Members of the MCA plan for the futureA NEW ERA BEGINS
The 2018 Midwest Croquet Association Annual General Meeting held at the eCafe in Overland Park, Kansas, on January 27, 2018, achieved the primay goal of transitioning to a new president. Steve Jackson from Kansas City has taken over the role from Dylan Goodwin who served for five years.
The transition was the central part of the meeting discussion and an interesting twist occurred as a new vice president position was created which Ellie Griffith taking that role. The idea is that adding another member will help with the workload for the president and also ensure of smooth succession in future years.
In other board news, Darin Watson and Jodi Adams both remained on the board. So the board is now set with six total members:
President: Steve Jackson
Vice President: Ellie Griffith
Board Member: Jodi Adams (Treasurer, Membership)
Board Member: Justin Marciniak (Marketing, Content)
Board Member: Ron Millican (Equipment, Facilities)
Board Member: Darin Watson (Statistics, Rules and Reporting)
The meeting also again took on the topic of organization. The majority agreed that the MCA would function best as a non-profit and that the process should be started. No one was assigned to lead the project.
KACTUS CREEK EXPANSION
Matt Griffith spoke to the AGM attendees about his plan to add two courts at Kactus Creek with the goal to better serve the MCA and also draw in USCA events. MCA president Goodwin indicated that the MCA was in support of more courts in Kansas City. Griffith is going to follow-up and present a specific plan for how the MCA could assist in developing courts at Kactus Creek.
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Goodwin hands over the Most Improved Player Award to new MCA President Steve JacksonCORNER PEG LAYOUT
Members of the AGM rejected the Rules and Competition Committee's (R&CC) unanimous recommendation to make the corner peg layout part of the permanent MCA nine wicket rules. Goodwin noted that the traditional layout should be further examined as it seems odd to start the game with a hampered shot based on the finishing peg impeding the backswing.
WIRING RULE
The R&CC is moving forward with a modification of the MCA 9W wiring rule that now allows a wired player to utilize a corner for a lift regardless of whether a ball is currently occupying any part of a desired corner location. If the lifted ball would be touching the ball in the corner it has chose to lift to, the player is ball in hand on the corner ball with all of the ball in hand options available. The previous rules stated that the wired player could not utilize a corner occupied fully or partially be any ball.
TOURNAMENT ENTRY STAGNATION
The AGM discussed the lack of new players in 2017. Goodwin contended that the Nine Wicket Series itself is not designed as a starting point for new players and that recruits come from weekly club play. The Nine Wicket Series is the goal not the starting point for new players. A suggestion was made to have a hi-lo doubles tournament or integrate a hi-lo event into an existing 9WS tournament.
SCHEDULE
The 2018 Nine Wicket Series only has one commited venue to date. The Lee's Summit T-Bone Open is set for May 5, 2018, in Lee's Summit. The MCA Championship is scheduled for September 15, 2018, but no venue is in place yet. Bill Berg asked to have the Cleveland Open on the June 9, 2018, but has withdrawn that request as he has now sold the land that his current court sits on.
PROJECTS TO FINISH
Outgoing president, Goodwin has promised to work with the R&CC to finish the MCA Nine Wicket Rule Book and also finalize the membership and statistics database.
ACTION ITEMS
Priority action items for Jackson on the board include setting the 9WS schedule and venues, starting the 2018 membership campaign and identifying a project manager for Sunflower Wickets in Olathe. In the background, a project manager for the organization of the non-profit needs to be identified and the transition of responsibilities and files from Goodwin to Jackson is on-going with February 28, 2018 as the target completion date.