Governance of Cambridge Youth Hockey

Document history:

• v0.16, August 26, 2008: Added notes on Mailman configuration to Sysadmin description. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.15, July 23, 2008: Minor improvements to Secretary section on tagging entries in master calendar. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.14, July 21, 2008: Minor revisions to team manager description based on coaches meeting. [Joshua Fournier, Paul Maciejewski, Frank Connelly, Pete Traversy, Robin Lubbock, Michael Steigman, Jack Hatch, Derek Rayside, Tom Sieniewicz]
• v0.13, July 7, 2008: Added Sysadmin job description. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.12, June 12, 2008: Added transcription and forwarding of voice mails to Secretary's responsibilities. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.11, May 6, 2008: Expanded scope of Secretary's registration reconcilliation duty to include coaches' records. Clarified VP task management duties. Other minor edits. [Luc Aalmans]
• v0.10, April 30, 2008: More on President and Vice President. Famous Bruins who shot left. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.09, April 17, 2008: Parental participation and presence. Absentee parents. Board election vote counting procedure. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.08, April 11, 2008: Minor revisions to Secretary description. Other minor edits. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.07, April 8, 2008: Preliminary structure for hockey curriculum table. How to be a hockey parent section. Judicial section split into Compliance Committee and Personnel Development. Hockey equipment appendix. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.06, April 7, 2008: Ideas from Coed Coaches Meeting [Josh Fournier, Winnie Stopps, Bob McCallum, Frank Donovan, Frank Connelly, Sam Wolfe, Pete Traversy, Ed Poirier, Michael Centauro, Michael Steigman, Paul Maciejewski, Jack Hatch, ... , Derek Rayside].
• v0.05, April 7, 2008: Past Executive Directors. [Jim Coleman]. Financial Aid Committee. Team Manager Training meeting. [Derek Rayside].
• v0.04, April 6, 2008: Team Manager [Laura McGaffigan]. More notes on judicial system [Larry Childs]. Added Kinds of Volunteer Positions. Brief notes on Executive. Ice sales. Other minor edits. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.03, April 3, 2008: Revised Registrar's duties [David Greenstein]. Refinements to the matrix. Added appendices for Administrative and Athletic Policies already approved by the Board. Other minor edits. [Derek Rayside]
• v0.02, March 31, 2008: Expanded and clarified Secretary's duties. Added Kinds of Meetings table. Other minor edits. [Derek Rayside] Team Manager job description [Robin Parker].
• v0.01, March 28, 2008: Initial draft. Incorporates previous policies and procedures already approved by the Board during the 2007-8 season: Open Meetings, Compliance Committee, Joint Girls Committee, matrix structure of the administration, etc. [Derek Rayside, Aron Cooper, Sandy Wells, Luc Aalmans, Deb Azrael, David Greenstein, Ric Bayly, John Haigh, Pete Traversy, Ken Simon, Winnie Stopps, Kiley Clapper, Joe Sullivan]

1. Preamble

Cambridge Youth Hockey (CYH) is governed by the statutes of USA Hockey, Mass Hockey, US federal law, Massachusetts state law, Robert's Rules of Order, and by our own CYH organizational bylaws. However, none of these sets of rules gives a practical and comprehensive overview of how to manage CYH: that is the purpose of this document. If this document is found to be in conflict with any of the aforementioned statutes, rules, and regulations that govern CYH, then this document is considered to be in error.

This is a working document, and it is expected to evolve over time.

1.1 Principles

1. Rule of Law.
2. Democracy.
3. Written Word.

1.2 Kinds of Volunteer Positions

CYH is an all-volunteer 501(c)3 non-profit organization. There are many different kinds of positions for volunteers to fill in CYH, including:

Historically, there has been a large degree of overlap between Administrators and Legislators: almost every Administrator has also been a Board Member (ie, Legislator). However, the Bylaws only require the four Executive Officers to be both Legislators and Administrators. CYH would greatly benefit from having more Administrative volunteers who are not necessarily on the Board. There would also be some benefit to having Legislators who are not also Administrators.

