September 1, 1999
MINUTES

The meeting was called to order by Jen Cooper, President, at 7:40 p.m. at Saengerbund Hall.

ROLL CALL

€ Womens Teams Absent: Fever, Jules FC, Kodiaks, Synergy I
€ Coed Teams Absent:  City Wide, Kings, Motley Crue, Spring Branch, Team Zia
€ Corporate Teams Absent: Exxon, FMC Corp., Noramtec, Petrobras

MINUTES: Minutes were approved as presented.

OFFICER REPORTS

President:   
1. Jen and Pam attended the TSSAS annual general meeting in El Paso August 14th. Bob Yampey, of the Bay Area Soccer League, was elected president. Geoff Wilding is the new state administrator. He is based in Houston and should be up to speed soon. Constitutional revisions are in progress. There is a new registration form, several players can be registered on the same form. Transfer, Youth, and Multiple players cannot use the new form. State Cup 2000 will be in San Antonio. The insurance rate is going to stay at $7.75 for the next 3 playing years. The newsletter, The South Texan, has been resurrected.                   
2. The HWSA board is going to have a retreat in late October to discuss long-term issues for the league including: website overhaul, new fields, more women's teams, and constitutional revisions, etc.                    
3. Elections are coming up. Vicky will be chairing the nominating committee. Paul Haggar (IPP) will help with the committee. Nominations can also be made the night of elections from the floor.

Vice president:  
D&P committee met and suspended a player on the Motley Crue coed team after investigation of a referee abuse incident. The player will remain on suspension through the end of the fall season. There will be a $40 fine for the referee abuse.

Secretary: 
1. Once again, check to make sure your email address is correct.                   
2. Thanks to those of you who have paid your fines promptly. Those of you who haven't, don't forget!    

Treasurer: 
No Report, the revised budget will be presented at the next meeting.

Registrar:  
No Report.

Senior commissioner: 
1. September 24-26 is the Coed National Cup tournament in  League City. Red Dogs FC is participating. Games are Friday and Saturday, with finals on Sunday. Come out and support our HWSA team.                                     
2. HWSA Oktoberfest Women's Tourney - Applications are available and need to be turned in ASAP.                                     
3. There is a Coed Soctoberfest tourney sponsored by TORSO, October 16-17. The entry fee is $225 and the tournament is at Bear Creek. Pam has entry forms. Deadline is September 30.
4. There is a state tournament here in Houston the first weekend in December. There are women's, coed, and men's divisions.                                     
5. The Long John tournament is in February in Austin.                                     
6. HWSA is going to try to sponsor a coed tournament in February.                                      7. Both women's and coed State Cup tournaments are in San Antonio. Over-30 is in April, coed is the first weekend in May, and women's is the first weekend in March. For the corporate teams, the men's State Cup is spread out across the state and not all on one weekend. Pam can get more information if anyone is interested.                                      8. There is a coed tournament in Beaumont in June.
9. If your team is going to participate in a tournament outside the South Texas region (Mardi Gras, Dallas, Fort Worth, etc.) you must have a travel permit.

Women's Commissioner: 
1. The former member teamss of the Olympia soccer club will receive $238 registration credit each due to the disbanding of the club. Mary has the receipts.
2. There are 27 women's teams this fall, 7 new. Women's rules are available from Mary. 3. The Women's league will have a 10 game schedule, finishing before Thanksgiving. Division breakdowns, directories, and schedules are available from Mary.

Coed Commissioner: 
1. The summer standings are available on the web http://www.hwsa.org.   
2. The first coed games are 9/12-13. The finalized schedules should be available by then. 3. The new game card is available on the website and has additional rules specific to each league. It can be used by all three leagues.                                 
4. The division winners are:  1st Div.: Spring Branch   2nd Div: No Play   3rd Div: Mirage. Fall divisions were based on summer standings.                                 
5. Please verify that the coed directory has the correct information for your team/representative.  

Corporate commissioner: 
1. There are 27 teams for the fall. Personix and Baker Hughes are withdrawing. 2. Thanks to Clay Reynolds for lining the fields and covering the deposits for Cullen.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Membership:   
Let Katy know if you need players. You can have up to 25 on your roster!!!

Public Relations: 
We need a new Public Relations Coordinator. Talk to Jen.

Tournament: 
Oktoberfest women's tournament: Applications are available and are due Wednesday, Sept. 8. HWSA needs teams to volunteer (any league!) at the tournament. Teams that volunteer will be eligible for a registration credit. See Jen for more info.

OLD BUSINESS

€ Referee fee increase - Pam checked with other leagues to compare fees. TORSO - $30/$15, HFA - $30, Fort Bend - $30/$12, Austin - $28, San Antonio - $30, HISD middle school - $35, High Schools - $40-$45, Private Schools - $40/$25, College - $40/$20. We are competing with these groups for referees. Currently we're paying $30 across the board (Women's 1st Division is going to the one man system). Hal brought up that if HWSA wants to keep getting high quality referees with all of the competition, we need to raise the fees. They have been at $30 for at least three years. There was a proposal to raise the fees to $36 across the board. A friendly amendment was accepted to change the increase to $40. The motion was passed with a majority of yeas, no nays, and 2 abstentions. The fee increase is in effect immediately. As part of the increase, HWSA would like the referees to check player cards at half-time. A driver's license is an acceptable, temporary player card.
€ New game card - It now has additional information for referees and is good for any of the leagues. 1 card per team per game. It is available online.

NEW BUSINESS

€ Constitutional Revisions - These revisions will be voted on at the October meeting. Proposal - 2 year terms for the board members. Elections will be held once a year in November for half of the board. The Coed Coordinator is going to become the Field Coordinator. Look it over and send any questions you might have to Jen.
€ Hal explained the handball rules - for women protecting their face and chest, it is not a handball. It is an attempt to reduce the number of handballs called, but it is the referee's judgement call.
€ We pay the city to have lined fields at Alief and Cullen, let Stephen Jump or Tom Whitehurst know if they are not lined.
€ If you see lit fields that HWSA could use, let Stephen or Tom know.€

ANNOUNCEMENTS
€ Electrasports.com is an E-zine and online catalog of women's sports apparel and they will be giving HWSA players a 10% discount.
€ Two teams from the Mexican League are playing at Robertson Stadium on September 8. Tickets are available from TicketMaster.
€ HWSA league meetings have outgrown Saengerbund. If you know of a free/cheap alternate location, let Jen or Vicky know.
€ Patty Crane has HFA balls for sale $10 each at hfasoccer.com
€ Next League Meeting Wednesday, October 6, 7:30 p.m. Saengerbund Hall.
€ Next Board Meeting Sunday, September 26.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.