| Hello Bocce Players and Fans: The Board of Directors had a very productive meeting last Wednesday, February 17 at Suncé Winery. Here are the major items that were decided: 1. The days for league play will be Tuesdays at 5:30; Wednesdays at 5:30 and Saturdays at 11:00 am. The season starts on April 20! I’m hopeful that this change will allow the Bocce Bandits to move to Tuesdays, along with the five teams from Mondays. Thus, we’ll have six teams on Tues and six on Wed. Having an odd number of teams last season was a bit of a headache that we’ll try to avoid. My apologies to anyone that is inconvenienced by this change. 2. Other important dates – Free Basic Bocce Workshops at 1:00 pm on the following Saturdays - March 13, March 27 and April 10. Doubles Tournament on Sunday May 16. Singles Tournament on Sunday June 13 (which selects the “Allstars” Team which plays in the Regional Tourney). Probably the top two teams from each day will duke it out at our LEAGUE PLAYOFFS on Saturday July 10. And, don’t forget our REGIONAL EXHIBITION Match on Saturday July 24. Hopefully, our winning team or the Allstars will wrest the title back from the Yountvillains who beat out the teams from San Rafael, Sonoma, Martinez and Santa Rosa in a real nail-biter last year. 3. I’ve put both a Team Application and a Player Application online (www.santarosabocce.com) and encourage teams to reserve their spot with a $200 deposit as soon as possible. Note the deadlines! 4. We are also asking that EACH team donate a solid half-day of workers to improve the courts, water the courts on game days, and similar chores for the league. If you can help organize this, let us know. 5. We kept the fees at $25 per person per team, and $15 for children under age 16. We’re opening all of the days to kids with the rule that an adult must play at the same end as a minor. The kids that played last year were very well behaved and skillful rollers that added good energy to our games. Note that you can play on more than one day, but you can only play on ONE team during a PLAYOFF match. 6. The Board officially decided that “A Place to Play” park was better than Doyle Park for our future site. Please go by if you haven’t already. It’s a very spacious park where we can have lights and spirits. Noise won’t be an issue. There are restrooms and even snack bars. It’s also a wild life preserve. As previously mentioned, they have a memorial program to install engraved bricks for $100 each and I’ve started a fund with $10 each for Joe Ray and Don Wright. They were both trail-blazers so I’m sure they will inspire us by being the first bricks planted near the future bocce courts. You may send a check to “Santa Rosa Bocce League” with a memo and I will put it towards this most excellent cause. 7. The Board of Directors accepted Maria Zita-Balme’s resignation due to family commitments. Maria was very helpful when the league started a year ago. Thanks, Maria. As President, I appointed Frane Franicevic (winner of our Singles Tournament) to temporarily fill her position until our new Board of Directors is elected at our Annual Meeting in April. Thanks, Frane. 8. If you’d like to be on the Board of Directors, please email our Secretary, Michelle Jensen (michellejensenm@aol.com) with a brief biography and statements concerning your strengths and what you’d like to do to benefit the bocce league. Please send these in by March 15 so we can post them on the website prior to our March 25 Meeting at which time you can introduce yourself to the attendees, and they can ask you questions. 9. I have also put up the Revised Bylaws on the website. These are important rules for operating our “unincorporated non-profit association.” Please review this and make your opinions known. We will take some time to discuss the Bylaws and finalize them at our March meeting. At our Annual Meeting in April, we will vote to officially adopt the Bylaws. 10. Logo Contest. Please submit your logo designs to me by March 15 so I can post them online prior to a vote at our March 25 meeting. The winner gets two free memberships ($50 value) and the glory of seeing their design on caps, t-shirts and other swag. 11. Publicity. I will shortly have a couple of flyers prepared and invite everyone to print a few and post them generously at supermarkets, schools, clubs, etc. We have a solid six weeks plus to reach out and find more players. We need to spread the word and teach others just how much fun the sport can be! Sorry to ramble, but we had a lot of ground to cover. Rally the troops and I’ll see you on the courts soon! |
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