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March 30, 2007 |  |
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Welcome to the March 30, 2007; edition of the MYAS Update In this Issue Pass it on Know anyone who might be interested in our newsletter? Click here to forward this email to up to 5 friends at once. |
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Our newsletter is designed to provide timely youth sports information to coaches, athletes, parents and administrators. This includes notes from the Executive Director, calendar reminders, new service announcements and special events. Contributions from our sponsors assist us in delivering high quality youth sports services at the lowest possible cost; contributions partially fund this newsletter and certain sponsors will be featured. Dan's Notes - from Executive Director Dan Klinkhammer YOUTH BASKETBALL SUMMIT – YOU ARE INVITED! On the evening of April 18, 2007, the MYAS will be conducting a Youth Basketball Summit to discuss the current status of the sport in Minnesota. We will be discussing some of the more frequent problems that we all face in conducting our respective youth basketball programs. This is your opportunity to express your concerns about some of the real and perceived ills of youth basketball in Minnesota. However, please understand that this meeting is not intended to be a “judge and jury” meeting, but rather a “legislative session.” We are looking to find common ground and to establish rules, regulations, policies and procedures that will enhance youth basketball in Minnesota. Here are the top 10 topics that we intend to cover. 1. Renegade, All-Star and Independent teams have created a lot of “heartburn” over the past few years and we need to address these situations as a group. We need better definitions and we need a better system to handle these issues when they arise. 2. Individual athletes who don’t want to play for their local association 3. Fair and just penalties for teams that get caught cheating 4. The “split family” rule 5. The inner-city situation. Note: Neither Minneapolis nor St. Paul have a bona fide youth basketball association, so all of their teams have been classified as legitimate independents. However, the current situation is viewed by suburban organizations as a huge advantage for Minneapolis and St. Paul teams, and most community associations would like to see some sort of boundaries established. 6. Commingling of rec teams with travel teams 7. Multiple associations in the same community and/or “overlapping” associations 8. Associations that are not functioning in an appropriate manner 9. The need for a communications network for associations – how to get everyone on the same page 10. How an Advisory Committee and/or Review Board could be utilized to adjudicate some of the above-mentioned issues We may not come to a resolution on all of these issues, but we are going to discuss them with the hope of eventually finding some middle ground. Understanding and compromise will be the two most important ingredients for finding solutions to our problems. We encourage each association to send at least one representative to this meeting with a list of your association’s concerns. We also encourage all of the independent organizations from Minneapolis and St. Paul to attend. Everyone’s voice needs to be heard and will be heard. This meeting is intended to be a sharing of concerns and solutions. We will not allow the proceedings to deteriorate into a finger pointing contest. At this point, we want to deal with issues and not individuals. We’ll deal with them later, once we have a better foundation, clarity and direction. We created the MYAS to serve as a Central Clearinghouse for youth sports. I have always viewed our programs as your programs. We exist to serve you and it’s time that we conduct a forum to find out what’s right and what’s wrong with the state of youth basketball in Minnesota. This is your opportunity to voice your opinion on what should be done to keep Minnesota as a national leader in the world of youth basketball. See you there! Meeting Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 Gopher State Boys and Girls Spring Basketball The spring basketball season is off and running. Over 100 boys and girls teams will begin play on the March 31-April 1 weekend. We are expecting more than 300 teams to play on the April 13-15 weekend. We want to thank all of you for your continued participation with us and we will continue providing you with high quality programs. One of the difficulties we face each spring is determining where teams end up playing. At the beginning of the spring, we place teams into their various divisions of play based on the ranking of the team that the coaches provide us. Unfortunately, many teams sign up in the wrong division and we see games that are not competitive. As we progress throughout the remainder of the spring basketball season, you will see teams moving up and down divisions of play and also within each division of play. To accomplish our goal of having competitive games, we are going to delay scheduling our tournaments so we can utilize results from a particular weekend when scheduling the tournament that is two weeks out. For example, on Monday, April 16, we will enter in all the results from the April 13-15 weekend and then we will begin separating teams for the tournament on the April 27-29 weekend. By so doing, we hope to be able to provide teams with competitive balance throughout the spring tournaments. Whether you're looking for three-day invitationals, one-day events, showcase events or the "Quest for the Rings" at our Spring Championships, we have the tournament for you. For dates, deadlines and other information, click on boys or girls. See you in the gym! MYAS Grade Basketball State Championships Minnesota March Madness once again swarmed