Officers/ Contacts

Minutes for Palmetto Union Rugby Meeting on Saturday, Nov. 4 , 2006

Representatives from each Palmetto Team were represented. Those present included John Roberts (Furman men and women), Hans Mogelgarrd (Citadel), Mike May (Palmetto U-23 women), Cody Sandquist (Citadel), Zack Brown (Citadel), Erin Crawford (College of Charleston w), Butch Setser (Charleston men) Kelly Grant (CofC men), James Grigg (Citadel Women), John Delvaney (St. Joes High school), Scott Lindsay (Greenville), Jeff Smolka (USC men and women, Olde Grey), John Hoeman (Coastal Carolina), Baree Johnes (Lander), Joseph Engram (Lander), Vince Atkinson (Greenville) and Jonathan Mukulon (Greenville)

 

John Roberts called the meeting to order at 5:47 p.m. in the Cherrydale Alumni House on the Furman campus. Roberts thanked those in attendance and said union president Bill Bell was unable to attend the meeting because he was at a dance. Roberts then passed agendas to the group, called attention to the 2005 meeting minutes and motioned for approval. The motion was granted and approved.

 

Treasurer's Report

Roberts then moved on the Treasurer's report, announced that the union had a balance of $2,292.50. He said the only major fall expense was $1,279 that was allocated for news jerseys for the Palmetto College Select Side team. He then opened the floor for questions about Palmetto expenditures. Setser inquired about funding for select side programs. Roberts said the question was a natural segue to the next agenda item: select side expenditures and team development and suggested the group move on the next item if there were no questions about the treasurer's report.

 

Select-side, all-stars

Roberts, coach of the PRU select side 2003-05, briefly discussed the challenges of fielding a competitive men's select side in the Palmetto. That said, Roberts said the Palmetto Union has fielded competitive teams during the past three years in compiling a 3-3 record. He said that Jim Gaine, former Clemson coach, was coaching the PRU team this year and was poised to build on past successes. Roberts did say that he was disappointed that USC men, the unions only Div. II college team, had no one try out for the select side team. Mike May, coach of the Palmetto Union women's U-23 team, discussed his plans for the Palmetto Team. He said the team would be competitive. May, who used to help coach both the Furman and Clemson teams, said that Clemson women, were considering moving to the Palmetto Union because Palmetto is fielding a u-23 team. May mentioned the idea of having at least 3 open sessions for any/all players from any/all teams Vince Atkinson, assistant coach of the Rugby South All-stars said the emergence of high school rugby in the state, the growing competitiveness of the select side teams would help the union convince Clemson men to rejoin the Union .

 

Select-side funding

Roberts said that in the past funding select side activities had been a challenge. He raised the prospect of raising dues $100 per club to help fund these activities. Atkinson said that he did not oppose the idea of raising dues to $100, but would suggest a budget before giving all of the extra funds raised to the Select Sides. Erin Crawford suggested an alternative to raising dues, and mentioned an earlier pick of teams and individual members raising money. Discussion followed. Crawford also mentioned each team send in coach information with dues to give the Union a somewhat up to date list every year. Roberts mentioned raising dues once again and asked each team to vote. Both Coastal and Lander raised discussion of not having enough financial support from the school and that any rise in dues would present a financial hardship. Roberts then suggested that instead of raising dues each club would be ask to make a donation to the select side program. This would enable clubs with generous budgets (Furman and Citadel) to donate to the program without penalizing the less funded clubs. He asked for approval. It was seconded and approved.

 

Rugby Fall weekends

Roberts directed the group's attention to an email from John Meyers, discipline chair, that suggested a new fall format. Setser mentioned having “Rugby Weekends” in different cities for men's teams. Discussion followed. Most agreed that mandating fall rugby weekends would be difficult as each club has their own unique scheduling challenges.

 

High School Rugby (SPUR)

Jeff Smolka, Rugby South Collegiate Coordinator, gave the Palmetto Union an update on the establishment of SPUR, a high school rugby initiative in the state. Smolka said several programs were slated to take to the field in the spring and that a much groundwork had been laid. Smolka's presentation is linked on palmetto rugby union homepage. Also speaking was John Devaney, the coach and advisor of the Saint Joseph 's High School Rugby team (Mauldin), which had recently obtained varsity status. Devaney spoke about the importance of empowering parents and encouraging them to be ambassadors for your team. Providing some token funding for high schools was discussed. Though funds are limited, the group agreed that providing some funding for high schools to host clinics would be advisable. Any allocation over $100 would be voted by the Palmetto B.O.D. said Roberts.

 

2006-07 officers

All agreed that the current officers of the Palmetto Union had done an admirable job in helping the union progress and grow. All officers, with the exception of John Roberts, had agreed to continue in their roles. Roberts (treasurer and secretary) said that he would remain secretary but would be “very excited” to hand over treasurer duties to someone else. Moving to the election of officers:

Bill Bell (Citadel) was re-elected as union

Clark Santa Maria ( Charleston ) was re-elected vice-president.

Scott Lindsey ( Greenville ) was elected treasurer.

John Roberts (Furman) was elected secretary.

TD Maze (Lander) was re-elected collegiate coordinator.

John Meyers ( Columbia ) was re-elected discipline chair.

Roberts thanked those in attendance said he was pleased to see that all the regions of the state (Upstate, Midlands and Lowcountry) were represented on the board. The meeting was adjourned at 7:26 p.m.