TRU Board Meeting Notes – 6/27/22

    1. Roll Call
      1. Young
      2. Kurylas
      3. Roche
      4. Wilson
      5. Martin
      6. Tate
      7. HIller
      8. Dodge
        1. Regrets
          1. Tomsak
    2. USAR XVs Nationals
      1. Tate: Congratulations to the Reds for taking home the USA Rugby Club Men’s D1 title! Simba Musarurwa took home the tournament MVP award.
      2. Roche: Simba was great, he said upon receipt of the award that he didn’t think that forwards ever got those awards!
      3. Tate: Their scrum was absolutely dominant throughout the weekend and Simba was on the pitch for every minute of it. Also our region, the Gulf Coast, did quite well. All 3 men’s National Champions came out of our region, WD1 was Red River/Rocky Mtn with Colorado and WD2 Knoxville came out of Gulf Coast. So our regions are doing very well!
    3. 7s
      1. TOLA/RRRC
        1. Roche: I’m working on my writeup from Bloodfest, but quick summary is:
          1. TOLA 
            1. Men: Huns white has 7 points, NOLA 7, Dallas 5, Huns Blue 5, West Houston 5, Huns Gold 4, Grand Prairie 3, Blacks 2 and the list goes on…
            2. Women: Maulgaritaville has 8 points, Quins 7, sHARCs 2 7 points, Grand Prairie 5, Rock Rugby 5, Alliance 4 and Dallas 3
          2. RRRC
            1. Men: Dallas has 6 points, Huns 4, Blacks 2 and Quins have 1 point. 
            2. Women: sHARCs have 6 points, Hartford Harpooners (TBC) has 4 and the Valkyries have 2
        2. Dodge: I think we have a few things to confirm after the weekend since this was our biggest hybrid weekend yet. I’ll set up a call with Fil, Kat and I.
    4. W College
      1. Tate: I wanted to let the Board know that the women’s colleges have a new commissioner, Chris Botto. They have also voted to join the National College Rugby (NCR) and rejoin the Lonestar College Conference. I’ve notified Shawn (TRRA) and USA Rugby. They will be getting their referees theoretically from the Lonestar referees. That should ease fixture congestion for TRRA and reduce the likelihood of TRU using Lonestar referees if we have overflow. I don’t know what that does in terms of match opportunities for new referees as I would imagine that some of those matches were a good opportunity for newer referees. Do we need to be thinking about tournaments and socials in the fall that provide good referee warmup and training?
      2. Martin: TRRA is a bit confused about this, we felt that we had left a positive impact on their matches. There were cases where scheduling was tough because notice of changes or new events were very late. There was a tournament that we couldn’t cover and it was done by Lonestar, we did receive complaints about the quality but that isn’t our society.
      3. Tate: I don’t think the genesis was referees, they are moving to NCR because they are offering more than USA Rugby is. I think the referee society switch is because Lonestar is serviced by those referees.
      4. Martin: My comment would be that we think this will be a detriment to their competition. 
      5. Tate: TRRA is free to talk with those teams about their services. I have heard that there is confusion/frustration by referee societies because USAR doesn’t recognize NCR and vice versa. This has become a bit issue on the East coast because referees just want to do games, they don’t care about the conference or Union. 
      6. Martin: Yes, it causes confusion with our referees and across the board. 
      7. Tate: We are totally OK if TRRA wants to continue servicing this part of the game. We have valued having the Women’s Colleges in our Union and would welcome them back anytime.
    5. Fines
      1. San Antonio W vs BARC – BARC unplayed forfeit
        1. Young: BARC has requested a waiver of the fine as they’ve essentially folded and most of their leadership has transferred to the SHARCs. I’ve spoken with their new leadership and they are expecting to field a team next season and are recruiting hard.
        2. Tate: Glad to hear that they are rallying and intend to field a side next cycle. Have they ever had any other fines or outstanding issues?
        3. Young: No, not that I’m aware of.
        4. Hiller: This is a home match for San Antonio, do we know if there were any costs associated with renting a field or concession sales, etc?
        5. Young: The notification of forfeit was done well in advance due to known injuries and other conflicts.
        6. Tate: Any other discussion? None.
        7. Kurylas: I motion that we probate the fine on the condition that they have a full side at the start of the competitive cycle (Sep 2022). 
          1. Martin: Second.
          2. Tate: Any objections? None. APPROVED.
      2. Austin Huns vs Grand Prairie D3 –  Huns unplayed forfeit
        1. Young: Paid 6/17.
        2. Tate: We need to make sure they haven’t double paid, Hansel is sure they paid it. I paid it so they wouldn’t be in arrears or cause any issues with hosting Bloodfest.
