will play on Sunday at 4pm EST. At this time streaming has not been announced for the event but we anticipate it will be available.
- Playoffs Grants
- Dallas RFC – approved already
- sHARCs W – had to travel to Colorado for a playoff
- Tate: We just need to figure out what their player registration number is and it is $25 per player per round. The minimum amount is $25 x 28 players for XVs or $25 x 14 for 7s. We approved that minimum a few years back.
- Young: Ok, I’ll check and confirm. Rutherford had already sent me a note that some of their women were mistakenly registered under the men, so I’ll confirm all of that.
- Young: I’ve calculated their players, confirmed with HARC and instructed our Treasurer to send them a playoff grant.
- U23s Update
- Wilson: They have held all of their tryouts camps and held a selection camp this weekend. The coaches are making final selections this week and then will announce. We are hearing that the event will be in Northern California on June 11-12.
- Young: One of the most expensive places in the USA, ouch.
- Wilson: We’re seeing really great talent and we’re excited about the prospect of the team.
- Tate: Excellent news, we should make sure all of these players know about all the existing women’s clubs and their contact info. That way they know there is a pathway to continue playing whether it’s in the TRU/MARFU or wherever.. We know that there is a massive drop-off from HS to college to Club, so we want to keep all of these players playing!
- Wilson: We have a very strong database that can be leveraged.
- Summit – Houston, TX on August 26-28, 2022
- Hotel
- Young: We’ve signed the contract for the hotel! We also have a room block for $99 a night at the Hilton Houston – Greenway Plaza. Reservations must be made by August 12. We will be releasing course information soon!
- Hotel
- HOF – Houston, TX on August 27, 2022
- Nominations – Due by May 15, now May 30
- Young: Paul Mabry has asked that we expand the window until the end of the month. We’ve heard it’s a busy time and a few more nominations are being worked on.
- Hotel – Hilton Houston – Greenway Plaza
- Nominations – Due by May 15, now May 30
- Summer AGM
- Young: I wanted to check that we really wanted to do the AGM on Sunday after the HOF banquet. We always loathe ourselves for making that choice.
- Tate: Yes, let’s keep it there, we can do it in-person and being hung over means we stay on topic. 🙂
- Tomsak: Could we do it another time that weekend, maybe before the HOF?
- Tate: Saturday is the most popular day for all of the courses so we’ve traditionally done it on Sunday means that those attending the courses on Saturday can do the meeting on Sunday.
- Young: What if we did it Friday night?
- Tate: If we did Friday night they have to stay two nights.
- Roche: Also potentially taking off work on Friday is tough.
- Tate: I’m open to doing it Saturday morning or Sunday mornings. When we started the Summit we did see lots of Union reps taking courses and I’m wondering if there is still overlap.
- Tomsak: A 3 or 4pm on Saturday could be good.
- Young: Logistically this is really tough because we’re all hands on deck getting ready for the HOF. I’m thinking back on the last in-person and I think we had 12 people come in-person? I was wondering if we do virtual on another weekend?
- Tomsak: Yes, it was pretty low attendance and if you remove the Board it was like 8 people. I like virtual better because there is a presentation and then we don’t have lots of people coming and going. I motion that we continue to have virtual AGMs.
- Kurylas: Second.
- Tate: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
- Tate: Ok, the following weekend is Labor Day so we need to avoid that. What about Sunday, Sep 11? I want to stay pretty close to this as it’s our fiscal year.
- Young: Looks good.
- Elections
- President – Sep 2023 (3 year term)
- Vice President – Sep 2022 (3 year term) Tomsak
- DI M Rep – Sep 2022 (3 year term) Dodge
- W Rep – Sep 2022 (3 year term) Wilson
- DII M Rep – Sep 2024 (3 year term)
- DIII M Rep – Sep 2024 (3 year term)
- Young: Looking at dates we should probably open nominations Aug 1, close them on Sep 2 and then open forum at AGM with digital vote afterwards.
- Tate: That sounds reasonable. We would urge all members to review the Board expectations and role descriptions and consider applying. You will have a direct impact on rugby in our Union!
- New Clubs
- Dallas Sevens – Application has been rescinded
- sHARCs D2 – really a RRRC issue but good to hear!
- 501c3
- Tate: I continue to process paperwork that is requested by the lawyer. We don’t qualify for the EZ process because we’re over the limits for income so we have to go the traditional way. This means it could take a few extra months.
- Young: Traci really needs that letter so we can try and avoid the Sales tax for the hotel Summit. That’s easily $3-5k.
- Tate: I understand but I don’t think we will have that in place to void the Sales tax. We will be able to start taking tax deductible donations soon though. This is all based on the attorney and the expected turnaround, it could go faster.
- New Business
- None
- Meeting Adjournment (8:55 PM)
- Roll Call