8:00 p.m., Friday, March 28, 2003
Delta Meadowvale Inn,
Mississauga, ON
Guests: Nathan Percival, Enrico Toscano (guest)
Call to order: 8:00 p.m.
Albert welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. He advised the Technical Meeting observed a moment of silence for Don Mills – this was the first Technical Meeting Don has missed. The Board also took a minute to honour his memory.
Albert noted there was lots of work to do tonight including some weighty items so agenda is short.
No discussion. Minutes were accepted as presented.
Motion to accept the minutes as presented.
John M. / Marc C. - Carried
No business arising.
New items: approval of the minutes of the Technical Meeting; foreign athletes; agreement of officials for Supermeet.
Moved to Approve Agenda
John Metcalfe / Marc Christie - Carried
John Craig walked the Board through the draft document and the process. John asked for direction and decisions on certain items and will now revise the draft policy, pass it through Andy Buckstein and send it out again for a second review. Timelines are to have it out in the summer (July, 2003). It will be discussed at the Supermeet, and will be approved at the AGM. The document should be out in October to prepare the clubs for January implementation.
Questions about screening remain. For example, there are lots of volunteers who join on the day of the event (pit rakers etc.), parents and all others on the fringe who help for a short period but don’t want to be members of the Association. We would, for instance, use 6 – 20 jr. officials for a single Supermeet.
Action: John Craig to follow up and research this with other sports.
Should OTFA pay for Officials Police Background Checks?
Action: John Craig to find out if OTFA can become an Accredited Agency. This would allow us to get record checks on our own. Would this allow us to check our officials?
The Board needs to pass a formal motion to bring Athletics Magazine back to the OTFA from Athletics Canada as an Association program and benefit of membership.
Motion to accept Athletics Magazine back as an OTFA property.
John M / Kelly Harris - Carried
Albert suggested we need tweek it a bit to have it serve those who support it. John Craig advised of government obligations to maintain second class mailing. Discussion of AC’s webpage and what they are doing. AC apparently wants to go electronic and get all provinces on board.
Colin Hood of OFSAA has advised that Canada (Sherbrooke, PQ) will host the ISF World Championships in 2006. This competition is for school aged athletes. Where does the Canadian Schools Federation sit with this? Albert suggested this might leave room for OTFA to re-approach the idea of a national school championship. OTFA endorses the idea in general, but we should see what OFSAA is looking for from OTFA and on what grounds OTFA can partner.
Action: John Craig to follow up and set up a meeting to establish the next step. John can relate to OFSAA that the OTFA is interested in seeing how we can work together.
Carl Georgevski has expressed an interest in being the OTFA representative on the Metro Track Operating Committee, though Cecil Smith currently holds the position. Roman clarified the responsibilities of the representative.
Albert suggested that volunteers were hard to find and Cecil was doing a service for us.
John Craig will ask Carl about his interest, and what changes he would like to see. John will ask Cecil if there is room to make some changes at the Committee level that might benefit the OTFA.
a) Foreign (and Canadian) athletes in our championships. Marc is concerned that a lot of space in Championship events (including finals) is being taken by out-of-province athletes. No reciprocal arrangement seems to exist in championships in Quebec or USA. Should our Championships be Open Championships? Some of our athletes can’t compete since places are being taken by out-of-province athletes.
Roman advised this has been our tradition as far back as the 70’s. Argument for it is that it provides good competition for our athletes. Marc suggests Ontario athletes can go to open meets in the US and get good competition. He is concerned that we can’t compete in the Michigan or New York championships.
Roman: we have to do what is good for us. Some of our events depend on out-of-province participation to fill in the field.
Action: Roman to put in the OTFA Newsletter a question asking the membership their view on this situation.
b) Supermeet Agreement with Officials: a new working relationship between the OTFA, the HOC and the OOC has yet to be determined in full, though there is agreement on several main issues. A problem is that some discussions about the relationship are taking place but are not being communicated to all concerned parties, including the Board member responsible for officials. OTFA will try to correct the problem.
c) technical committee motions: presented as a group as follows:
Motion to adopt the motions of the Technical Committee
John Metcalfe / Marc Christie - Carried
d) IAAF rule(s) regarding start and need for Starts Referee. Athletics Canada seems prepared to make this a part of regular procedure. John Metcalfe expressed his concerned about the way this was handled at Jv-Sr indoor championship meet. The problem stems from interpretation of the new rules. Albert explained the series of events and how he handled things at the Jv-Sr meet and how a decision was reached.
Enrico also expressed concern about the process and the way in which the rules were relayed to interested and concerned parties.
Roman: we need to decide at each meet what officials we will use. Use a Start Referee if one is available, but that may not be possible in all competitions.
Albert: we all need to communicate better. This will help solve problems which arise when people step out of the realm of their own jobs and don’t let others do theirs.
e) John Craig asked for assistance from OTFA clubs in applying for a grant from the Ministry. He will send out a questionnaire to the clubs asking for a report of their activities to assist in the process.
f) Enrico wondered if we could name a 2003 competition after Don Mills. To be tabled for discussion at next meeting.
Next Board meeting will be at the Supermeet.