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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-08 - Parks and Rec Advisory Council Meeting Minutes MINUTES OF THE VILLAGE OF RYE BROOK PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COUNCIL 938 KING STREET RYE BROOK, New York 10573 January 8, 2013 Convene Meeting: Chairman Jamie Schutzer called the meeting to order at 8:25pm. The following Members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Jamie Schutzer, Frank Carbone, Brian Funtleyder, Adam Berman Jennifer Wohl, Christopher Dutra, Adam Zahl, Jennifer Wohl Absent Council Members: Glenn Brettschneider Recreation Department Members: Robert Bertolacci, Parks &Recreation Superintendent Carmella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant 1. Minutes: Chairman Schutzer asked for a motion to accept the December 4, 2012 Minutes. The December 4, 2012 Minutes were tabled until the February Parks and Recreation Advisory Council meeting. H. Public View Points: There were no Public View Points. III. Superintendent's Report a. Carnival Update Superintendent Bertolacci said he was waiting on approval for a specific site. Once that approval is given it will go on the Village Board Agenda for approval. The carnival will be held on April 12, 13 and 14. There are other sites that could potentially host the carnival of which one is 800 Westchester Avenue. Superintendent Bertolacci said he received positive feedback on the property at 900 King Street. Also, we are waiting on the approval from the Arbors. Superintendent Bertolacci reported that he has a company to do the carnival but it can't be addressed before the Village Board until the site has been approved. We will have local vendors at the carnival selling their wares and also food booths. All references have been checked and also insurance requirements will be met. The carnival will coincide with Opening Day of Little League. The Little League parade will start at Ridge Street School and walk to the King Street field where they will have to pass the carnival. The first Opening Day Major League game will be played on the turf field. The hours of the carnival will be Friday from 5pm to l Opm, Saturday 12pm to l Opm, and Sunday 12pm to 5pm. Chairman Schutter asked what help Superintendent would need for the carnival. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would need volunteers to help with the carnival. b. Requests to Host Baseball Tournament Superintendent Bertolacci spoke with Mr. Repaci who had requested use of our fields in June to host a baseball tournament. The dates Mr. Repaci requested were not available. Superintendent Bertolacci offered the baseball club an alternative weekend but that weekend didn't work for them. 1168377.1 c. Baseball/Softball Clinic Superintendent Bertolacci reported that the first session of the baseball clinic for kids grades 2nd to 4th was attended by 35 kids and the next hour for grades 5th to 7th 8 kids attended. There was a video person video taping the kids swing so they were able to see what they were doing wrong. 21" Century is working the clinic and they also did the clinic last year. The 1St and 2'd week of the clinic is focusing on hitting and the next 2 weeks would be focusing on throwing and pitching. No registration is required to attend the clinic,just sign a waiver when attending. The recreation staff will send out an e-mail as a reminder before the next clinic. IV. IV. Basketball Sub-Committee Report a. County Center Team Clarification Committee Member Berman said he spoke to Janice about a basketball player that was injured but attending the games and sitting on the bench. Janice was told by Kyle that even if the player is injured but attended the games, he or she would be eligible for the County Center team. Committee Member Berman thought this issue should be discussed by the council for their input. This was never clarified in the basketball rules in the past. Committee Member Berman said for next basketball season we should have a ruling about any player that may have any injury whether he or she would be eligible to participate in County Center. Committee Member Berman asked what is the ruling on who can participate in Rye Brook Sports. There are kids in the basketball program that don't live in Rye Brook. Superintendent Bertolacci said kids from other towns can play on the Rye Brook basketball program, but they would not be eligible to take a spot from a Rye Brook player on the County Center team. Chairman Schutter said during the 2'd and 3rd grade girls game the referee will correct the girls on what they did wrong without stopping the clock which takes away from playing time for the girls. it is great that the referee wants to help the girls but the clock should be stopped during that time. It was suggested that whoever is working the clock, ask them to stop the clock when any referee is taking a teachable moment. Committee Member Wohl said last year Janice sent out a practice schedule for the basketball season and everyone knew when they were practicing. Now you find out a few days ahead of time and practices are being cancelled because the kids have other commitments. Committee Member Carbone said in years past you always knew when you were going to be practicing and there was always going to be a team there in your bracket so you can scrimmage them. Committee Member Wohl said there is one boy's team, 4th and 5th grade that is really struggling. Can we next year after the first game look and see if there is any shuffling of the teams that can be done. Committee Member Berman said once you're on a team there are no changes made. it's not a perfect system and it will never be perfect. Committee Member Berman said some parents came to him and said the coaches are playing their own kids the whole game and not playing other kids. i told them it's a coaching issue and you have to address it to the coach and if the issue doesn't get resolved, either speak to me or speak to Superintendent Bertolacci. 