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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-12 - 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 12, 2010 CONVENE MEETING: Chairman Marc Zimmerman called the meeting to order at 8:30 p.m. Chairman Zimmerman welcomed everyone back and wished all a healthy and happy New Year. The following members of the Council were present: Advisory Council Members: Chairman Marc Zimmerman, Ken Frankel, Richard Gutner, Debra Tempesta, Steve Schoen, Kevin O'Neil, Sari Jablon, Glenn Brettschneider Absent Council Members: Jeffrey Komblum Recreation Department Members Present: Robert Bertolacci, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Cannella Swick, Sr. Office Assistant Village of Rye Brook Resident: Cheryl Artabane L Minutes: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to accept the December 1, 2009 Minutes as amended. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to accept the December 1, 2009 Minutes as amended and Committee Member Schoen seconded the motion. All approved and the December Minutes were accepted. II. Public View Points: Cheryl Artabane, a resident of Rye Brook, who has an 81h grader and a 6th grader, raised a concern about drinking amongst our teenagers. Mrs. Artabane attended a meeting at the Middle School at which was suggested to have activities with the teenagers other than going to the movies and "hanging out." Mrs. Artabane said there were programs for teens to go to Lake Compounce, ice skating and bowling with Rye Brook Recreation. The school was discussing whether it also could run programs, but in order to do so, would need school chaperones, which means teachers would have to get involved. Mrs. Artabane believes that many parents would be receptive to additional programs for the teens to keep them busy, whether an event they could be bussed to or a dodge ball tournament at the school. Superintendent Bertolacci said the Recreation Department does have a Teen Night Program. The challenge for the program is that there always seems to be something else going on that conflicts with Teen Night or other teen programs and affects participation. For example, we needed to cancel a scheduled dodge ball tournament on a Teen Night because the school needed the gym. In February we have planned bowling for Teen Night to be held on a Friday or Saturday night. In previous years, the Teen Night program has included a Devils, Mets and Islanders game. Due to lack of participation, we end up having 75% of the tickets (which we pay for in advance) left over. 1 1103859.1 Committee Member Schoen said if 5 or 10 parents committed their kids to going to a certain activity and made them attend, the teen program would build up and more kids would get involved. He noted that the Rye YMCA also has a teen program on Friday or Saturday and did not think you need to be a member to attend. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that Corpus Christi also has a Teen Night on Friday. Mrs. Artabane said the school is looking for things to occupy the teens, and we have to start someplace to build up the teen program. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that in these economic times there only is a limited amount of dollars in the budget to spend. To get more money into the budget, he would have to have a guaranteed number of teens involved to keep the program going. Additionally, without a dedicated facility to run a program on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, he is dependent on the school to allow use of their facility. Superintendent Bertolacci said that in previous years the Teen Night was held at the Posillipo Center, and included karaoke, ping pong, etc. The program was not costly because it was on site, but the kids got tired of going to the Posillipo Center. Chairman Zimmerman said if there is a sufficient number of guaranteed participants, the program is easy to set up and maintain. Mrs. Artabane stated that there is a student government committee and Committee Member Jablon's son is President. Committee Member Jablon said that the student government opened up their meeting to all students and they come up with some good ideas. Committee Member Jablon stated that she will talk to her son about the issue and report back to our Council. Mrs. Artabane thanked the Council for listening and reiterated that if there is any way she can help out with anything, she would be available. III. Presentation on Youth Sports Coach Certification: Superintendent Bertolacci introduced David Furfaro to speak on coaching certification. Mr. Furfaro represented the Youth Sports of New York, based out of SUNY Cortlandt. He spoke about a 7 module coaching course for non-professional coaches that sought to get all the coaches teaching the same thing based upon a philosophy of coaching written by a PHD. The course is about 3 hours long with a 50 question final exam. Once the participants pass the test, they are certified by the state. The cost is $20 for the course and $5 for background checks. The course is held SUNY Purchase