2012 Annual Meeting/Conference Call Minutes: Collegiate Water Polo Association

2012 Annual Meeting/Conference Call Minutes

Division I/II Women's Varsity Meeting (Monday, June , 2012 @ Villanova University)
Division III Women's Varsity Conference Call (Wednesday, June 20, 2012)

2012 Collegiate Water Polo Association Division I/II Women’s Varsity Meeting
Monday, June, 2012
Villanova University, Villanova, Pa. -- Connelly Center, Devon Room

Video Recap of Meeting: CLICK HERE

Women’s Meeting

Proposal 1 - Motion mad by Kim Fierke, Hartwick College, to alter the governance to include more administrative involvement. The proposal was withdrawn based on the formation of a committee to create a new governance model for all teams (club/varsity, men/women).

Proposal 2 - Motion made by Princeton and seconded by Michigan to make ballots public after the results have been announced. Motion deadlocked.

Proposal 3 - Jay O’Neill, Washington & Jefferson made a motion to have the top two winners of the Division III competition receive automatic bids to the Eastern Championship. Seconded by JJ Addison, Connecticut College. Motion amended to only one team receiving an automatic bid. Amendment seconded by Connecticut College. Amendment passed. Motion passed unanimously.

Proposal 4 - Motion made by Hartwick College and Brown University, to have a 12-team championship that will eliminate a division championship, effective 2013. Seconded by Bucknell University. Motion included schedule examples in which everyone plays everyone. Motion was withdrawn

Proposal 4B - Motion was made by Hartwick to have all teams play one another and eliminate the division championship, effective 2013. Seconded by Indiana. Motion fails 2-6.

Proposal 5 - Motion made by Hartwick College and Brown University to rotate the Eastern Championship through a Bid process, If two or more teams bid for the championship, the team that has not hosted most recently would be awarded the bid. Seconded by Bucknell University.

West - Indiana, Michigan, Notre Dame, Mercyhurst, Gannon

East - Harvard, Hartwick, Brown

South - Princeton, Bucknell, George Washington, Salem International, (Maryland-if they are active)

2013-West

2014-South

2015-East

2016-West

2017-South

2018-East

Motion withdrawn

Proposal 6 - Revise Women’s Division Alignment and Competitive Schedule

Sponsors - Hartwick and Brown
Purpose - To implement a league structure that allows for a single round robin format with Divisional Champions and Divisions based on competitiveness. This proposal also gives a scheduling model for 5 years and criteria for seeding the Eastern Championships
Divisions
- There will be three divisions for the purpose of naming a divisional champion and so athletes can be recognized within each of the three divisions (MVP, Rookie, Coach, and All-Divisional Teams). Each of the three Divisional Champions will be determined by single round robin contests played throughout the season.
- The divisions will be decided by the previous year’s Eastern Championship results.
  - With the top four teams being in one Division.
  - The fifth through eighth placed teams being in another Division.
  - The Ninth through 12th placed teams being in a third Division.
- Names of each Division are open to discussion.

If it is determined that the CWPA Eastern championship will only have 8 teams, then the teams that do not qualify will be in the (9th-12th) Division. If there are more than 12 teams, a rotating Divisional system will be used. 2013 (1st-5th), (6th-9th), (10-13th) 2014 (1st-4th), (5th-9th), (10th-13th), 2015 (1st-4th), (5th-8th), (9th-13th), etc… (for 14 teams 2 divisions of 5 and one of 4, rotating)

Scheduling

Scheduling will be done for the first 5 years and then a year will be added at the end of the previous season, so a 5 year schedule will always be available. League games will be designed primarily for weekend tournaments. Games can only be withdrawn from a schedule if all teams involved in the tournament agree or if the withdrawn game does not affect any of the other games (ex: last game of the tournament). All withdrawn games must be done by the end of the previous season (Eastern Championships). If teams scheduled to play twice in one season, the two head coaches may designate which game will be the actual league game and report that contest to the CWPA office before the start of the season. Everyone will play everyone. (see attached scheduling proposal)

Rationale - Based on past conversations this would give all teams a more fair chance at winning a Divisional Title since you would be playing against teams of similar ability based on end of previous season results.
Schedule 2013 (Schedules 2014-2017 ate attached)
Groups

1 2 3

Michigan Notre Dame Princeton

Indiana Gannon Brown

Bucknell Salem Harvard

Maryland Mercyhurst Hartwick

George Washington

Tournaments

Group 1 @ Maryland

Sat. 10:00 am Indiana vs Maryland

11:30 am Michigan vs. Bucknell

3:00 pm Indiana vs. G.W.

5:00 pm Michigan vs. Maryland

7:00 pm G.W. vs Bucknell

Sun. 10:00 am Indiana vs. Bucknll

Noon Michigan vs. G.W.

