Prince George Ultimate Planning/Debrief/ AGM
November 15, 2007

 

8:00 to 8:30      Team Charter (A conversation on how we work together including why we exist, where we would like to be, and how we communicate with one another).  See attached.

 

8:30 to 9:00      2007 Debrief (Spring, Fall, Committee Structure, General) (What we did well, what we need to pay attention to or need to improve on, what we could do differently).  See attached.

 

9:00 to 9:30      2008 Committee and Executive Position filling  (Executive, Treasurer, Spring League Organizer Committee, Fall League Organizer Committee, Social Committee, Out of Town Tournament Committee, In-Town Tournament Committee, Winter League Organizer Committee, Public Relations Committee).  3 volunteers committed for Winter League Organizing Committee, other positions, to be deferred to early 2008 meeting.  A suggestion was made that the members of the executive committee be strictly members of the executive committee and not belong to other committees also.  Other committees suggested were:  Women’s Committee, Society Committee, Skills Training Committee.

 

9:30 to 9:55      Winter League Discussion.  Winter League Organizing Committee (Mike, Kyla, Josh) to plan.  UNBC Northern Sports Centre booked for Thursday evenings starting on January 3, 2008 and ending in March.  A suggestion was made that the registration of complete teams should be accepted and this is a model that has let to great success in other adult sports leagues and may be more conducive to corporate sponsorship.  It was also discussed that moving to this model would have to consider team parity which might mean the number of experienced players on a single team might need to be capped.  It was also suggested that a team registration model must not restrict people from registering as individuals.  Eric reported that our financial balance is approximately $400.  Committee meeting notes to be held by committee versus posting on web and handed over to spring organization committee as a record.

 

9:55 to 10:00     Next meeting date, location, etc.  January or February 2008.


 

Team Charter

Mission:
Prince George Disc Sports (PGDS) is a non-profit group that plays disk sports (ultimate, disc golf, etc) in the Prince George community.

Vision/Goals:

·         To have competitive ultimate leagues where teams have parity, scores are kept, standards are set, league fees are collected to aid retention and commitment, and game play is a good demonstration of the sport.

·         To host an annual ultimate tournament with an after-tournament party.

·         To develop a 2nd Disc Golf course in the Prince George area.

·         To host a disc golf tournament.

·         To have a critical mass of members where attendance allows regular ultimate games of 7 on 7 with substitutions, 2-3 times per week.

·         To teach people ultimate and disc golf though hosting skills development sessions or clinics.

·         To sponsor accessible drop- in sessions at the UNBC Northern Sport Centre during the winter of 2007-2008 with cost by donation.

·         To outreach to local high schools, CNC, UNBC.

·         Further partnership with other Northern communities such as Vanderhoof, Smithers, and Terrace.

·         To focus on broader recruitment to bring more diversity to the BCDSS membership.

·         To do a better job of retaining existing members and create an environment friendlier to newer players.

·         To offering more explanation to newer players by having defined people for “learn the game” sessions.

·         Organize as a legal society.

·         To have workshops for more technical education of disk sports.

·         Solicit and acquire corporate sponsorship (Northern Steel?).

·         To support each other in the development of our organization.

·         To host a “Night Flight” ultimate game and other special events.

·         To initiate a variety of fund raiser and social events.

·         To have competitive ultimate touring tournament teams, preferably under the PGDS umbrella, where some players may not “make the cut” with regular practices on Thursday nights in spring.

We create a positive environment and support ourselves within PGDSS by paying attention to:

·         Leadership and growing a league structure that fosters communication

·         Further clarification of  roles and responsibilities

·         Communicating with honesty and respect and choosing the correct form of communication for the purpose (face to face for some situations, email or phone or forum for others).

·         Avoidance of public displays of our “dirty laundry” such as avoiding negative comments on the www.pgultimate.bc.ca web forum

·         Ensuring League committees and delegated volunteers have authority to organize events and act on behalf of PGDS without “micro-managing.”

·         Working on accepting and dealing with criticism.

·         Recognizing and respecting the skills and abilities of others and to respect the input and diversity of all members.

·         The avoidance of jargon and “techno babble” with beginner participants

·         Respecting that some members have other commitments (school, kids, ect.) and may not be able to volunteer to organize.

·         To have competitive ultimate touring tournament teams, preferably under the PGDS umbrella, where some players may not “make the cut” with regular practices on Thursday nights in spring.

·         Recognizing that transitions between league seasons are tricky as well as the  fact that committees are in constant flux.

·         Communication must be more effective to reduce workload of any one committee member

 

 


 

PGU 2007 Spring League Evaluation Results (From evaluation sheets - last league night)

 

Done Well

1. Good Spirit/Good People/Good Spirit/Good Games (7 responses)

2. Support (6 responses)

3. Organization (5 responses)

4. Shirts and extra (4 responses)

5. Tournament (2 responses)

Priced well ($60)

Advertisement and scores on radio

 

Trickies (Areas of Improvement)

1. More training/lesions for new players (4 responses)

2. More spirit/cheers/ VIP prizes (3 responses)

3. Advertise/update website (3 responses)

4. Less structure/rules (2 responses)

5. Shirts sooner (1 response)

 

Do Differently

1. One game night/week (5 responses)

2. Two games nights/week (2 responses)

3. More Beer website (2 responses)

4. Different fields (2 responses)
Have a pre-designated score collector
Corporate sponsor names versus frivolous names


PGU 2007 Fall League Evaluation Results (Posted on web forum)

 

Done Well

·         Good cooperation to get fall league organized.

·         Enough sign-ups for 4 teams.

·         Some new faces (Rob, Bryant, Anders).

·         Press exposure (PGFP article, CBC daybreak spots, shaw cable).

·         Great turnout 1st league night with 2 games/4 teams

·         Neon night game and UNBC Fieldhouse special sessions were successful

·         $25 fee was worth it to secure a weekly game.

·         Better fields than spring league (DP Todd versus Ron Brent)

 

Trickies (Areas of Improvement)

·         Conflict with soccer folks on 1st league night.

·         Gradual reduction of folks on Tuesday league nights.

·         Poor attendance on last league night Oct. 9.

·         Spotty Thursday and Sunday drop in-attendance.

·         No formal scores and standings as per spring league.

·         Less press exposure than spring league.

·         $25 fee for what was free last fall (poor value).

·         Impression that fall league a step back from momentum built in spring league.

·         Uncertainty regarding who was running league and how it was to be run.

·         Perception of poor/limited organization.

·         People apparently turned away (entire team?  miscommunication?)

·         Too much focus on spring league survey for fall league decision making (decisions based on anecdotal information/analysis)

·         DP Todd Fields had lower exposure than Ron Brent due to less drive by traffic.

·         New people signed up but did not appear.

·         Confusion on field for who is organizing

 

Do Differently

·         More promotion with poster campaign and email announcement in August.

·         More special events.

·         More quantitative analysis of survey/feedback results.

·         Consider dropping one or both drop-in sessions for fall to focus attention on league play.

·         Resume the competitive session / drop-in session format to please all parties.

·         Reduce costs and subsequently league fees by only booking fields for league night only.

·         Formal bank account

·         Anticipate drop-off in attendance and perhaps scale back to 2 teams

·         Start planning earlier

·         Have an earlier start time

·         Assign organizing committee recognizable shirts hats or post their pictures on website (with permission).

·         Have skill nights

·         Reconsider paying for fields