1168377.1 Committee Member Berman said what he did as a coach, you wait until the last quarter and call time out, you then say to the other coach that those players have not sat out and they should now sit out the rest of the game. Committee Member Berman said it works all the time. These are the same complaints that we have heard for the last 8 to 10 years. We just keep trying to make it better. No matter how much you work on having parity between the teams, it's not always going to even out the teams. Someone may join later on in the program and can be put on a team that is already stacked. This issue is something that can be addressed for next years season if a late player does join; he gets put on a weaker team. Superintendent Bertolacci said that it would also depend on the skill of the player that is joining the program. V. Baseball Sub-Committee Report Committee Member Carbone reported the items discussed at the Little League meeting. We are going to have mandatory practices every week with drills. Because of the longer season, the practices will be built into the schedule. We will also have a practice during the week instead of a game. Pitching is going to be worked on a lot more before the season starts so you will know who can pitch. As the season progresses, you can get input from the coaches whether or not the pitcher can go 3 innings. Superintendent Bertolacci said that whatever we do for baseball, i.e., practices, skills, clinic etc. we will do for softball. Committee Member Carbone said we will have official scrimmages the week before the baseball season starts. Committee Member O'Neil said that two years ago we talked about having more baseball clinics to teach fundamentals and learn the game. Superintendent Bertolacci said we were going to have more clinics last year but we actually never got it off the ground. Superintendent Bertolacci said there will be two weeks of clinics for pitching and there will also be a mandatory coach's clinic. Committee Member Wohl said skills are needed. it would be great to have everyone show up at the same time and maybe you will get enough kids to have a practice. Committee Member Wohl said the girls signed up last year for softball but most of the time very few showed up. We would then split the girls up so we can have two teams and a game can be played. Watching the girls play, i could only see that two of the girls got the concept of the game. Superintendent Bertolacci said we discussed at the Little League meeting of having 2 teams show up at the same time at the field and actually have a practice together. Committee Member Berman said the catcher's equipment for the boy's 5 h and 6th grade is horrific. The chest protectors are very thin and we don't want anyone to get hurt. We need to invest some money and get some new catchers equipment for the minor and major league. Superintendent Bertolacci said every year we get some new equipment. Chairman Schutzer said one of the things that made the Rookie program for travel baseball a positive and effective was the person in charge would send out to the coaches and said this is what we are doing. Every week we would get two pages of drills to work on. Chairman Schutzer said if you are serious about a program and you want your kid to develop you can't do a practice for 10 to 15 minutes before a game. it starts at the 1 st and 2nd grade level. Last year we developed the Major League and turned it around. We now have to look at the Minor League program overall and we have to develop the players and if kids sign up and don't show up, shame on their parents for not teaching the kids commitment. As far as skills and drills go, one solution is to hire an outside company and not just have him for 4 weeks in January but keep that company on throughout the season. 1168377.1 Committee Member Carbone said either we have to put together a curriculum for the coaches to follow or we have an outsider run the skills. This plan has to be implemented either way. VI. Old Business a. Village Field Usage Chairman Schutter attended the Village Board meeting and reported that the Village Board didn't have a problem raising the number of participants from 5 to 8 without a permit to use the Rye Brook Athletic field. The Village Board also discussed on-line registration and insurance for the groups that may rent the turf field. A sub-committee was formed to review issues regarding permits, insurance, and on line registration. b. Concession Stand Committee Member Dutra said there is a concrete structure in Disbrow Park in Rye. There are 2 baseball fields in the park. First there was a committee doing all the work at the concession stand. After that, parents and students ran the concession stand for a while then a vendor came in ran the stand. When the vendor ran the stand it ran the best and the food was better. The vendor left for personal reasons and now the parents are back running it. Chairman Schutzer suggested that we have Frank's truck come to the park, give him a baseball schedule and see what kind of business he does. From there we can discuss what our options are regarding the building of a concession stand at Pine Ridge Park. c. Men's Basketball Winter Program Superintendent Bertolacci said Next year's Men's Adult Basketball program will be combined into one program which would eliminate the 8 week program that runs from February to April. The program would run from October to April. The Village Board will come up with a fee for the program. There will be a Men's Softball meeting the 1St week in February. d. New Program Superintendent Bertolacci said there will be an adult dodgeball program in the spring. VII. Adjournment Chairman Schutter asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Committee Member Berman made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Committee Member O'Neil seconded the motion and all approved. The next Parks and Recreation Advisory Council will meet on February 5, 2013 at 8:15pm. The meeting adjourned at 10:05pm. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick 1168377.1