The Programme/Coaching Director positions have, historically, often been filled by volunteers who are not on the Board.

1.3 Kinds of Meetings

CYH Government has a variety of different kinds of formal meetings:

Of course, the main kind of meetings in CYH are practices and games — but these are athletic meetings, and this document focuses on governmental meetings.

2. Executive

2.1 Executive Officers

The CYH Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws identify four Executive Officers: President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. This document views these positions from a variety of angles. All four are both Legislators (ie, Board Members), and Administrators .

2.2 President

The President serves as overall leader of CYH, as well as specifically leading the Legislature and the Executive.

The President is ultimately in charge of external affairs, including corresponding with USA Hockey, Mass Hockey, District 10, FMC, GBYHL, MYCGL, and any other external bodies. In practice, many of these external relations are delegated to other volunteers. For example, CYH usually appoints a Distract 10 representative who attends monthly D10 meetings on behalf of the President.

The President is not the head of the Judiciary: CYH has an independent Judiciary.

The President is ultimately responsible for coordinating the Administrative and Athletic dimensions of CYH. However, the President does not set Athletic direction: that is the responsibility of the individual column heads (see matrix in §5.1).

2.3 Vice President

The Vice President serves as the head of the Administration. This is depicted in the matrix structure in §5.1: the Vice President coordinates all of the "row people" (ie, the civil service), and serves as the volunteer of last resort for administrative tasks.

2.4 Past Executive Officers

Past Executive Officers (President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary) are invited to serve in an advisory role for two years after their term expires.

2.5 Banking

Typically, the President and the Treasurer have signing authority on the CYH bank account. In practice, the Treasurer writes the vast majority of the cheques.

3. Legislative

3.1 Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is CYH's legislative body. As such, their role is to vote on legislative matters at Legislative Meetings. The President acts as the Chair of Legislative Meetings. In the President's absence, the Vice President acts as Chair.

3.2 Voting

Each Director gets exactly one vote: all Directors have equal power.

The Acting Chair of a Legislative Meeting should make an effort to maintain an air of impartiality, and so may choose to refrain from voting and making motions. This restraint is a general guideline, rather than a hard rule. The CYH Board is a small assembly, and so are there will be times when the Acting Chair's vote will affect the result, and in such circumstances the Acting Chair is expected to vote.

3.3 Robert's Rules of Order

CYH Legislative Meetings are run according to Robert's Rules of Order.

3.4 Matters of Consideration

The CYH Board votes on matters of policy and procedure that affect a substantial portion of the membership. Some matters are of greater or lesser importance, and so require more or less agreement of the Board. The ranking of matters, in order of decreasing importance, is:

1. Operational Status Matters: CYH Bylaws §5.K.ii states that "six votes must be necessary for any change in the status of operational issues of the organization."
2. Normal Business Matters: CYH Bylaws §5.K.i states that "all proposals concerning the business of the organization must be approved with a majority vote of the quorum."
3. Administrative Matters: Matters that clearly fall within the administrative mandate of a named position do not require Board approval.

3.5 Statement of Openness

The CYH BOD endeavors to run the CYH program in a manner consistent with the values, goals and wishes of its member families. We would also like to make this process as open and transparent as possible. Towards this end, we will endeavor to make all of our activities public, to the extent that this is possible. We plan to post most of this information on the web site (www.CambridgeYouthHockey.org). This will include providing advance notice of board meetings, posting minutes of previous meetings, providing financial statements and providing other information, as appropriate.

In addition to providing you with this information, we would also like to encourage you to become involved in the process. There are many ways to formally and informally interact with your board.

3.5.1 Informal Conversation

Directors are often at the rink, and available for informal conversation with members. It is helpful for the Board to hear the thoughts of the members on matters of importance to CYH. Please note, however, that an individual Director cannot make a decision on behalf of the Board during an informal conversation -- official decisions of the Board must be made at official board meetings.

3.5.2 Email & Phone

Suggestions, comments and questions can be directed to any Director. Our contact information is on the website.