College twice a month, but if there are 15 or more participants, it can be held at our facility. The modules deal with various subjects from child physiology to dealing with parents and liability issues. They include a slide and video presentation and a second year follow up on-line exam at no additional cost. Committee Member O' Neil questioned how the success of the program is measured; through feedback from the kids, parents or surveys. Mr. Furfaro stated that kids participating in sports that use their program stay longer with the sports. Superintendent Bertolacci said that 13 years ago our coaches were certified through the National Youth Sports Coaches Association. About 7 years ago we abandoned that program and changed to American Sports Education Program, which is a video that is run by the Recreation Department staff. In the first 2 1103859.1 year the coaches watch a video. After the video, we have a varsity coach do a skills and drills presentation. The biggest challenge is getting the coaches together and have them identify with each other on the same level. Chairman Zimmerman stated that at the Council level, we are more concerned with the philosophy of coaching and dealing with the children. The challenge there is that organizationally, we don't have all the sports under the Recreation Department umbrella. Mr. Furfaro said there are three basic problems in sports and that is picking a travel player, picking a travel coach and playing a kid up. There are no answers because those problems are complicated questions and tough to deal with. Mr. Furfaro thanked the Council for their time and said to call if we have any questions or want to sign up. IV. Superintendent Report: a. Babe Ruth League Superintendent Bertolacci stated that he is starting a Babe Ruth League for 13 to 15 year old boys. The teams will play on Saturday and Sunday at Blind Brook and Ridge Street School which are full size fields. Superintendent Bertolacci spoke with Jim Spano, who did not think there will be any issue because the school does not have games on those days. Mr. Spano's concern was that kids that pitch for the high school team will not be able to pitch in this league and risk them hurting their arms. Superintendent Bertolacci said the Babe Ruth League is an alternative because the school is going with less modified teams this spring. The program will start in April and run to June at a cost of approximately $150 for the first year (because we need to buy equipment). Superintendent Bertolacci will get the word out about the program in 3 to 4 weeks. b. Travel Camp Grades Superintendent Bertolacci stated that he has received e-mails from about 5 parents of current 8`h grade students who are without an activity this summer. Our travel camp only goes up to 8th grade level, and our current policy makes the 9t�1 graders ineligible to be a C.I.T. in our camp. These parents have requested that we increase participation to involve the children going into 9th grade in September. The issue is that once there are more than a certain number of participants in the camp, we have to order another bus, which increases the fees and the budget. Last year there were 50 kids in the camp but not all of them were there each day. Some of the trips are the same (like the amusement parks), and new trips will be added. Committee Member Schoen asked if there might be a social issue �utting the 91h graders with 7th and 8th grade. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would separate the 9t graders and on the two days that they don't travel, those campers can be prepped to be a C.I.T for next year's day camp. He said that Kyle, director of the day camp, was not in favor of this idea because there will be too many young kids coming in to the camp and causing confusion. Committee Member Tempesta asked if we would pro-rate the fee for 9th graders who are part of the camp, but will act as a C.I.T. for two days. Superintendent Bertolacci said he would not pro-rate the camp fee for those 9th graders. Committee Member Tempesta stated that if the interest is there, the camp fee that Recreation charges is minimal. 3 1103859.1 V. Old Business: a. Sponsorship Committee Member Brettschneider spoke to Dr. Statman and he said he again will sponsor 2 teams (same as last year) -- one boy's baseball team and one girl's softball team. Committee Member Jablon said ENT Allergy will sponsor a team again this year. Committee Member Tempesta stated that there is a coupon book called "neighbor to neighbor" that serves the Port Chester, Rye Brook area. There are many businesses in the book that might sponsor a team or perhaps give a donation, like cleaners, etc. and plans to visit some of the businesses to see if she can get some sponsors or donations. