Minutes of the USA Wrestling - Ohio Annual Meeting
October 24, 2021
Attendees (25): Chris Kallai, Mary Terbay, John Cvetic, Robin Rayfield, Sarah Kershaw, Charlie Smith, Keith Carter, Wendel Donathan, Jeff Kullman, James Walters, Brad Bournival, Brian Church, Jeremy Johnson, Dane Johnson, Chris Kallai, Jr., Mike Sizemore, Dave Mathews, Rick Davis, Rob Dearwester, Armiya Muhammed, Bob Vallarelli, Jake Bontatibus, Dom Mancini, John Sopczak, Dom Adams
Determination of quorum: To have a quorum, at least 25% of the Officers, Directors, and At-Large Board Members (i.e., a minimum of nine) must be present along with representatives from at least 10% of the Chartered Clubs (i.e., a minimum of eleven). Twenty-one (21) Officers, Directors, and At-Large Board Members were present, and thirteen (13) Chartered Clubs were represented at the beginning of the meeting. Since it was determined that we had a quorum, the meeting was called to order at 8:25 AM.
1. Chairperson’s report – Chris Kallai
Chris introduced Dave Mathews, who is USA Wrestling Membership guru. His contact information is dmathews@usawrestling.org; phone 478.972.1171.
Chris went over the highlights from the year:
o ONU did a great job
o The training camp at Ashland cost more but was good
o Ohio had the most competitors at Fargo in 2021 and is always in the top 10; Ohio has great officials with 3 getting awards in Fargo; Debbi Kallai also received an award.
o Ohio is planning for only one site for the state wrestling tpurnament in 2022
o National convention
§ Membership, clubs, sanctions all have increased rates starting in 2022.
§ Membership is up 15%
§ Women’s wrestling is getting bigger
§ FloWrestling and TrackWrestling have combined. There will be no more pay-for-view option for viewing wrestling – you must get subscription
2. Vice Chairperson’s Report – Robin Rayfield
Qualifiers were held at Uniontown Lake, Western Brown, Elyria, Carroll, and Urbana last year. The State tournament went well – needed more table workers. Each qualifier host is required to work 2 tables at the State tournament and will receive a $500 offset for their expenses.
Approximately 300 athletes went to Fargo. Ohio did well there and no problems with the athletes. Women’s did well.
3. Secretary’s Report – Mary Terbay
The Minutes of the 2020 USA Wrestling Ohio Annual meeting were approved as written. (Motion by Wendel Donathon; seconded by Chris Kallai, Jr.)
4. Membership Chairperson’s Report –Chris Kallai for Jim Bostic
Membership numbers were:
2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
Athletes 479 4004 5,201 6,457 5,916 5,025
Most of those athletes were from MVKWA. 2022 has just started registering athletes.
Female wrestlers were 276 in 2021; down 10 from 2020.
2021 had 114 Club charters.
5. MVKWA Director – Charlie Smith
MVKWA season went well – it was a different format to stay within COVID protocols. Parents actually liked the format better.
The 2022 season is starting up with the first meet the weekend of December 8. So far there are 2680 athletes projected, 68 teams. There will be 37 mini-tournaments, 5 regionals and the final at Nutter Center.
6. Coaches’ Council Director – Keith Carter
Coaches’ Council (CC) set up some camp clinics. Future plans include: redoing the Greco syllabus, updating the Freestyle syllabus and then having the ability to go to regional sites to train on the Greco and Freestyle syllabi. A Fargo camp was organized in 2 weeks at Ashland with overnight accommodations and food service.
7. Treasurer’s Report - John Cvetic
John discussed the financial statements and budget for fiscal years 2021 and 2022. USAW-OH finished $26K negative cash for the first time in many years. Short fall due to lower card sales and higher Fargo camp cost ($52/athlete/day vs $35/athlete/day).
The Treasurer’s report was accepted by acclamation (Motion by Robin Rayfield and second by Keith Carter).
The 2022 budget was also presented. The 2021 budget was rolled over to 2022 with some new items included:
· USA National office raised the price of cards as follows: $2 for Folkstyle, $4 for Full membership and $6 for coach (wrestling leader). It is proposed that USAW-OH will “eat” this additional cost, which means that card cost will not go up for Ohio.
· USA National office also raised club charters $30 to $110; insurance from $0 to $50 and event sanctions up $40 to $110. The budget proposed that USAW-OH cover the additional sanction expense for MVKWA events.
· Money in to upgrade the Freestyle syllabus and to redo the Greco syllabus; also there is money for clinics to teach the syllabi
· Officials fund is set at $12.5K for incentives and officials shirts.
· Dual support has $2000 to help offset dual expense and also the amount for the entry for one team/ style/ division and the women.