3.5.3 General Meetings

As required by USA Hockey and our bylaws, the CYH Board will schedule four general meetings per season, roughly on a quarterly basis. These meetings are primarily to give members a chance to discuss issues of importance with the Board, although some official business may also take place. For example, the bylaws require the Board to present financial statements at the September general meeting, and one of the general meetings will be the Annual Meeting at which Board elections take place.

3.5.4 Legislative Meetings

CYH Board of Directors legislative meetings are held at least monthly, and possibly more frequently. These meetings are where the Board makes official decisions. The time, place, and agenda of these meetings will be posted in advance on the website, and the minutes will be posted afterwards.

Legislative board meetings are open to the public. We ask only for the following accommodations:

• Please provide several days notice that you plan to attend. This can be done by email or by contacting any of the Directors. This request is an unfortunate consequence of the fact that CYH has no official office space and we often scramble to find a room big enough in which to meet.
• Please respect the fact that there may be items on the agenda regarding matters of personal privacy. To protect the privacy of others, you may be asked to leave the room for portions of the meeting. The personal details of these portions of the meeting will not be recorded in the minutes.
• Attending the meeting does not guarantee your participation in the discussion regarding a particular agenda item. Rules of order require that you be recognized by the Chair before you can take the floor to speak. Robert's Rules of Order also require a level of decorum and respect for others in attendance. (The same rules apply to Directors, by the way.)
• Members are invited to suggest items to be discussed on the agenda but must follow the same protocols as do Directors. Proposed agenda items are to be submitted to the Secretary, in writing, at least three days in advance. Proposals must include an organized discussion of a particular issue together with suggested actions to be taken. These proposals will be circulated to all Directors prior to the meeting in order to give time for others to consider the proposals. We have found that this prior knowledge of topics helps to facilitate a productive dialogue at the meeting. Please also understand that proposed agenda items are not automatically added to the agenda. The Board has the often difficult task of prioritizing the topics. There are occasions when time constraints do not allow for discussion of all issues.
• As specified in the Bylaws, only Directors may vote on agenda items.

4. Judicial

The Judicial branch of CYH government has two subdivisions: Personnel Development, which is concerned with the behviour of CYH Members; and the Compliance Committee, which is concerned with the Executive, Legislative, and Administrative following the appropriate rules.

4.1 Personnel Development

This section is under development by Josh Fournier, Kiley Clapper, Larry Childs, and Derek Rayside. Other contributions welcome.

a draft citation form

4.1.1 Some Notes

Ombudsman: a non-board member, and non-coach, appointed by the Board.

Citation: documented praise or criticism of some Member (parent, player, coach, director, etc).

Bad behaviour may lead to sanctions. Good behaviour may lead to awards.

Every month, Ombudsman makes a posting to the main CYH blog summarizing good behaviour. At end of season, Ombudsman shares positive citations with Coaches and Coaching Directors, for them to take into consideration for allocating awards.

Ombudsman keeps all citations on file.

Coach makes disciplinary decisions below some low threshold. Higher matters require a decsion from a Coaching Director. Even higher matters require a Hearing chaired by the Ombudsman. Lower decisions may be appealed to the Ombudsman.

4.1.2 Some Other Notes

1. These rules are considered in effect for all members (players, parents, guardians, coaches and volunteers) at all times anywhere in the Simoni Rink during CYH activity times, and at all times in other rinks and activity locations while CYH teams are visiting for games or other CYH organized activities.

2. CYH's Zero Tolerance Policy is as follows: (HERE QUOTE SOMEONE ELSE'S ztp - TO BE RESEARCHED).

3. Any player engaged in fisticuffs during CYH activities, whether in play or earnest, will either be benched for one game by her or his coach without a hearing, or, if the coach or member witnessing the occurrence evaluates the event to be a fight, be brought to a Disciplinary Hearing. A coach ignoring this rule shall be in violation of CYH's ZTP and shall be brought to a Disciplinary Hearing and subject to suspension or expulsion.

4. Any player who refuses to follow directions from his or her coach or acts repeatedly in a disruptive manner during team activities may be benched for one game by his or her coach without hearing. A player who is documented on a Behavior Report Form (SEE LARRY CHILD's FORM) by a coach or other member to be disobeying her or his coach or acting in a disruptive manner during team activities more than three times shall be brought to a Disciplinary Hearing for discipline that may include suspension or expulsion.