        3. Young: OK, I’ll check with Pfleger to see if double payment has been issued.
          1. Young 6/28 Update: Pfleger confirmed that only one payment has been received via Paypal by Kirk Tate.
      3. Alamo City playoff unplayed forfeit
        1. Young: Sent reminder 6/17.
        2. Tate: Have we heard anything?
        3. Young: No.
        4. Tate: Ok, we’ll just keep that in our pocket as we plan the 2022-2023 cycle as this means they are not in good standing. RRRC is also aware.
    6. Grants
      1. Shawn Cox – Maccabi Games
        1. Young: This was approved via email, same as other Maccabi Games recipient.
        2. Tate: We approved this via email and we’re excited that Shawn is returning to the Games.
        3. Hiller: This is his third trip but perhaps his first time to play as he has been injured each time before. Best of luck!
    7. New Clubs
      1. sHARCs D2
        1. Tate: sHARCs are already a club in good standing, so this falls to the RRRC to allow entrance of a second side. In general this is something we are generally good with, we want to be growth oriented. We do want to be aware of forfeits so we will want to continue to scrutinize their numbers. 
      2. Heart of Oklahoma Rugby Football Club – Jackson Williams
        1. Young: Club based out of Norman, OK who wants to play XVs starting with men and will eventually start a women’s side along with youth. Have received an application and they requested help on a set of Bylaws, I sent that request to the Board. Did anyone reach out?
        2. Tate: This would be a third men’s club in Oklahoma?
        3. Young: Correct.
        4. Tate: For those that aren’t aware, Norman is about 25 mins from OKC. There is some density with about 1 million people but three clubs is more dense than we’ve ever seen before.
        5. Dodge: Note that Tribe has asked to move up to MD2.
        6. Young: I would note that OU has a strong men’s college and when their players age out they generally play for one of the OKC teams or Tulsa. Some do stay in town but I would wonder how many would continue to play.
        7. Tate: Did Tribe and Crusaders meet all of their obligations this past season?
        8. Kurylas: Yes Tribe did.
        9. Dodge: I believe Crusaders did as well.
        10. Young; Their schedule was smaller due to MD4 but they participated in everything.
        11. Tate: We would want to make sure we’re not seeing a shift of players from one club to another…right Dodge?
        12. Kurylas: I reached out to them about the bylaws template and I sent some examples. I asked him some more probing questions but haven’t heard back.
        13. Tate: Ok, we will see if their application materializes and if it does, we treat them like everyone else and give them a shot. It would be good for the Union to have three teams in that region and we want to support good rugby. As long as they have good leadership, administration, etc we are willing to consider it.
      3. West Texas Performance Academy – Kevin Phillipson
        1. Young: Club based out of Abilene, TX who will focus on 7s and potentially XVs in the future. No application or other details have been received even after reminders.
        2. Tate: The previous Abilene club pretty much folded, right?
        3. Dodge: Yes. They haven’t had a team since before COVID.
        4. Tate: I believe it was a D4 team in 2016 or 2017. 
        5. Dodge: At the tail end of COVID he had a team that was made up of mostly Abilene Christian University. But I don’t think those players are available since they would be playing college ball.
        6. Tate: They haven’t sent in an application and we’ve played the two biggest 7s tournaments of the summer?
        7. Young: Correct.
        8. Tate: Ok, this will be a wait and see.
        9. Dodge: They could easily get a group of men together, register and play TOLA.
        10. Tate: Yes, we would welcome that.
    8. Accident Claims
      1. Young: Michael Norton of the Austin Blacks notified the TRU Board that claims have been filed but no notification or communication is occurring. 
      2. Tate: We received this notice a few weeks ago and today we received another notice from Dallas Quins W. The ExCo is aware and this was discussed briefly on the national club council call (raised by Dodgie) two weeks ago with the USAR Club Council. Poor/slow claims processing is a widespread problem that we are escalating to the USAR Board level. We will let you  know when we know more, but it’s one of a number of issues that is also going to be discussed as part of the dues and services negotiations with USAR for the 2022-23 cycle. We’d recommend that when requesting updates that you include these folks:
        1. Jess Dombrowski    jdombrowski@usa.rugby
        2. Johnathan Atkeison    jatkeison@usa.rugby
        3. Jamie McGregor    jmcgregor@usa.rugby
      3. Tate: This needs to be leveraged in our future negotiations, if we are paying for it but if claims aren’t going through then it is a waste.
      4. Dodge: I’ve had a couple of conversations with Johnathan and he has told me that the process will be more automated going forward. Sometimes the hold up is lack of personnel at USAR to verify the claim, their registration status and the other details.
      5. Tate: I’m thinking I’ll call Jonathan this week and put a little bug in his ear about it. Our members provide leverage and we need to exercise it.
    9. Summit
      1. Courses
        1. Young: Courses have been released to the members! We’ve already received a few signups and they will fill up so don’t wait: https://texasrugbyunion.com/2022/06/17/2022-summit-registration/. These will sell out! The courses will be released on USAR website as of July 1.
