Board Meeting — 11/11/24
Call to Order/Welcome:
President Mike Null called the Board Meeting to order at 5:45 PM and thanked the group for attending. He welcomed all members in attendance: Laura Hunter-Null, Joe Hinkle, Eshu Xi Amaru, Dr. John Batlle, and Linda Williams. He also expressed gratitude and honor to Veteran board members present.
Guests:
George English of USTA FL was welcomed and introduced by M. Null. Mr. English began by reporting there has been a 6% growth in tennis over the last year, with at least 25.3 million tennis players in the US. The goal of USTA is to attain 35 million players by 2035. An increase in tennis court facilities will help with the growth of tennis and G. English said USTA can assist with design and engineering aspects of tennis courts, to include base and spacing specifications. However, funding will not be available from USTA if there is not a firm commitment to USTA’s standards of excellence in their construction.
Dr. Batlle emphasized how much revenue regional tournaments can bring into communities when there are adequate tennis court facilities. He added that golf and tennis are sports that bring much interest to a community and it’s important to keep relationships with the TDC and other connected entities.
L. Hunter-Null suggested the surfaces of the tennis courts at our county community centers be upgraded to a better surface so players will use them.
M. Null added the Young’s Park tennis courts will need to be resurfaced within the next five years for players. The City and County are charged with providing Quality of Life facilities for their communities.
G.English stated that for every USTA FL sponsored event, all adults must be certified by USTA SAFE PLAY/SAFE SPORT. There is a duty to report any suspicious behavior/activity.
M. Null reported there will always be at least one or more certified coaches on the courts supervising all youth programs offered by LCCCTA.
L. Williams has been monitoring LCCCTA compliance for volunteer coaches working with youth; background checks every 2 years and online education courses every year.
George English of USTA FL just recently nominated Mark Mansbach as ‘Volunteer of the Month’. It’s unsure as to the month he’ll be selected for, however, once the Board knows, there will be plans made by board members and other tennis players to coordinate an event recognizing the immeasurable volunteer work and in-kind services continually provided by Coach Mark Mansbach.
USTA FL sends Coach Mark Mansbach two cases of tennis balls for the Veteran’s Affairs Program every quarter. This is an important program in which Mr. Mansbach volunteers his time and skills to instruct approximately 10 veterans twice a month.
E. Xi Amaru has been assisting Coach Mansbach and brought up the possibility of offering wheelchair tennis to veterans. G. English said he would need to see if USTA FL could provide ‘tennis-specific’ wheelchairs, which are necessary for safety reasons.
L. Williams mentioned a former tennis player recently contacted her and was asking about LCCCTA offering wheelchair tennis.
G. English said he will research this on behalf of LCCCTA.
L. Hunter-Null asked George English if we could obtain some brochures for the very successful, USTA’s Love to Learn/Love to Play Program. The brochures would be perfect to gain interest from local parents of players. The 6-week program involves a tennis professional instructing participants during the first 3 weeks of ‘Learn to Love’, and the following 3 weeks of ‘Learn to Play’, adult beginners play against each other, and against tennis volunteers. Mr. English said he would forward the USTA FL brochures to LCCCTA.
G. English reported that he provided three local schools the information necessary to begin their Net Generation Programs and two have confirmed receipt.
L. Williams will follow up with the PE instructor at the remaining school and report back to Mr. English.
Approval of Minutes:
E. Xi Amaru made a motion to approve the Minutes of the Sept. 9 th Board Meeting; seconded by Laura Null, and the motion carried unanimously.
President M. Null reported that LCCCTA now has two Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) Certified tennis instructors/Board Members associated with LCCCTA—Mark Mansbach and Linda Williams. He asked that our organization continue to recruit tennis players by advertising instructional resources we have for tennis players.
President M. Null verified with L. Williams that $3,000 funding provided by Youth Tennis Foundation of FL (YTF) for youth tennis programs can be used during the period of July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025.
M. Null provided a report of how the recent hurricanes and weather affected the Young’s Park tennis courts. Most of the windscreens were blown down on the courts, a few on the sponsor banners were detached, and two of the four bench shades were destroyed by the wind. However, the recently installed pavilion center shade awning was not affected, absolutely no damage.
President M. Null expressed much gratitude to E. Xi Amaru, who assisted Mark Mansbach with remounting the banners and windscreens, and to J. Hinkle for ordering zip ties, necessary to reattach them.
VP/Secretary L. Williams provided a report on the Fall Youth Tennis Camp which was delayed one week due to the hurricanes. In addition, camp enrollment was down due to the families being affected. The camp was conducted by Coach Mark Mansbach from Oct. 15-Oct. 30 and a total of 15 youth, ages 6-14 years old, participated. Groups were divided by ability levels: beginner, advanced beginner, and intermediate beginner. Since a total of 7 volunteer coaches assisted Coach Mansbach, players were able to progress very quickly within the small group instruction. Parents reported they were very pleased with the success they observed.
Since there is already an interest from parents for the next LCCCTA youth tennis camp, L. Williams said our Spring Youth Camp should follow Spring Break (typically the end of March); therefore, the youth camp could possibly begin the first week in April.
LCCCTA Individual / Family Sponsors:
Mike & Recie Davis
Glenn & Laura Hunter
Dolly & Bruce Robinson
Guy & Linda Williams
Mike & Laura Null
Mark Mansbach
Anita & Scooter Houston
Powers-Walsh Family
Debbi & Mike Carter
Joe & Joanne Hinkle
J. Hinkle and Joanne Hinkle recently paid to have a banner hung. They have been added as LCCCTA Individual/Family Sponsors.
Treasurer J. Hinkle provided a current financial report showing a bank balance of $5,783.50. The general account has a balance of $2,422.45, the YTF account contains $3,193.82, and the Adult League account has a $167.23 balance.
E. Xi Amaru made a motion to approve the Financial Report. L. Hunter-Null seconded the motion, and the motion carried unanimously.
President M. Null asked J. Hinkle to verify that all federal reports are completed and submitted to IRS, including the Beneficiary Owners Interest (BOI) report.
New Business:
President M. Null thanked and asked E. Amaru to assist Adult Tennis Coordinator, Debbi Carter, with continuing to develop adult Tuesday and Thursday tennis programs/socials. Eshu reported on behalf of Debbi Carter. He said Tuesday evening socials seem to have more participants than Thursday evening. Recently, Debbi Carter changed the Tuesday Social time to 6:00 PM.
L. Williams printed and posted revised flyers on the tennis courts fences and posted the revised Tuesday social time on social media platforms.
President M. Null asked L. Hunter-Null to establish a slate of board members to be considered for Board of Directors and Officers. These nominations will need to be presented at LCCCTA’s Annual Meeting in February 2025.
L. Hunter-Null asked L. Williams if Erin Weiffenbach had considered becoming a member of LCCCTA’s Board of Directors. Erin said that she will be honored to join the Board. She will continue in the capacity of webmaster for LCCCTA’s website and social media platforms, and she plans to attend meetings whenever possible.
President M. Null said LCCCTA will not hold a December meeting. He thanked everyone for their time and support and adjourned the meeting at 6:43 PM.
Next tentative meeting set for Monday, January 13, 2025 at 5:30 PM.
