MMLC AGM 2022 Meeting Minutes
Thursday October 6th 2022
6:30pm at Mission Leisure Centre
7650 Grand St, Mission, BC V2V 3T3
In attendance: Jason Hughlett(President), Nicole Kokoska (VP Box), Jason Lindh (VP Field), Katie Cochrane (Secretary), Carrie Dunnett (Treasurer), Matt Flury (Director),Ryder Bremner(Director / Head Ref), Danielle Leifsson(Director/Floor Allocator), Jamie Hooper (Director/Registrar), Shane Barnum (Director), Kyle Mooney(Director/ Technical Director Box), Ryan Smith (Director/Equipment Manager) Rachel Roberts (Director)
1. Call to Order @6:38pm
2. Adoption of Minutes: 1st RS / 2nd DL
3. Adoption of Agenda: 1st- JL / 2nd RS
4. Correspondence: NONE
5. Executive Reports
A- President
See attached report
B- Vice President Field
See attached report
Q: Question regarding allocation of resources during this partnership with Valley. Would like to see kids wearing Valley pinnies have the same access to resources as kids wearing Mission pinnies.
Example given : MMLC tent was used at practice the other night. There was no Valley tent there.
A: Tent was purchased with MMLC funds raised (not registration money) months before partnership began. Valley should feel welcome and encouraged to bring their own tent to events, games and practices etc.
C – Vice President Box
See attached Report
Q: Why is the Executive so opposed to increasing registration $50-$60 in order to bring in some higher level paid coaching opportunities for our players and their development?
A: Increasing registration would be a barrier to many families being able to participate in lacrosse. We are definitely open to fundraising as a club to be able to provide higher level player development for all teams throughout our club
Q: Big concerns over Team Fundraising/ Finances and accountability. What is being done about this?
A: We have made in mandatory for all managers to keep accurate and up to date records of all monies incoming and outgoing for their teams. These records can be requested to be seen by anybody on that team or any member of the executive at any time.
We are also in the process of reviewing and updated our Bylaws and OPPM. We will look at this area carefully and ensure that very clear policy is laid out regarding team finances and accountability.
We will continue to look into the unresolved situation from Box season this year and are committed to seeing this through until a resolution is reached.
Q: Why are we always so late to start Box season every year? Putting us behind in forming teams, registering for tournaments and over all player readiness.
A: The main reason is lack of facilities. We are growing both as a club and as an overall community here in Mission. Unfortunately the infrastructure is still not there to support it yet.
Just a few months ago our executive sent a delegation to speak before the council of the District of Mission about the need for a covered box here in our city.
We do have a head manager now and she will be registering all of our teams for tournament as soon as registration opens each season, so hopefully more of our teams will get in.
D- Treasurers-financials
Field 2021/2022
Box 2023
E - Registrar
Q: Our team snap from Box seems to have been deleted not archived?
A: The registrar has archived it and can access it if needed.
MOTION to adopt the reports as submitted – JH / RS
6. New business
1. Elections
a. VP Box – 2 Year Term
Nominations :
Nicole Kokoska – nominated by Shanda Collins
Matt Flury – nominated by Meagan Clifton
Won – Nicole Kokoska
b. Secretary - 2 year
Nominations :
Katie Cochrane – nominated by Amanda Wunderlick
Crystal Beaulieu – nominated by Jamie Hooper (declined)
Won by acclamation – Katie Cochrane
C . Director Position #1 – 2 Year Term
Nominations:
Ryder Bremner – nominated by Jason Lindh
Mike Owens – nominated by Justin Bond (Declined)
Amanda Wunderlick – nominated by Katie Cochrane
Matt Flury – nominated by Tim Bell
Kyle Mooney – nominated by Nicole Kokoska
Shane Barnum – nominated by Ryan Smith
Brenton Graham – nominated by Danielle Liefsson
Won – Matt Flury
D . Director Position #2 – 2 Year Term
Nominations:
Ryder Bremner – nominated by Jason Lindh
Amanda Wunderlick – nominated by Katie Cochrane
Kyle Mooney – nominated by Nicole Kokoska
Shane Barnum – nominated by Ryan Smith
Brenton Graham – nominated by Danielle Liefsson
Won – Ryder Bremner
E . Director Position #3 – 2 Year Term
Nominations:
Amanda Wunderlick – nominated by Katie Cochrane
Kyle Mooney – nominated by Nicole Kokoska
Shane Barnum – nominated by Ryan Smith
Brenton Graham – nominated by Danielle Liefsson
Won – Kyle Mooney
F . Director Position #4 – 2 Year Term
Nominations:
Amanda Wunderlick – nominated by Katie Cochrane
Shane Barnum – nominated by Ryan Smith
Brenton Graham – nominated by Danielle Liefsson
Naomi Hughlett – nominated by Ryan Smith
Won – Shane Barnum
MOTION – to destroy the ballots – RS / 2nd JH
Next Meeting: October Monthly Meeting, Oct 20th @ 6:30pm at Mission Chamber of Commerce
Adjournment @8:19pm
Presidents Report 2021 - 2022
It has been an interesting and fast paced first year as President of Mission Minor Lacrosse. The year has seen us transition from re-entering competitive lacrosse with restrictions provided by the public health order to an unrestricted season for Box lacrosse and (so far) the 2022-23 field lacrosse season.