5. Any member in violation of the ZTP where the occurrence is not covered by the above rules, shall be brought to a Disciplinary Hearing.

4.1.3 Absentee Parents

Absentee parents represent a risk to CYH, and therefore absenteeism needs to be actively addressed. Absentee parents do not form friendships on the team, tend to treat CYH like a babysitting service, and do not respect volunteer time and effort. Consequently, as soon as something goes wrong, or is perceived to have gone wrong, the absentee parent will lash out at anyone and everyone associated with hockey. This behaviour appears to be consistent regardless of the race, religion, education, or socio-economic status of the absentee parent.

Coaches, or other parents, should make a pro-active effort to identify absentee parents and help them to become more involved, to form friendships, to understand hockey, and to become part of the community. The Personnel Development Committee may also become involved in this process of socializing absentee parents.

Properly socialized parents will have more fun in CYH, have a better understanding of their child's activities, and will have established support networks to help them constructively cope in the unfortunate event that something goes wrong.

4.2 Compliance Committee

The Compliance Committee is part of the CYH team working towards greater regulatory compliance, transparency, and internal controls. The purpose of the Compliance Committee is to help CYH maintain compliance with all of the external and internal laws, bylaws, regulations, policies, and customs that apply to it. The Compliance Committee serves in two capacities: (1) to remind the BOD of compliance activities that must be done, and (2) to report to the membership, at General Meetings, on the completion status of the CYH's compliance activities. The Compliance Committee is not charged with completing the compliance activities: that is the responsibility of the BOD. Furthermore, the Compliance Committee does not assume any legal responsibility or liability.

The Compliance Committee is granted full access to all CYH records and documents.

Membership on the Compliance Committee is open to any CYH Member in good standing, and any other individuals invited by the BOD.

CYH's major compliance activities include, but are not limited to:

• filing state and federal tax returns
• filing Form PC with the State Attorney General's Office
• registering all hockey players with USA Hockey
• rostering all hockey players with USA Hockey
• ensuring that coaches are properly patched
• paying league and ice rental fees as they become due

5. Administrative and Athletic

The Administration is the part of CYH Government that does the day-to-day work of running the organization. By historical convention, most of the Administration are also Directors; however, this is not strictly necessary in most cases: only the Executive Officers (President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary), are required by the CYH Bylaws to also be Directors.

5.1 Structure

The CYH Administration has a matrix structure, as depicted below. Individual positions are considered either "row" or "column" positions. Column positions lead a specific division of CYH. Row positions provide some kind of service to each column. For example, the Treasurer provides accounting services to each division/column.

5.2 Vice President

The Vice President is the head of the Administration. This involves the following:

• Chairing Administrative Meetings. The VP should be meeting with some volunteers every week, to ensure they have the help they need to accomplish their objectives. An Administrative meeting does not require all of the volunteers, and will typically be somewhere between two and six volunteers: whoever has upcoming deadlines.
• Coordinating the activities of the other members of the administration, so that the Administration acts in a unified and consistent manner.
• Ensuring that the other members of the Administration have the resources and assistance that they need to accomplish their objectives. This may involve coordinating Auxilliary Volunteers, using outside services, or acting as a volunteer of last resort: whatever it takes to get the job(s) done.
• Following up to ensure that tasks get completed.
• Making executive decisions about task priorities and resource allocation.