Motion by Chris Kallai and second by Jeff Kullman to accept the budget as presented with proposals listed; approved by acclamation.
8. Kids / Schoolboy Director’s Report – Wendel Donathan
Wendel thanked everyone that helped for the duals. Greco took 3rd in copper division; Freestyle took 5th overall. Greco help is needed – if anyone is interested, please contact Wendel.
9. National Teams Director’s Report - Jeff Kullman
Jeff thanked Keith for getting the Ashland camp together. Also thanks to Robin Rayfield, the Freestyle and Greco directors and coaches. He felt that the Fargo experience (camp and at Fargo) was an overall good experience for athletes and coaches. There were a few areas for improvement with respect to coach selection and coach expectations. To that end, Jeff has generated (revised and added to) the Coaches’ Expectations that had been in place for many years. With the number of new coaches, the expectations were not as well communicated as they could be. This will address that and will also include a section on handling of vans. Jeff also wondered if we should go back to coaches filling out an application to help with the coach selection process. Forms could be set up online for easy submission. Josh Malave was volunteered for this.
10. Open Director’s Report –Rae McDonald
No report.
11. Women’s Report – Dane Johnson
2021 was a good year for Women’s Wrestling – Ohio had a girls’ state championship for the first time. In 2022, a Girls Dual state is being planned. Women did well in Fargo with Chloe Dearwester being a dual Champion. There were 4 All Americans in both the U16 and Junior divisions.
Indiana has indicated that they would like to have a dual with Ohio. Charlie Smith asked Dane to give him a list of the women wrestlers that were part of MVKWA.
12. Folkstyle Director’s Report - John Sopczak
John indicated that the MVKWA season is about ready to start (all folkstyle). They will keep the same format that Mark Gerhard generated for COVID. In 2023, John would like to bring back Folkstyle State (at the end of March).
13. Greco Director’s Report – Gavin Speelman
No report.
14. Freestyle Director’s Report –Jeremy Johnson
Jeremy thanked Jeff Kullman for his support as he stepped in for a one-year term last year. Jeremy indicated that Fargo was great but that he had identified some areas for improvement.
o Enhance the social media presence – this will increase the number interested in Fargo
o Make the camp check-in process paperless
o Have a Cadet and Junior liaison delegate to be in charge of the group – organization, coach assignments, etc.
o Look for ways to reduce the overall costs of the trip for the athlete
o How to get the wrestlers from Dual teams to go to Fargo.
There were many more positives than negatives. Jeff stated that Jeremy did a great job and with the proposed changes in coach selection and expectations made clear feels there will be even more positives.
15. Mat Officials Director’s Report – Bob Vallarelli
Bob mentioned that the extra money for working 3 or more qualifiers was very helpful in getting officials last season.
Two officials – Tom Knupp and Pete Bolanis are going EMERITUS, both due to health.
Ohio is getting some clout within the wrestling community with three officials receiving awards in Fargo. Bob generated an Officials Assistance Program form to assist with some financial relief when training or for upgrades (this must stay within budget). The form was approved at the Executive meeting.
We are in need of mat officials – we have tried many items, including giving the club some money for having someone officiate for a year. We need to incentivize younger officials. John Cvetic suggested a tiered incentive. John and Bob will get together to set up some tiered incentives.
16. Pairing Director’s Report –Chris Kallai for Debbi Kallai
The number of pairers has also decreased and more are needed. She asked that each Tournament Director give the pairers one to two people to train. This area can also use some incentives to encourage people to become pairers. Debbi received a Lifetime Achievement award in Fargo this year.
17. International Exchange Director’s Report –Brian Church
2021 – no out of country trips. Brian was able to schedule some instruction sessions which included some international coaches. They also worked with the Womens’ Coaches to help improve them. Kurdistan is looking to come to the United States and would like to stay with locals for room and board and they would do the same if we can take a team there.
18. Media / Promotions Director’s Report –Brad Bournival
Brad has been working to make the website easier to navigate and use. He strongly urged all areas to increase their social media presence (Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). Also if anyone already has “handles” please send to Brad and he can post. If you hate paperwork, Brad encouraged members to use Dave Mathews program. This would help with clubs, training camps and tournaments.
For the media guide, Brad wants to go with the QR code for access and to give to the college coaches.
19. Safe Sport Director – Jon Handwerk
No report.
20. Fund Raising – No report
21. Beach Wrestling Director – Sam Shalvey
No report.
Old Business
1. Automatic qualification for State Dual team
Motion: Any wrestler that competes in the Ohio State Duals will be an automatic qualifier to the State Greco and Freestyle tournaments. There will be a cap of 10 team members. This will be a one year trial (Motion: Keith Carter, Robin Rayfield second).
