NCHSTCA Meeting Minutes, June 2017
NC Tennis Coaches Board of Directors
Summer Meeting – June 16, 2017
The meeting was called to order with the following members present:
Donald Clark – President
Andrew Tuttle – Vice President
Ken Hazen – Vice President Emeritus
Lee Matthews – Secretary
Jon Huffman – Technologist
Wayne Knight – 2A Representative
Annette Keip – 4A Representative
Also present were
Tra Waters – NCHSAA
Phil Kuntz and Kelly Gaines – NCTA
Tim Medlin – Greene Central High School
The minutes of the winter meeting were approved with one amendment.
The treasurer’s report was approved, showing an ending balance of $1260.78. President Clark made mention of Coach Teague taking steps to remedy the monthly service charge on the checking account.
Business Items
1) President Clark stated that Ken Hazen and Lindsey Linker had accepted emeritus positions on the board of directors. These positions, Vice President Emeritus, and Secretary Emeritus, are non-voting positions. Rich Dowler has been approved by the board to be the new 3A representative, and the votes from the membership have been in his favor.
All board members present have agreed to continue in that capacity for the term of the coming realignment.
2) Tra Waters reported that he has been promoted to Assistant Commissioner for Sports, but has retained his old sports responsibilities for the time being. Tra reminded the board that a seeding process was used for all sports during the playoffs. The NCHSAA recognized during the girls’ tennis season that the process might not be the best for tennis, but the change was made for the entire year. This year tennis, lacrosse, and wrestling have been removed from the “seeding umbrella” and have been returned to the predetermined bracket. The actual workings of the brackets are still evolving due to the number of conferences in the 2A and 3A classifications being 18 and 17 respectively. Tra reminded the board that the tennis dual team bracket had been set at 32 because of the individual championships that are running concurrently, and there are no plans to expand the dual team playoffs to 48 teams. There was discussion about the potential selection of wildcard playoff entries, such as using a committee to select them, basing selection on an equal number of matches, and the possibility of asking MaxPreps to develop a ranking system like what football and basketball are using.
Tra also reported a change in the individual regionals starting this fall. The coaches’ meeting has been moved up to 12 noon, and play may start at 1:00 PM. This change should help in the event of inclement weather.
3) President Clark returned to the proposal from Shana Krenz of West Forsyth High School That would allow Assistants to coach during matches. He remarked that the original rule was put in place to prevent private coaches from coaching during tennis matches. Discussion ensued about husband-wife teams, the possibility of having players competing in regionals or states in both singles and doubles, the layout of certain facilities, and the use of dual facilities on occasion. Tra suggested that the rule could be worded similarly to the rule for golf, and that there could be two recognized coaches for each match. The motion by Wayne Knight -
“The NCHSAA will allow two designated coaches from each school to coach at matches during the season, both regular season and playoffs. The two coaches allowed to give advice must be identified prior to the match.” This is a one year trial for 2017-2018. The motion, seconded by Annette Keip and Andrew Tuttle, was unanimously approved.
4) The proposal from AD mike Dunphy and Coach Janet Trotter of Cary High School was dropped for lack of support; however, there was discussion about stacking of lineups. There was a suggestion to put a notation in the handbook that coaches are encouraged to use challenge matches to set their lineups. It was also suggested to have a handout for coaches at the clinic, as well as a list of coaches willing to serve as mentors to new coaches.
5) Two other proposals from the winter meeting were dealt with. The proposal from Mike Vandergrift for short set match format was dropped for lack of support.
There was a brief discussion of teams playing in different sections for dual team playoffs and individual state championships. Tra stated this was a by-product of the seeding process used last year, and should be rectified with the change in the dual team playoffs.
6) Tim Medlin of Greene Central made a presentation of a comprehensive proposal for changing the tennis playoff format and redrawing the regions in the state based on equalizing the population distribution. The redrawn regions would feature a northeast region, a southeast region, a northwest region, and a southwest region. The playoffs would split traditional schools and nontraditional schools into separate playoffs with the purpose of making the playoffs more equitable for student athletes. Tra pointed out that the situation within the proposal is already “on the NCHSAA’s radar” and various committees are considering it. The terminology of “nontraditional schools” is broader now and should include public school systems with open enrollment. Tra also pointed out all schools are members of the NCHSAA, and dividing them by traditional and nontraditional is not the same thing as dividing schools into classifications based on enrollment.
7) During a working lunch, Phil Kuntz gave a presentation on the resources of the NC Tennis Association which are available to high school coaches. For convenience, these resources have been consolidated, and can now be accessed using the URL, nctennis.com/highschool. The webpage allows coaches to link to information from the NCHSAA, the USTA, and other coaches.
Phil also mentioned two upcoming events with which the NCTA would be assisting. The tennis workshop for the NCCA Coaches Clinic will be held on Wednesday, July 19 in Greensboro. Lane Evans, professional at the Champions Club, is working to procure pros to assist with the workshop.
The High School Play Day at the Winston-Salem Open is scheduled for August 22. Coaches are encouraged to bring their teams to the event. The NCTA is trying to get one high school coach per court to assist that day.
Kelly Gaines talked about changes to the junior tournament program. Level 3, 4, and 5 tournaments are being limited to 16 draws in singles. This allows tournaments to be completed on Saturday and Sunday. They have procedures in place in the event the draws exceed 16 players. President Clark inquired about tying high school match scores into the player ranking system like the process used in Virginia. This would help with establishing the player dynamic rating and possibly help with the stacking problems discussed earlier.
Kelly provided information on two promotional programs from the NCTA. Try Tennis, a program for both adults and juniors, is designed to introduce tennis to new players. It has the slogan, “From Couch to Court in Six Weeks.” Participants receive a racquet and instruction.
Net Generation is a program of the USTA. It is a two-prong platform reaching both providers and consumers. It is designed to bring in the next generation of players and match them with providers in their area.
Kelly reminded us that the NCTA Tennis Weekend in Pinehurst is scheduled for February 2-4, 2018. This is one week later than usual due to scheduling conflicts at the hotel. The NC Tennis Foundation summer campaign is “10 for Tennis.” They are asking individuals to donate $10 to the Foundation to support tennis in North Carolina.
9) President Clark stated that he was caught up with the All-Region and All-State Certificates.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:30.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lee Matthews
Secretary