ENGLAND SQUASH MASTERS COMMITTEE

 MINUTES OF A MEETING HELD ON FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT PONTEFRACT SQUASH CLUB

 PRESENT

 Martin Pearse, Stuart Hardy, Adrian Wright, Dave Hardern and Mike Clemson

APOLOGIES 

 Robert Smith, Steve Mcloughlin, Matt Baker, Fran Wallis, Sam Mueller and Peter Alexander

 MINUTES  of the meeting held on 10 June 2011 were approved

 

REGIONAL TOURNAMENTS

 (a)    The notes on the Expectations of host clubs had only been circulated a week before the first regional. It was agreed that Committee members should bear them in mind when assessing the performance of host clubs, and the Committee would keep under review the venues and alternatives for hosting regionals

(b)   Brian Brock had stepped into the breach by agreeing to manage the Pontefract tournament for expenses only. It was unclear who would pay these expenses, but it was agreed that the notes to host clubs made it clear that the host club was responsible for providing a tournament manager, and if they wished to use Brian Brock, they should pay his expenses. In view of the short notice for Pontefract, Martin would discuss Brian’s payment with the Squash Club Manager

(c)    It was agreed to notify the other regional venues of Brian’s availability, for them to approach him direct if they so required

(d)   With reference to the expectations of host clubs, concern was expressed about the limited availability of food at the club on the Friday evening and Saturday lunchtime at Bury, and Mike was asked to draw this to Peter’s attention

(e)    Concern had been expressed about the criteria for seeding and allocation of byes in regional tournament draws. It was confirmed that we would follow ESR practice in randomly drawing the positions of ¾ and 5/8 seeds, and in giving byes to seeds in order of seeding. However, it was agreed, with regard to the latter, that whenever possible, the winner of a preliminary round on the Friday, should not be required to play a fresh seed on the same evening

(f)     It was reported that representatives of Sky TV were coming to finals morning at Pontefract to film some of the play and do some interviews, for transmission on Sky Sports News the following day

 

WEB SITE

              Despite some players having initial problems registering and entering tournaments, it was agreed that the site was much improved. Further suggestions were made about the layout of the home page, which would be taken into account by the web master

HOME INTERNATIONALS

 Martin reported that, at a meeting in Ireland, it had been agreed that the host country charge to players would be a maximum of £175. Groupings of age groups were been revised, and would be publicised when finalised

 FINANCE

 Stuart reported a healthy balance, and that he has passed over the books to Steve Mcloughlin, and is sorting out the bank mandates. There was some discussion as to possible uses for the surplus funds, including shirts for players representing England in the Home Internationals, and whether we should continue with suppliers DandM, but decisions would await the next meeting

 EUROPEAN MASTERS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Martin reported on discussions about team championships in each age group, to be played in conjunction with the European Masters in 2013

WORLD MASTERS 2012

 Martin reported that, without reference to this Committee, Bett  Dryhurst and Mo Sarwar had been co-opted to the Organising Committee. Following his intervention, Robert Smith and Stuart Hardy had been added to the co-options

 ITEMS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

 A list of items for future meetings was noted. There being no further business, the meeting was closed, and arrangements for the next one were left open