5.3 Co-ed Coaching Director

Official Duties, per Bylaws:

B. The Coaching Director shall:

i. In conjunction with the ACE Director formulate and implement on ice programs and activities.

ii. Have the overall responsibility for the on ice program.

iii. Develop, with the ACE Director and coaches, an effective on ice program and rules of play guidelines for all teams and present it to the board for approval.

iv. Conduct coaches meetings and training sessions for the betterment of the on ice programs.

v. With the coaches, establish team rules in conjunction with the organizations Discipline Policy.

vi. Review the disciplinary actions of the Head Coaches and present serious infractions to the board for approval.

vii. Widely solicit applications from individuals for the position of Head Coach of traveling teams and present all candidates for such positions for board approval for the next season, together with a recommendation or ranking of each candidate based on level of hockey experience, depth of general coaching experience, coaching experience with specific teams, coaching effectiveness, respect for League and USA Hockey rules, and communication skills with players, parents and other coaches.

viii. Conduct tryouts in the spring for the following years traveling teams and establish rosters with the Head Coaches.

ix. Review and approve rosters and changes with the Head Coaches and the Registrar.

x. Be responsible for establishing on ice schedule for all practices.

NOTE: If the Coaching Director is on the BOD, he/she may not participate in the Coaching Director selection except in the role of candidate.

When a new Coaching Director is appointed, the Coaching Director Elect shall, in conjunction with the present seasons Coaching Director,

xi. Solicit applications from individuals for the position of Head Coach as stated in Article 7, section B, vii.

xii. Conduct tryouts in the spring for the following years traveling teams as stated in Article 7, section B, viii.

5.4 Girls Coaching Director

See duties above for Co-ed Coaching Director. To be conducted in cooperation with outside entities, as necessary.

See also Girls Committee Charter below.

5.5 Recreational Programme Director

5.6 Treasurer

Primary function: All financial matters.

Secundary function: Filing all forms for IRS, State, and Secretary of State.

When taking over from previous treasurer (updated Oct. 2007):

• Receive electronic file (currently Quickbooks 2006 Pro)
• Receive paper trail for bank statements: three with Citizens bank (MMA, checking, and web); two with Cambridge Savings bank (MMA, Checking); and the scholarship account which is in Cambridge Trust.
• Receive scholarship info and excel file
• Receive all other paperwork such as bills, statements, checks, etc.
• Receive office supplies such as stamps, enveloppes, ink-stamps, etc.
• Receive last official forms (may be with secratary). See below for official forms.
• Setup meeting with CPA who has done tax filings for the last year (currently Steve Sousa).
• Change banking info such as online banking and bank card for all bank accounts.
• Ask questions and phone number from previous treasurer

Financials:

• Accounts Payable (AP)
• Accounts Receivable (AR)
• Verifying financial database with registrar's database for accuracy. Then, if needed, adjust entries and refund money or send out new invoices.
• Budget
• Financial reports
• Scholarship / Financial Aid
• Annual Review. Needs to be done by CPA. Note: "Review" when gross Support and Revenue is $100,000 and $500,000. "Audit" when gross Support and Revenue is more than $500,000.

Financials - Specific to Instructional Hockey (IH) and Learn To Skate program (LTS):

• Treasurer will NOT send statements or invoices to any IH or LTS.
• Treasurer will only send refunds for IH and LTS from the IH or LTS BOD coordinator and will cc the president on each transaction.
• Treasurer on one side, and IH and/or LTS BOD coordinator on the other side, need to reconcile accounts and members on a regular basis.

Official forms: The CPA can help tremendously but it is the responsibility of the treasurer so you will need to make sure the following forms are filed EACH year. Information is also available on official websites:

• Federal (IRS): click here
• Massachussetts: click here

Official forms for IRS:

• Form 990 and 990A

Official forms for Mass:

• Form PC
• Form IRS-990
• Reviewed financial statements (reviewed by CPA)

Official forms for Secretary of State:

• Annual report

5.6.1 Financial Aid Committee

The Treasurer chairs the Scholarship Committee. The Scholarship Committee must also have at least two other members, appointed by the Board.

5.7 Secretary

The Secretary is charged with managing CYH's information — with the important exceptions of information managed by the Treasurer and the Registrar. The tasks the Secretary is responsible for include:

• Notifying the Membership of Legislative and General Meetings.
• Notifying Mass Hockey of the results of the Annual Meeting.
• Minutes for Legislative and General Meetings.
• Scheduling Legislative and General meetings.
• Preparing the Agenda for Legislative and General Meetings.
• Organizational archives.
• Reconciling Registrar's, Treasurer's and Coaches' records.
• Maintaining CYH Governance Guidelines (this document).
• Transcribing voice mail into email.
• Moderating email lists.
• Send Informational mailers to the Membership.
• Reconciling ice bills.
• Maintaining the master calendar.