2:00 pm Maryland vs. Bucknell

Group 2 @ Salem

Sat. 11:00 am Notre Dame vs. Gannon

12:30 pm Salem vs. Mercyhurst

4:00 pm Salem vs. Gannon

5:30 pm Notre Dame vs. Mercyhurst

Sun. 10:00 am Notre Dame vs. Salem

11:30 am Gannon vs. Mercyhurst

Group 3 @ Princeton

Sat. 11:00 am Princeton vs. Brown

12:30 pm Harvard vs. Hartwick

4:00 pm Brown vs. Hartwick

5:30 pm Princeton vs Harvard

Sun. 11:00 am Brown vs. Harvard (or scheduled during the week)

12:30 pm Princeton vs. Hartwick

Group 1 vs Group 2 @ Gannon/Mercyhurst

Sat. @ Gannon

9:00 am Indiana vs. Notre Dame

10:30 am Bucknell vs. Gannon

2:00 pm Indiana vs. Gannon

3:30 pm Bucknell vs. Notre Dame

7:00 pm Maryland vs. Gannon

8:30 pm G.W. vs Notre Dame

Sat. @ Mercyhurst

9:00 am Maryland vs. Salem

10:30 am G.W. vs. Mercyhurst

2:00 pm Maryland vs. Mercyhurst

3:30 pm G.W. vs. Salem

7:00 pm Indiana vs. Salem

8:30 pm Bucknell vs. Maryland

Sun. @ Gannon

9:00 am Maryland vs. Notre Dame

10:30 am G.W. vs. Gnnon

Noon Indiana vs. Mercyhurst

1:30 pm Bucknell vs. Salem

Group 2 vs. 3 @ Hartwick

Sat. 8:30 am Brown vs. Salem

9:45 am Harvard vs. Notre Dame

11:00 am Princeton vs. Mercyhurst

12:15 pm Gannon vs. Hartwick

1:30 pm Harvard vs. Salem

2:45 pm Brown v. Notre Dame

4:00 pm Princeton vs. Gannon

5:15 pm Mercyhurst vs. Hartwick

6:30 pm Salem vs. Hartwick

8:00 pm Princeton vs Notre Dame

Sun. 8:30 am Harvard vs. Mercyhurst

9:45 am Brown vs. Gannon

11:00 am Princeton vs. Salem

12:15 pm Notre Dame vs. Hartwick

1:30 pm Harvard vs. Gannon

2:45 pm Brown vs. Mercyhurst

Group 1 vs. 3 @ Brown/Harvard

Friday @ Brown

6:00 pm Hartwick vs. Indiana

7:30 pm Maryland vs. Brown

Friday @ Harvard

6:00 pm Princeton vs. Michigan

7:30 pm G.W. vs Harvard

Sat. @ Brown

9:00 am Hartwick vs. G.W.

10:15 am Michigan vs Brown

11:30 am Princeton vs. Maryland

12:45 pm Indiana vs. Harvard

3:15 pm Hartwick vs. Michigan

4:30 pm G.W. vs. Brown

5:45 pm Harvard vs. Maryland

7:00 pm Princeton vs. Indiana

Sun @ Brown

9:00 am Harvard vs. Michigan

10:15 am Princeton vs. G.W.