We were faced with challenges during the 2021-22 field season when the public health order required coaches and adult volunteers to be vaccinated to participate. The MMLC communicable disease plan was updated, and many volunteers scrambled to respond. They download apps and create processes to ensure everyone were in compliance. Thankfully, this order was quickly changed to allow all volunteers the ability to participate as they chose. A special thanks to the coaches and directors who took on multiple roles and stepped into vacant coaching positions during the short time the medical order was in place. Your help was essential, and we are extremely grateful for your efforts.
Some of the first decisions during the last year were the implementation of the technical director role for co-ed field and box lacrosse. This has evolved to currently being a paid position as of September 2022. These positions are different from the “head coach role” that performed some of these tasks before. The technical director role will create a strategic framework for development of players from the earliest age to our u18 role. The are supported by the coaching coordinator who has the task of following up on applications and qualifications for all coaching volunteers. We are thankful for these new roles within MMLC and for the excellent candidates that occupy them, including Mantej Grewal as Co-ed Field Technical Director, Kyle Mooney as Box Technical Director, and Katie McGuire as MMLC Coaching Coordinator. Thank you too all!
The board met last fall to complete, approve and implement the MMLC policy and procedure manual that had been in draft. A special thanks to those that worked hard in this area to develop this manual. Jamie Hooper. It is good to have this as a resource in decision-making and guidance.
Part of the updated manual was the development of a coaching committee to work together to select coaches using an interview process to determine the most qualified candidate for the position. The committee is lead by the VP of box or Field, the technical director, and other qualified candidates. We believe this will allow for the best outcome for all the teams.
Another new role in 2021-22 has been the addition of the Director of Communications. We were please to create this role and have Rachel Roberts as the first person to participate in this position. Rachel is an excellent communicator and oversees developing processes to clarify information for families and promote MMLC in the community. Rachel also works alongside the social media lead, Amanda Wunderlick with our presence on social media.
The 2021-22 Field Season was a terrific experience despite the challenges I mentioned. Thank you to Jason Lindh, Tej Grewal, the coaches, managers, volunteers, MMLC referees, athletes, and their fans for an amazing season. It was great watching each of the teams perform on the field during games, tournaments, and provincials. We are so proud of the team that won the gold medal at for u15 tier 2. We will all long remember the large and loud crowd in Langley cheering on the team as they dominated their opponent. Great job everyone!
This year we have been thankful for all coaches and volunteers that help with games. It is essential to have the participation of parent and other volunteers leading the teams in practice, games and team development. Particularly, it is terrific to see former players return to help out and coach, even when they have no children playing, but out of the kindness of their heart to help and give back. I am also thankful for many directors and coaches who have taken on teams that did not have any volunteers for coaching. I am not able to mention any names, for fear of excluding someone by accident, but please know, your spirit of giving back is noted with great thanks by us and will be remembered longer by the athletes you are helping now.