5.7.1 Notifying the Membership of Legislative and General Meetings

Legislative Meetings should be posted on the Master Calendar, and at the rink, if possible.

CYH Bylaws §4.G. require notice of General Meetings be posted at the Simoni arena at least two weeks prior to the General Meeting.

5.7.2 Notifying Mass Hockey of the results of the Annual Meeting

CYH Bylaws §4.H. stipulate that Mass Hockey be notified about the results of the CYH Annual Meeting (particularly election results).

5.7.3 Minutes for Legislative and General Meetings

The Secretary is responsible for ensuring that minutes are taken at every Board meeting and General Meeting, and that these minutes are presented to the Board for approval in a timely fashion, and subsequently posted on the web site. (The Secretary does not need to have the technical skill to post them on the website, but needs to ensure that this task gets done.)

5.7.4 Scheduling Legislative and General Meetings

The Secretary is responsible for scheduling meetings. One useful tool for this task is www.Doodle.ch. Phone calls may also be necessary.

5.7.5 Preparing the Agenda for Legislative and General Meetings

The Secretary is responsible for preparing the agenda for all Legislative and General meetings. For Legislative meetings, the agenda will largely be derived from wiki pages that accumulate thoughts from the Board email list — see notes on moderating the Board email list below.

5.7.6 Organizational Archives

The Secretary is responsible for maintaining CYH's organizational archives. These include the Articles of Incorporation, the Bylaws, annual reports, meeting minutes, etc, etc. Hopefully we can have all of these scanned in, so that the archives may be easily read by others.

5.7.7 Reconciling Registrar's, Treasurer's, and Coaches' Records

The main internal control in a youth hockey organization is having separate records for the Registrar and the Treasurer. Keeping, and reconciling, independent sets of records helps to ensure that everyone pays their fair dues.

The Secretary is responsible for periodically reconciling the records of the Registrar, Treasurer, and Coaches, and reporting anomalies to the Board. Note that anomalies are expected due to honest bookkeeping hiccups: the purpose of reporting to the entire Board, rather than just to the Registrar and Treasurer, is organizational transparency. This reconcilliation should happen in August, November (after submitting official rosters to USA Hockey), January, and March.

5.7.8 Maintaining CYH Governance Guidelines (this document)

The Secretary is responsible for incorporating updates to this document from various parties.

5.7.9 Transcribing Voice Mail into EMail

The Secretary is responsible for listening to voice messages left at the general CYH voice mail box, transcribing the voice message into email, and forwarding it to the appropriate party.

The CYH general voice mail box number is 617-300-8165, and it is hosted by CallCentric.com. When someone leaves a voice message, an MP3 recording of that message is emailed to the Secretary.

5.7.10 Moderating Division and Team Email Lists

The general criteria are to let through messages that are (a) from a CYH member, and (b) contain real information content. Most replies-to-all fail the second criterion, and should be discarded.

Sometimes messages will be sent from a legitimate CYH member, but from an email address that was not previously in the CYH system. Inform the Registrar of such addresses, so that they may be added to the CYH system.

5.7.11 Moderating the Board Email List

The purpose of moderating the Board email list is to organize information so that it may be acted upon efficiently. The purpose is not censorship. The Secretary's role here is largely to take information out of the email and put it in the appropriate place. As with division and team level email lists, the majority of messages on the Board email list are reply-to-all. Here is a list of some of the kinds of messages that appear on the Board email list, and the appropriate actions to take:

The agenda for upcoming meetings will largely be the wiki pages that have accumulated from the email discussions in the weeks preceeding the meeting. The Secretary's role is to help the Board and the Administration make decisions efficiently by gathering up relevant pieces of information and organizing them in a cohesive and comprehensive manner. The content of wiki pages to be discussed at upcoming meetings should be emailed out to the Board/Administration a few days before the meeting, to allow for another round of comments.