11:30 am Indiana vs. Brown

12:45 pm Maryland vs. Hartwick

Games to be Scheduled

Michigan @ Indiana Harvard vs. Bucknell

Maryland @ G.W. Brown vs. Bucknell

Hartwick vs. Bucknell Princeton vs Bucknell

New Business

Bucknell made a motion to be unrestricted in the restricted division. Seconded by Brown University. Motion was tabled until discussion regarding the restricted language takes place.
Motion was made by Harvard to include 12 teams at the Eastern Championship, including the winner of the Division III championship. Seconded by Indiana. Motion failed 6-5.
Joe Tristan, Penn State Behrend, made a motion to have an eight-team tournament with two Ivy League teams, one Division III member, four Division I members and one Division II member. Motion was not seconded.
Motion was made by Keith Bullion to have a 12-team tournament, including one Division III team, with the division champions seeded first and second. Seconded by Brown. Amendment was proposed to divide the teams by selecting five from the west, five from the south, one Division III champion, and one at-large. Amendment seconded and fails 5-6. Motion passes 11-0
Motion was made by Brown to seed the teams with five automatic bids in order of their finish with the Division III team seeded in one of the last two spots. No second received.
Consensus stated that the administrators would serve as the decision group regarding the seeding for the Women’s Eastern Championship, whether they seed the tournament directly or appoint a committee to do so.
Motion was made by Bucknell to be permitted to take a training trip before the January 15 start date of the restricted division one in four years. Seconded by Harvard University. Motion withdrawn
Motion was made by Brown University to change the start of practice for the restricted division to January 10th. Seconded by Bucknell seconded. Motion passes unanimously.
Hartwick raised the issue of switching divisions to the restricted division to avoid too many trips west and Michigan proposed that the division championship not be placed at Indiana and awarded to either RPI or Notre Dame College. Hartwick indicated they would check into hosting at RPI or Ithaca and Notre Dame stated they might be able to host at Akron or SPIRE Institute. Hartwick said that Notre Dame hosting does not relieve the travel burden. Bullion indicated that ECC in Buffalo might be an option. Everyone was charged with determining availability before a location is selected.
Selection and seeding criteria for teams to the Eastern Championship was discussed. Current process uses NCAA criteria. It was stated again that the committee could use the RPI as a factor to consider, but it would not be bound by it. Furthermore, that the composition of the committee would be decided by the administrators and that the health of the student athletes would not be used as a factor. There was no support to change the remaining criteria.

Administrator Meeting

During the lunch break the administrators met to discuss governance of the conference. The Commissioner gave the history of the CWPA as background information with respect to the current governance model, namely that the coaches have been the decision-makers for league policy. He stated the need to align the CWPA with all other conferences by placing the decision-making process with the administrators.It was emphasized that any new model will need to include the input of the coaches. The Commissioner said he envisioned that the coaches would meet in conjunction with the Rules Forum the first weekend in June and then relay any proposals to the administrators for their review at a later date. He suggested several options to accomplish this including dividing the conference into two separate conferences (club and varsity), or creating a model that blends the membership while assigning authority by class of membership (club or varsity). Based on economies of scale, he strongly recommended maintaining the club and varsity teams together while separating authority.

After some discussion it was determined that a five-member council would be created to propose a governance model. The council would meet in the summer and fall, with the expectation that a model would be voted upon by the beginning of the next calendar year.

The second item on the agenda was the creation of the women’s alignment and schedule. It was determined that a committee be created that included two administrators from each division, along with the Commissioner. This committee would be charged with creating a model by July 15, followed by a conference call for the membership to receive feedback. By August 15 a new revised model will be released, with September 1st the target date for a new schedule for 2014-15.

General Meeting

The Commissioner discussed that the conference was undergoing a revision in the governance structure to provide better separation in decision-making for varsity and club members. He gave a brief summary of the administrator meeting that was held during lunch.

Regarding the new structure, a committee of five administrators, including President John Benedick will be formed to create the new model, which will be voted upon at a later date. They will also be charged with coming up with a seeding committee for the selection and seeding of women’s teams for the championship. The Commissioner requested nominees for the committee and mentioned Don Sherman from Gannon was willing to participate.

The Commissioner related that the administrators had also agreed on the formation of a committee to address the women’s schedule and alignment for the future. To this end it was determined that a committee be created that included two administrators from each division, along with the Commissioner. This committee would be charged with creating a model by July 15, followed by a conference call for the membership to receive feedback. By August 15 a new revised model will be released, with September 1st the target date for a new schedule for 2014-15. Individuals willing to participate included Erin McDermott-Princeton, Chris Hennelly-George Washington, Gary Brown-Harvard, Kim Fierke-Hartwick.

The next item of business was the selection of Board of Directors. Two at-large nominees were Steven Sokolow and Mark Gensheimer, as well as Brian Streeter as an administrator. Brian Streeter and Mark Gensheimer were elected.

The annual report was submitted by the Commissioner to the membership for their review and a copy was posted on the website. He mentioned the importance of multimedia and the direction the conference is taking regarding communication. A brief video was shown as an example of the manner in which the CWPA will be communicating with the membership in the future. He mentioned streaming kits will be available for institutions to stream their games at no cost to the institution. Kits will include camera, tripod, and cables.

He explained a brief overview of the financial picture and highlighted some key points from the accounting section. He mentioned that streaming could become a revenue line. In addition, the website has become a great tool for the membership to receive information and visits are significantly higher than in previous years.

An overview of officiating was provided that explained the education and evaluation process, along with how much the CWPA has improved. An example of this was the fact that three of the four referees selected to the Men’s NCAA Championship were from the CWPA, compared with none just a few years ago.

Motion was made by Brown to prevent the evaluators from talking to the officials during the Eastern Championship. The evaluator may only assign the officials for specific games. Iona seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Motion was made by Brown and Hartwick to allow the use of video reply for the last two minutes of a game in a championship tournament to correct shot clock and game clock errors. Video replay cannot be used to overturn official’s calls. Motion withdrawn

Motion was made by Bucknell to have goal judges at the Men’s and Women’s Eastern Championships. Connecticut College seconded. Motion failed.