into the metro area with mass hysteria during the 2007 MYAS Grade Basketball State Championships. A total of 447 girls’ teams and 613 boys’ teams migrated to courts all over the metro area on two consecutive weekends in March. These teams poured their heart and soul into every game to determine who would be crowned state champion in their respective grade and division. It truly was a shining moment for the state of Minnesota. Please click here to view more information and tournament results. The MYAS is already looking forward to the 2008 Grade State Championships, and we hope that you’ll participate in our March Madness once again. Next year’s event will take place on March 7-9 (girls) and March 14-16 (boys). We would like to congratulate the top teams from the 2007 MYAS Grade Basketball State Championships, and thank you once again for participating in Minnesota’s version of March Madness - we'll see you next year! MYAS Rec State Basketball Championships The 2007 MYAS Rec State Basketball Championships had its biggest year since the inception of the program! There were 137 teams that competed in the tournament for a state championship title. The tournament featured many wonderful additions including 12 new teams from the Burnsville Athletic Club who actually hosted portions of the tournament. Edina and Cottage Grove were our other hosts and had several teams in the tournament. The players showed their spirit with face pant, colored hair and team posters. The boys fifth grade championship game featured two Champlin Park teams going head to head. It seemed like the whole city was at the game to support their teams. The gym was standing room only and was very loud as the fans pounded their thunder sticks. We would like to thank all the wonderful volunteers from the Edina Basketball Association, the Burnsville Athletic Club and the Cottage Grove Athletic Association for all their hard work making the tournament a huge success! Congratulations to our 2007 Rec State Champions! Please visit the Rec State portion of the MYAS website to view all the tournament results. 2007 Baseball Team Managers Meeting The MYAS baseball staff will hold the 2007 Baseball Team Managers Meeting on April 16 at 6:30pm. The meeting will take place at the Majors Sports Cafe in Roseville. Topics of discussion at this meeting will be our 2007 tournament procedures, online rosters/registration, GSTC Qualification (and pre-registration), berths to USSSA World Series events and other important topics regarding the 2007 spring/summer baseball season. For more information, click here to go to the MYAS website. Reebok has partnered with the MYAS to provide excellent prices for baseball team sports equipment and apparel. Only select items will be in stock and availability is limited. Please contact Jeremy Barbe for ordering details or check out our online Reebok brochure. Reebok will be the official baseball of the 2007 Gopher State season. These baseballs will be available for sale to associations or individual teams. NFHS baseballs are on sale for $33.99/dozen and the youth baseball retails for $25.99/dozen. Supplies are limited so don’t delay. The MYAS would like to thank Reebok for their generous contribution to helping promote youth sports! Gopher State Winter Baseball Camps The Gopher State Baseball Winter Camps have just capped off a tremendous 2006/2007 winter season. We had a great turnout for all of our camp sessions with a total of 221 participants. The MYAS baseball staff would like to send a big thank you to our fantastic instructors, Adam Barta and John Anderson with the Minnesota Baseball Academy and Erik Lovdahl with the Lovdahl Pitching Academy. All Gopher State Baseball League coaches will attend league scheduling sessions on April 21 (10U-15U) and/or May 23, 2007 (16U-21U). Coaches bring their community’s field availability and, along with the other coaches in their division, schedule their entire regular season using a template provided by the MYAS/GSBL. The only thing the coaches will need to do is determine a date, time and location for each game. The 2007 GSBL rules and regulations are now available online. All GSBL coaches will also receive a copy as part of their official handbook that they will receive at their designated coaches’ meeting. GSBL Coaches’ Meetings will provide league coaches with all pertinent information about the 2007 regular season and all-inclusive playoffs. At this meeting coaches will receive a GSBL Coaches’ Handbook, NFHS Rule Book, directions for team websites and online rosters and completed individual rosters generated by TellScore Score Reporting System. 10-13U GSBL Coaches’ Meeting - April 30, 2007 Gopher State Spring & Summer Baseball The schedule for Gopher State spring/summer baseball is set and we currently have openings in our Gopher State Spring Training Series (2-Day GSTC Qualifiers) and our USSSA State Baseball Tournament, the Gopher State Midsummer Challenge). Divisions are beginning to fill up in this year’s Gopher State Spring Training Series. For the GSSTS, you are guaranteed three full length baseball games and most teams will actually play at least four. We are only scheduling games on Saturday and Sunday to avoid Friday games while school is still in session early in the baseball season. Please see the MYAS website for more information on these and our other baseball programs. Gopher State Baseball Umpire Training Clinics The 2007 Gopher State Umpire Training Clinics, held in April and May, will feature a wealth of knowledge and experience. These clinics are great training tools for everyone, novice and experienced alike. We have five very experienced and talented instructors excited to share and encourage umpires of all ages. For more information on our clinic instructors, to download a brochure or to register yourself or your group, go to the clinic portion of the MYAS