5.7.12 Send Informational Mailers to the Membership

The Secretary is responsible for sending informational mailers to the Membership, or to specific subsets of the Membership (eg, Coed Travel), as necessary. Understanding all of the various subsets of the membership is the key intellectual challenge of this task. It is important to note that the Treasurer does not have all of the necessary addresses to send informational mailings: for example, the Treasurer will not have addresses for for non-parent volunteers, since the Treasurer has no reason to send bills to such people.

The content for these informational mailers is to be generated by other volunteers: the Secretary is just responsible for delivery.

Informational mailings do not include bills. The Treasurer is responsible for mailing bills.

5.7.13 Reconciling Ice Bills

The Secretary is responsible for reconciling the FMC ice contract and monthly bills with the master calendar. The Secretary is also responsible for reconciling league bills with data about the actual number of games played by each team. These reconcilliation actions are necessary to ensure that CYH pays for only the ice we actually use. Consider that even a 1% billing error on ice is worth over $1000.

5.7.14 Maintaining the Master Calendar

The master calendar records all practice times, tournament games, special events, legislative board meetings, resold ice, etc: everything except league games. The Secretary's role here is to keep the information on the master calendar current.

The Secretary is not responsible for making ice allocation decisions, nor for reselling ice. The Secretary is just responsible for accurately recording the decisions made by others.

Every hour of ice on the master calendar is classified according to Vendor, Collector, and User. At this time, the Vendors and Collectors are: FMC, CTown, MassHockey, and Other. The Users are: CoedRegular, CoedMidget, GirlsRegular, GirlsU19, LTS, IH, Overhead, MYCGL, External, and Unsold. The description field of the event in Google Calendar must have a line such as "Vendor:FMC Collector:CYH User:External". In the case where the Vendor and the Collector are the same, the Collector field may be elided: eg, "Vendor:FMC User:CoedRegular". The event description may have other text on other lines, as long as that text does not include a colon (the ice summary report generation program looks for the line in the description with a colon to parse out the Vendor/Collector/User tags).

Recording resold ice: It is usually the case that the Vendor collects payment for the ice. However, in the case where CYH has to resell ice, CYH often ends up having to do the collections.

Here is an example ice summary report table, with Vendors organized by rows, and Users organized by columns. A summary report like this is produced for every month, as well as for the entire season. Usually the cells will have numbers in them, indicating how many hours a particular User used from a particular Vendor over the stated time period. However, this example table instead shows what kind of hours go into each cell.

Assuming the data in this table are correct, CYH expects to pay FMC for: X + Y - Z = K hours

5.8 Registrar and Mass Hockey Liaison

5.8.1 Background

The job of Registrar is best conceptualized as being the liaison between CYH and Mass Hockey/USA Hockey. The primary function is to keep us in compliance with Mass Hockey/USA regulations. This requires:

1. Having a working knowledge of CYH bylaws, Mass Hockey Bylaws and USA Hockey Bylaws. All of these Bylaws are posted on the websites of the respective organizations. You will also be given 20+ copies of the Mass Hockey Bylaws/ USAH Bylaws and Rules of Hockey at the first District 10 meeting. These should be given to appropriate BOD and coaches.
2. Attendance at monthly District 10 meetings. The schedule of these meetings will be announced in advance, usually over the summer. Attendance is mandatory. ($55 fee/missed meeting). It might be appropriate to post minutes of these meetings to the BOD. I did it sporadically, only when there was information to convey that was new.

5.8.2 Coed Travel Teams

1. Get coaches and players registered with USA Hockey. Players (or their parents) and coaches must do this on the USAH web site. They must then send you the 14 digit registration number. USAH gives an actual e-receipt that can be emailed or printed. This contains a bar code that can be useful if you are using the scanner (see below). (You can get this information directly from the USAH web site if the parents forget, but this is a hassle.) Unfortunately, this has to be done by September 1st and should be completed before kids or coaches are allowed to skate. This means that it has to be done substantially over the summer. This is not easy.