A special thanks to the leadership team, including Box VP, Nicole Kokoska and technical director Kyle Mooney for a terrific 2022 box season. Again, it was made possible by all the efforts from Nicole and the group of volunteers. We had a great group of coaches, managers, MMLC referees, score keepers, time clock operators and our in-game announcer! (Thanks Matthew Lifford!) . There were a lot of fast paced games and great victories for our teams. A particular highlight included the event organized by Nicole and others to host a junior A game between Coquitlam and New Westminster. The crowd was full, and the action was terrific. It was a remarkable season with lots of highlights including MMLC develop and field our first novice women’s team this year. We were able to have women’s teams in novice, peewee and bantam. This is great progress, and we look forward to seeing it grow in skill and success. Awesome job!
In July 2022, MMLC sent a delegation to speak to District of Mission Counsel and mayor requesting a covered facility for lacrosse. Thank you to Carrie Dunnet, Nicole Kokoska and Stu Taylor for your work in this area and for all the support given by the lacrosse community in this presentation. We are hopeful this request will lead to newer and enhanced facilities to support the growth of lacrosse.
The 2021-22 field lacrosse season is underway and is distinctive for the first-time partnership with Valley lacrosse club. Many members of the executive have worked very hard over the last year to develop the framework for a partnership that allows the two associations to merge their teams and resources together including coaching, equipment, field time, etc. without the need to follow the release process. It has been a pleasure getting to know our peers from the Valley Attack lacrosse association, based out of Abbotsford. The ones I have met and dealt with are very likable people who have a great desire to grow the sport of lacrosse in their community and to provide Mission players the opportunity to play with players that complement their own skill. The hope is to support them in the process. All the best to everyone during this partnership.
I will also repeat myself in being excited about the growth of the women’s field lacrosse game. We now have teams in u8, u12 and u15 divisions. We also have multiple Mission players participating in a regional u19 team. Of note, we even had to form two u12 teams due to the growth at the 2010-2013 age group. We are also excited to have three new volunteers that will be umpires for MMLC this year. Last year, the u-12 team had just one home game all season because we did not have any umpires to volunteer for these games. We are glad to have these volunteers working in this role this year. With growth comes challenges, and we are faced with a need for more volunteers that understand and know the women’s game. The goal is to have a paid women’s lacrosse technical director overseeing their development, much like with the co-ed field and box divisions. If you are reading this far and know somebody, please put them in touch with us. 😊
In conclusion, Co-ed Field lacrosse, box lacrosse, and women’s lacrosse are all team sports, and we need strong teamwork to ensure we are doing it successfully. My philosophy is we should make all our decisions based on if it will benefit the kids. Thank you for the team work and help volunteers of Mission Minor lacrosse, including all our executive, appointed board positions, coaches, managers, parent volunteers, families and the athletes who give their best.
Of note, I would like to recognize our Spirit Champion Award winners with the BCLA for 2021, Shannon Meindland for 2022, Tej Grewal. Thank you for role modeling for the rest of us and showing us how the best to it. We are grateful and you are terrific champions.
- Jason Hughlett, MMLC President
Vice President – Field Report for 2021 -2022
The last year has been great. Thanks to all the coaches and volunteers for stepping up and made last season successful. It was truly great to watch all the teams at provincials. We are so proud of the U-15 Tier 2 for bringing the gold home to Mission!
The dust of the rust and try it sessions for this season went well. Thanks to the volunteers who helped out with these.
We appreciate those that helped get ready for this season. There were a lot of volunteers. I want to thank the evaluators who helped us with balancing and tiering the teams. This year most of the teams were balanced for developing skill sets as well as allowing teams to participate in tournaments and challenge themselves to get better.
The partnership with Abby is going good at this time. Its great to see the players from Mission and Abby working together and getting better.
We had a lot of new refs and umps who have joined the lax family. Thanks to all of them for stepping up.
I really appreciate everyone who has worked hard to help make the field lacrosse seasons , including Tej Grewal, Imat Grewal and Harpreet Grewal, all of the other coaches that give up their personal time and the managers and everyone else. You are truly appreciated.