website. Any umpire at any level is encouraged and recommended to attend one of our five clinics around the metro area. We’d like to thank this year’s clinic hosts, White Bear Lake, Maple Grove, Lakeville, Cottage Grove and St. Anthony, for their involvement in the training of umpires. Thanks also to our clinicians this year, who include former professional umpires, and all whom are among the top collegiate umpires in the region. If you have further questions please contact Jeremy Barbe at jbarbe@myas.org or 763-781-2220 x 1731. MYAS Rec State Baseball Championships It is time once again to start thinking about reserving your local in-house/recreational teams a spot in the 2007 Rec State Baseball Championships! Last year we saw 95 teams from around the metro area, at four different age divisions, have a blast competing for a state title! Brochures are available online by clicking here. We are excited for another great year of fun and competition at the 2007 Rec State Championships. Please send email to Jeremy Barbe or Tony Groff or call the MYAS at 763-781-2220 for more details. Another Upper Edge Volleyball season has come and gone, and we'd like to congratulate all of our participants! Winter Carnival Champions Upper Edge League Champions Season Finale Champions We have many changes in store for next year – keep checking the Upper Edge portion of the MYAS website for updates! Calendar Updates (as of 3/29/07) April 7th Boys Spring Basketball Openings Openings available for Gopher State BASEBALL tournaments 2007 Baseball Team Managers Meeting set Important Association Services That Work! The Minnesota Youth Athletic Services offers three important services: 1. Association and Player Sports Accident Insurance Coverage The MYAS has partnered with the agency that handles the majority of insurance concerns for the Police Athletic Leagues (PAL) around the nation. There are two broad types of insurance coverage that are both included in the MYAS insurance program: General Liability and Player Sports Accident. This program is offered by the American Insurance Group (AIG) company and provides a liability and player sports accident insurance policy that, in some cases, is cheaper than what some associations pay for just a liability policy. We also offer Director’s and Officer’s Insurance for participating associations. For more information, please contact Mike DeWane at 952-393-1929 or mike@myas.org. 2. Criminal Background Checks In addition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that $50 billion is lost annually due to employee theft and fraud. Youth sports associations must protect themselves from this threat as well. Don’t put your association at risk! Fortunately, youth sports associations now have a simple and inexpensive tool to avoid some of society’s worst fears. The MYAS, with its partner RHR Information Systems (RHR), has designed a criminal background check system that offers three affordable options to youth sports associations. RHR, a local Twin Cities company, incorporates a “user-friendly” process combined with flexible information delivery to make this system easy and inexpensive for your organization. For more information, please contact Mike DeWane at 952-393-1929 or mike@myas.org. 3. Coaching Education Program
Jammed Fingers, Finger Sprains Common in Sport If you’ve ever jammed your finger trying to catch a ball, you know how painful it can be. More than this, jammed fingers and finger sprains can be severe, resulting in torn tendons or fractures. Use these tips from Minnesota Sports Medicine to treat your injured finger. 1. Assess the situation. Can you move the injured finger fairly well? If you can, the injury is likely mild and you may be able to continue play. If you can’t, discontinue play and see a doctor. 2. Ice the affected area. Submerge the finger in ice water for five to 10 minutes, or apply ice to the joint to reduce pain and swelling. Repeat for the next several hours. 3. Support the joint using athletic tape. Buddy tape the injured finger to its neighbor to keep it still, applying a thin strip of tape above and below the knuckle. 4. Seek medical attention if the finger is deformed or severely swollen, or it is too painful to move it. To find a sports medicine physician in the Twin Cities, visit www.mnsportsmed.org. For an appointment, call 612-273-4800. Minnesota Sports Medicine is the official medical provider for the Minnesota Youth Athletic Services. ********************************************************************************
The Sheraton Minneapolis West Hotel is a proud sponsor of the MYAS. The Hotel is located in the western suburbs of Minneapolis at the Hwy 494 & Hwy 394 interchange and the perfect place to stay when traveling with your sports team. • Newly renovated sleeping rooms including brand new granite bathrooms, high speed Internet access, coffee makers, high-powered hair dryers, large working desk with ergonomic chair and a 25” remote color television with 22 channels and the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper “plush top” beds Contact Patrick Riley at 952.960.3538 or at parickriley@remingtonhotels.com to discuss your team hotel reservations when visiting the Minneapolis area. ******************************************************************************** **************************************** **************************************** **************************************** **************************************** **************************************** ****************************************
**************************************** **************************************** MYAS membership meetings are held at our offices (4111 Central Avenue NE, Columbia Heights) on the last Tuesday of each month at 9:00am (unless notified otherwise). All MYAS members are welcome to attend. |
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