Men’s Meeting

Commissioner requests that the men determine their schedule irrespective of the West Coast dates. Coaches were not in agreement and wanted to maintain process that finalizes schedule after west coast dates are determined.

Ted Minnis of Harvard makes a motion that Northern Division Teams commit to a double round robin schedule effective 2013. Seconded by Brian Kelly. Motion passed unanimously

Commissioner asked for the approval of the 2012 schedules as submitted. Some minor changes were suggested including Bucknell vs Princeton moved to 10/17 @ Princeton. Schedule was approved.

Coaches discussed the future date for the Ivy Championship based on conflicts with the collegiate club programs. The date was determined to be October 29-30 at Yale University.

Matt Kittle indicates that the DII championship can be held at SPIRE Institute if Don Sherman at Gannon is willing to give up their bid. The rotation for women and men will be determined after we learn about the availability of SPIRE. The women’s championship will be held at SPIRE on April 20th, site TBD.

Discussion of N/S invite was held. The Commissioner stated that the event is a non-conference event that was originally created to bring the best teams together to play as part of the ECAC grant. It has evolved over time and been revised in format and the number of berths. After additional discussion, it was determined that the event be called the North-South Championship with the top eight teams (four form each division championship finish)in one group and the remaining teams interested in a separate group. The weekend would be the same date each year, provided a common date exists. Seeding would be identical to Easterns with the championship format used for competition. Tournament is limited to college teams and based on division finish the prior year. Site rotation would be by region with five regions selected. Teams hosting are responsible for the conduct of the event and payment of officials. The CWPA will put together the schedule. All is based on a common date available between divisions since teams have a higher priority of attending west coast events.

2012 Collegiate Water Polo Association Division III Women’s Varsity Conference Call
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Noon – 2:00 p.m.

CWPA Staff Attendance: Dan Sharadin (CWPA Commissioner)

Coaches/Athletic Directors Attendance: Jennie Charlesworth, Head Coach (Macalester College); JJ Addison, Head Coach (Connecticut College); Brian Streeter, Director of Athletics (Pennsylvania State University-Behrend); Joe Tristan, Head Coach (Pennsylvania State University-Behrend); Erin McKnight, Head Coach (Utica College); David Fontaine, Director of Athletics (Utica College); Jay O’Neill, Head Coach (Washington & Jefferson College); Jon Miller, Head Coach (Grove City College); Andy Bax, (Carthage College)

The meeting began with a discussion regarding the league competition schedule. Jay O'Neill (Washington & Jefferson) made a motion to approve the schedule as follows:

Regular season will consist of a double round robin format, with the exception that Grove City plays two games per day and their additional four games scheduled on other dates to be determined. Penn State-Behrend and Washington & Jefferson will play two games Friday, two games Saturday, and one game on Sunday. The championship format will be as listed below at Connecticut College (game times may be adjusted):

Friday, April 12, 2013
10:00	4th Seed	vs.	5th Seed	1
11:20	2nd Seed	vs.	7th Seed	2
12:40	3rd Seed	vs.	6th Seed	3
3:00	Loser Game 1	vs.	Loser Game 2	4
4:30	1st Seed	vs.	Winner Game 1	5
6:00	Winner Game 2	vs.	Winner Game 3	6
7:30	Loser Game 2	vs.	Loser Game 3	7

Saturday, April 13, 2013
9:00	Loser Game 1	vs.	Loser Game 3	8
10:30	Loser Game 6	vs.	Loser Game 5	Third Place
Noon	Winner Game 5	vs.	Winner Game 6	First Place

Jennie Charlesworth (Macalester) seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

Next enhancements for the student-athletes were discussed . Joe Tristan made a motion including the following items:

Student-athletes on the First Place Team receive individual plaques
Student-athletes receive goodie bags at the championship
A Hall of Fame be established for Division III student-athletes including the selection of an individual every year. The individual would be invited to the championship (expenses paid) and presented with an award.

Jennie Charlesworth (Macalester) seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

Jay O’Neill (Washington & Jefferson) indicated that with the approval of the Division III Champion receiving an automatic bid to the CWPA Eastern Championship, the dates of the schedule will need to be adjusted. Jennie Charlesworth (Macalester) made a motion that the Division III Eastern Championship be held two weeks prior to the CWPA Eastern Championship. Jay O’Neill (Washington & Jefferson) seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

It was questioned whether the Division III bid was effective for 2013 and the Commissioner indicated he would let everyone know later.

The Commissioner closed the meeting by saying he will release the revised schedule and will inform the membership of Grove City’s ability to play on Sunday when he receives notice.