Motion passed.
Election of Officers
The following Officers were elected for two-year terms:
|
Position |
Nominations |
Nominated by: |
Result |
|
Chairperson |
Chris Kallai |
Robin Rayfield Chris Kallai Jr |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Secretary |
Mary Terbay |
Keith Carter Charlie Smith |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
MVKWA Director |
Charlie Smith |
Keith Carter John Sopczak |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
National Teams Director |
Jeff Kullman |
Chris Kallai Brad Bournival |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Schoolboy Director |
Wendel Donathan |
Chris Kallai Jr Chris Kallai |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Open Director |
Rae MacDonald |
Chris Kallai Chris Kallai Jr. |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Mat Officials Director |
Bob Vallarelli |
Brad Bournival Robin Rayfield |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Pairing Officials Director |
Debbi Kallai |
Chris Kallai Jr. Brad Bournival |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Folkstyle Director |
John Sopczak |
Charlie Smith Keith Carter |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Freestyle Director |
Jeremy Johnson |
Jeff Kullman Robin Rayfield |
Elected by acclamation |
|
Greco Director |
Gavin Speelman |
Brian Church Jeremy Johnson
|
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Beach Director |
Sam Shalvey
Britney Carrington |
Robin Rayfield Keith Carter
Dane Johnson Brad Bournival |
Elected |
|
Sombo Wrestling Director |
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Grappling Director |
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|
International Exchange Director |
Brian Church |
Chris Kallai John Sopczak |
Re-elected by acclamation |
|
Media / Promotions Director |
Brad Bournival |
Chris Kallai Jr. Mary Terbay |
Re-elected by acclamation |
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NEW Business
1. Appointments for 1 year term
Chris made the following appointments to fill out the remainder of the term (therefore, for 1 year)
Membership Co-Director: Sarah Kershaw
Mike Sizemore
Mike will handle the MVKWA membership, club charters and event sanctions. Sarah has the rest of the state.
At Large Member: James Walter
2. 2022 Season Schedule
State Tournaments – the tournament will be at Ohio Northern University again. If we have to have a hotel, room assignments will have to be confirmed by April 28th.
State Duals Austintown Fitch April 24
Kids State and the Qualifier Elyria May 7
State tournament Ohio Northern May 28-29
Motion by Robin Rayfield and second by Chris Kallai Junior to approve all state tournaments. Passed unanimously.
Qualifier schedule
April 2 Brian Church hosted tournament
April 9 Western Brown
April 16 Delta (or Northwest)
April 23 Uniontown Lake
April 30 Dublin Coffman
May 7 Elyria (U16 and Junior only)
May 14 Carroll
May 21 Marysville and Women’s Duals
Motion by Robin Rayfield and second by Chris Kallai Junior to approve all qualifier tournaments. Passed unanimously.
Wendel asked when he could get payment for working the State tournament – send request to John and he will send the check.
Three qualifiers have not submitted their end of tournament. – Elyria, Carroll, and Urbana. Per the contract, there should be a $200 fine assessed to these qualifiers. Each of these events had some unusual occurrences. It was suggested by Jeff Kullman that there not be any fines assessed for 2021 due to this.
Motion by Jeff Kullman and second by Wendel Donathon to not assess the fines for 2021. Passed unanimously.
Wendel suggested that any penalties collected from tournament contract violations be used to help with mat official/ pairer recruitment.
Motion by Mary Terbay and second by Wendel Donathon to use penalties collected as stated above. Passed unanimously.
3. Increase spectator entry fee
Chris Kallai suggested that spectator entry fees be increased starting with the 2022 season. This would be $5 per individual with a $10 maximum per family. Motion by Chris Kallai and second by Robin Rayfield to increase spectator fees. Passed unanimously.
4. Gear
Gear was awesome but no USAWO logo. Mistake when ordering. Taken steps so it does not happen again.
5. Team coaches
Bob Vallarelli asked that he receive a list of team coaches for the duals. Keith said that he would ensure that this happens.
6. Girls Wrestling
USAW-OH was asked to help get girls wrestling sanctioned in the state. Bottom line is numbers – there must be girl teams in 90 schools to get the sanction.
7. Membership system trial
It was decided in the Tournament Directors meeting that Western Brown would be a test site for using the Membership system. In February, Wendel (and some of his IT people), Mary, Keith and Dave Mathews will meet to ensure that we have a successful trial.
The next Annual meeting will be October 2, 2021 – hopefully at Benesch or virtually if there is still social distancing requirements.
Motion by Chris Kallai and second by Chris Kallai Jr. to adjourn. Passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 11:12.