- Jason Lindh, MMLC Field VP
Vice President – Box Report for 2022-2022
Pre-season
- Dust the rust off @ Camp Luther before Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
-Try it nights@ Windebank Elementary after Restrictions were lifted.
- Evaluations at the outdoor box, weather permitting.
- Coaching selections/ recommendations made by committee.
- Practices started at outdoor box until arena was open.
Season
April, 2022
First games of the season April 11.
Scheduling was a mess at the beginning of the season with the new LMMLC website. Ideas were put to calm this for next year.
New scorekeeping system was unveiled. It was a process to learn to use but most people received it positively.
April 22, 2022, Coquitam Adanacs played New Westminster
Salmon bellies here in Mission. This game was a fundraiser for us and the Mikey & Scotty Memorial Fund. Both Scotty and Mikey's families will attend. This raised $2500.00 for MMLC.
May, 2022
Tiering week
Photo day rescheduled to accommodate proper notice.
Female Island schedule was not posted on LMMLC schedule, this caused many cancellations for the island teams. The schedule WILL be posted next year pre-season to align with tournaments that are posted.
New Tyke rules were not a hit. We hope for this to return to previous rules in 2023.
June, 2022.
Play downs started in mid-June. Some teams played in to July.
Some games needed executive presence and spectator calming due to parental actions by opposition.
Teams found their spots in Provincials.
July, 2022.
Mission Sasquatch Bantam C,16U teams played in Provincials.
Mission players and referees travelled to Prince George for BC Summer Games.
With a real season ahead of us, the 2022 season was exciting, new and strangely felt like meeting an old friend. This season had it’s ups and downs, experiments and fails. This was to be expected with two years of Covid-19 under our belts.
We had new additions to the season from Lower Mainland Lacrosse Commission via electronic game sheets, a new scheduling tool on the website, and new Tyke rules from BCLA.
We had many incident reports dealing with behaviour on both the female and coed side of game play as well as spectators. We learned we could get excited!
We can chalk up a lot to two years of missing Box lacrosse, but our kids got to play!
We welcomed back the squeal of shoes on the floor, the noise in the stands, the sound of the 30 second clock, and the stench and humidity of an arena. It was wonderful.
Plans are in the ready for next year.
We will get our kids out earlier, hopefully without further restrictions.
We hope to see families come back to our beloved sport that left.
Thank you, Sasquatch, for a season of fun and effort! I loved being part of it and watching your kids keep their sticks in their hands and smiles on their faces.
Cheers,
Nicole Kokoska
Registrar Report
Box 2022
Total Registered 227 players – 14 Teams
Mini Tyke22 ( 2 teams)Novice Female 13 ( 1 team )
Tyke36 ( 2 teams )Peewee Female19 ( 1 team )
Novice29 ( 2 Teams)Bantam Female16 ( 1 Team )
Peewee40 ( 2 Teams )
Bantam32 ( 2 Teams )
U1620 ( 1 Team)
Field 2022
260 fully registered this season. 195 registered players in Mission.
16 teams declared this season, up from 10 last season.
Able to keep all but U19 girls from being released.
U5 13 total registrations – 4 Abby, 9 Mission
Declared 2 teams (1 Mission, 1 Abby team)
U740 total registrations – 9 Abby, 28 Mission
Declared 3 teams – 2 Mission, 1 Abby
U927 registered, 1 waiting to pay – 4 Abby, 23 Mission
Declared 2 (Mission) team
U1134 Total registrations – 11 Abby, 23 Mission
Declared 2 BALANCED teams – Tryouts for balancing
U1332 Total registrations – 7 Abby, 25 Mission
Declare 2 teams – Tryouts for tiering
U15 25 Total registrations – 9 Abby, 17 Mission (1 kid aged up)
Declared 1 team
U1824 Total registrations – 11 Abby, 13 Mission
Declared 1 team
U8 F12 Total registrations – 6 Abby, 6 Mission
Declared 2 BALANCED teams
U12F31 Total registrations – 4 Abby, 27 Mission
Declared 2 BALANCED teams
U15F14 Total registrations – 17 (Including 3 age downs)
Declared 1 team
U19F 7 Total registrations – 7 Mission, no returning players from Abby
Released to Ridge
3 age downs requested