        2. Tate: Yes, sign up early!
      2. Hotel Block
        1. Young: As in years past we are offering a hotel block, rooms are a come on a first reserved basis and must be booked by August 12.
      3. Inventory
        1. Young: We have stickers, a few balls and koozies. Do we want anything else?
        2. Tate: Let’s order what we talked about below but let’s not get carried away. 
        3. Out of TRU balls, do we want to order more?
          1. Young: We sold out of these pretty fast and I recommend we do another similar order (without the 50th anniversary logo).
          2. Tate: Yes, if we’re recouping 100% of our cost and our logo/brand is out in the community then I think it is worth doing. 
          3. Young: Yes, we’re making a little bit of profit.
          4. Tate: I would be in favor of ordering more, any objections? None. APPROVED.
        4. Open up polos and maybe do a tshirt?
          1. Young: We have one left, a 2XL. We did these pre-order so we didn’t carry inventory. We offered a 50th and a normal TRU logo one. They are quite expensive so if we do it we should continue to pre-order.
          2. Tate: Ok, we can open the pre-order again. What kind of shirts would we do?
          3. Young: I was thinking we could open it up for a design contest or do something non-formal?
          4. Tate: Sure. We could even do the open button shirts, the camp or guayabera shirts? Courtney has the hookup on those.
    10. HOF
      1. Tate: The HOF members had a call last week to discuss the nine finalists. We are now working on choosing final nominations this week and announce the final class very soon. I would expect a class of four to five. They have also chosen to honor a club that has won a past National Championship as well as two new awards: Meritorious Service Awards and the Alan Sharpley Memorial Award. These aren’t necessarily HOF inductions but we want to recognize them.
        1. Young Update 6/30: The Inductees have been announced! Check it out: https://www.texasrugbyunionhof.com/2022/06/30/tru-announces-hof-class-of-2022/.
      2. Hotel Block
        1. Young: As in years past we are offering a hotel block, rooms are a come on a first reserved basis and must be booked by August 12.
      3. Tickets
        1. Young: Tickets are available now and must be purchased by August 22.
    11. Elections
      1. TRU
        1. President – Sep 2023 (3 year term)
        2. Vice President – Sep 2022 (3 year term) Tomsak
        3. DI M Rep – Sep 2022 (3 year term) Dodge
        4. W Rep – Sep 2022 (3 year term) Wilson
        5. DII M Rep – Sep 2024 (3 year term)
        6. DIII M Rep – Sep 2024 (3 year term)
          1. Young: Looking at dates we should probably open nominations Aug 1, close them on Sep 2 and then open forum for questions at AGM with digital vote afterwards.
          2. Tate: Have Dodge and Marie decided if you are going to run again? Tomsak isn’t on the call tonight.
          3. Dodge: Yes, I would like to run for the Board again but may give up the Competitions Chair.
          4. Wilson: I haven’t decided against it. 🙂
          5. Young: Dodge, I wasn’t on the RRRC call last month but I think we can follow the same dates. We will determine who is up for election soon and let everyone know. It’s every position but on a bi-yearly basis as reps sit for 2 years.
          6. Dodge: Yes and we’re doing the open forum for questions at the AGM?
          7. Young: Yes and that is on Sunday, Sep 11.
      2. TRRA
        1. Martin: I was out of the country but the TRRA elections were held at Bloodfest. Kat, can you catch us up?
        2. Roche: Scott Green was elected as the returning TRRA Chairman. As part of that he is selecting his own Vice Chair and regional representatives were elected:
          1. North: Mary Waller
          2. South: Robin McClure
          3. Central: Drew Low
        3. Young: Traci will be Treasurer! 
        4. Tate: We’re excited to have Scott and Traci back but can’t thank Shawn enough for his contributions. 
        5. Martin: You are all in good hands with Scott. It has been fun and I’ll still be involved. 
    12. Summer AGM
      1. Young: We posted an announcement last month that our Summer AGM will be separate from the Summit. It will be Sunday, September 11.
    13. 501c3
      1. Tate: I’ve gone through the application with the Lawyers and it should be filed next week. We will then continue to wait and it is anticipated that it could be 3 months but it could be as long as 7-8 months.
      2. Dodge: The USAR Club Council filed months ago and we’re still waiting.
      3. Tate: The IRS is hugely backlogged so we will continue to be patient. We did make one change from the registered agent to a service. That provides more efficiency with changes in leadership.
    14. 2021 Rugby World Cup
      1. Young: KAT WAS SELECTED AS AN AR FOR THE 2021 RUGBY WORLD CUP!!!! Congratulations.
      2. Roche: Thank you, I’m very excited.
    15. New Business
      1. None.
    16. Meeting Adjournment (9:20 PM)
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