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that he has 14 commitments from the businesses that he called. Also, P &D is under new management so we can try to get a sponsor from there. Superintendent Bertolacci said since we are doing a Babe Ruth League, he would like to have about 36 sponsors. Committee Member O'Neil offered to contact Pro Swing which is a new facility in Port Chester. Committee member Frankel said he would contact Last Licks. b. Raising Basketball Rile/Coaches Chairman Zimmerman said that there were parent concerns at the 2nd and 3rd grade level about the low height of the Recreation Basketball rims. Many younger children are playing in organizations like CYP on 10 foot rims, as opposed to the 7 foot rims being used at the 2nd and 3rd grade Rec games. Certain parents have commented that the lower rims on the 2nd and 3rd grade level is doing nothing for the kids and they are not having fun. Other 2nd and 3rd grade parents disagree and think the lower rims are fine and their kids are having a great time. Chairman Zimmerman commented that he believes the issue is not the rim height, but that 3rd graders are dominating the game and that 2nd graders are not participating to the same degree. Committee Member Schoen said there are 10 teams with 90 kids and probably about 30 of those kids are on CYP that play on higher rims. Most of these kids don't have the strength to reach a 10 foot basket and the games will be dominated by 3rd graders no matter what the height of the basket is. Additionally, most of the kids that score do not shoot the ball properly whether they are 2nd or 3ra grade. It does not help them to have higher rims. Committee Member Frankel said he is aware of incidents with the 2nd and 3rd grade teams where coaches implore that the more skilled kids shoot and score as many points as possible. He suggested that we need to remind the coaches that this is a rec program and all the kids have to play. Superintendent Bertolacci stated that he is going to send a letter to the coaches reminding them of sportsmanship, blow out games, philosophy, etc. Chairman Zimmerman stated that you always are going to have one or two kids that will dominate the game, but if the coaches draw that kid in to help make the other kids better, that kid feels better, the coach feels better and the parents feel better. 4 1103859.1 VI. New Business: a. Men's Basketball (Extension of Season) Superintendent Bertolacci stated that he will offer an 8 week program for $80.00 with a minimum of 15 participants. b. Pitch, Hit and Run Chairman Zimmerman stated that he received e-mails from former Committee Member Cliff Shaw concerning this program and his belief that it was a lot of fun for the kids. The issues are that we do not know who would run the program, and Superintendent Bertolacci feels the participation level would be low. Chairman Zimmerman said if it is a nice day, we would get a huge turnout, but we need to decide whether we want to run it. If so, we need to quickly form a committee to see if it can be done. Chairman Zimmerman suggested Cliff be invited to next month's meeting and review the program with him. Committee Member Gutner suggested that the high school varsity coach, John Dakers and the baseball team run it. Committee Member Frankel said he will call John Dakers and speak with him. c. Youth Basketball Already discussed. Chairman Zimmerman reiterated that the letter go out to the coaches reminding them of their obligations to the children, the integrity of the program and sportsmanship — and not focusing on winning. Committee Member Tempesta said if Janice sees any of the coaches acting in a negative way, it should be documented. This way the incident is in writing and our backup for future reference if needed when approaching that coach. d. Rookie League Baseball Committee Member Frankel put Rookie League on the Agenda for Superintendent Bertolacci. The question was if the Rec Department was going to keep the 1st and 2nd grade Rookie League programs separate like last year. Chairman Zimmerman said that item would be tabled for the next meeting. e. Lacrosse Committee Member Brettschneider would like to add discussion of a lacrosse program to the Agenda for the February meeting. He stated that you can not start a sport like lacrosse in school at a modified level when the kids have not had an introduction to the sport. Committee Member Schoen stated that Rye has a great lacrosse league and our kids should get involved. Committee Member Brettschneider called Rye and inquired if Rye Brook residents were able to sign up for the program and he was told that Rye Brook kids can join the league. He said lacrosse is an upcoming sport and reiterated that you can not start that program at a 7th grade level. f. Ski Trips Committee Member O'Neil asked if the Ree Department has done any ski trips as an organized event. Committee Member Schoen said that Rye Recreation has ski events to Hunter Mountain and Wyndom and are very well attended. 5 1103859.1 VII. Adjournment: Chairman Zimmerman asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:20pm. Committee Member Gutner made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Committee Member Jablon seconded the motion and all approved. The next Parks and Recreation Advisory Council meeting will be held on February 2, 2010 at 8:30pm, Village Hall. Minutes prepared by Carmella Swick. 6 1103859.1