   Useful steps to register kids include:

   1. There is typically a mailing that goes to CYH parents in August. Make sure this includes a form about USAH registration. (copy attached)
   2. Send out weekly emails in August reminding parents to register the kids.
   3. I would recommend identifying team managers on each team. I would give team managers a list of players not yet registered during the last week of August. Let them call their fellow parents.
   4. Unfortunately, the Registrar will need to be at the rink during the first week of practice with a laptop. Parents can register for themselves. It is handy to have a credit card, however, in case the parent does not have one. They can pay you in cash. If you are uncomfortable using your own credit card, CYH can buy a check card.
   5. I would recommend a zero tolerance policy. If a kid is not registered, he should not go on the ice. In the past, we have been lax about this. I feel that this is too big a liability.

   Useful steps to register coaches include:

   1. There is typically a coaches meeting (or two) over the summer. Bring a laptop. Since CYH reimburses, the coaches, the fees can be put on a CYH check card.
   2. Send a mailing to the coaches.
   3. Send emails to the coaches.
   4. Keep a list of who registered themselves so that the Treasurer can reimburse them
2. Construction of the rosters is also a crucial part of the Registrars job.
   1. Rosters begin to take shape after tryouts. Coaches and team managers and players should be included. The identification of team managers is crucial. Teams without managers are much harder to deal with. Email lists should be created.
   2. Send out a preliminary list to coaches with the names of their players, fellow coaches and team managers. It is imperative that coaches understand that they can not move kids to a different team or invite new kids/coaches on the ice without notifying the Registrar and Treasurer. This player movement created substantial disruption and confusion in 2007-8.
   3. Players must be entered in Dabble.
   4. Players must be entered in cybersport as soon as the USAH numbers are received. Cybersport is a proprietary computer program that is updated each year. You will get a copy from District 10 over the summer. USAH numbers can be entered manually or with a scanner.
   5. Once all the USAH numbers are entered, rosters must be created in cybersport. Rosters must be signed by all players and coaches and managers. These rosters must be submitted to District 10. The deadlines are published by District 10. Because there is a fee for roster changes, it is usually the best strategy to get them in right before the deadline. Note that the Midget deadline is much sooner than the other deadlines. Two copies of the roster are needed (with and without addresses.) You will get back a copy of the roster with an official District 10 stamp. Save these. Teams can need them if they go in a tournament.
   6. Rosters must be sent to GBYHL.
3. In addition to Rosters, District 10 must also be supplied with:
   1. Team application for each team. This is a form created by District 10. It is not posted on any website. It is basically a tool to extract a $15 application fee. This form will be handed out at a District 10 meeting.
   2. Playdown application. This is on the Mass Hockey website. The form must be downloaded and given to each coach to sign. Deadlines vary. The dates of the playdowns will be announced by District 10 and must be conveyed to the coaches.
   3. Cori forms. District 10 will provide you with a list of coaches that have already been CORId. You only have to do it once. It renews every year. Coaches that have not been Corid need to fill out the form and have it witnessed by the Registrar. The form is available on the Mass Hockey web site. Cori forms must accompany the rosters.
   4. Injury reports. These are filed as needed. It is a good idea to remind coaches about this before the season. Periodic reminders are also useful.
   5. Travel requests. (Same as injury reports.)
   6. Discipline forms. (Same as injury reports.)

5.8.3 Girls Travel Teams

CYH runs a combined program with Charlestown. Registrar duties are more restricted compared to the Co-ed teams since Charlestown takes the lead.

1. CYH players need to be registered with USAH as above. (Only one registration is necessary per player.) Charlestown players are not our responsibility.
2. The Registrar should make rosters in dabble. The Treasurer will need this roster information for billing purposes.
3. The Registrar does not have to enter any of this information in cybersport or handle team applications or playdown applications. This is handled by Charlestown. Teams are Registered in District 1. I recommend confirming this information to be on the safe side.

5.8.4 Recreational Programs

These kids need to be enrolled with USAH. In the current year, IH kids registered themselves. LTS kids were registered by CYH because of the perceived aversion of these kids to be affiliated with USAH. Kids under 6 do not have to pay a fee. All LTS parents must sign a paper copy of the USAH waiver since they will not be doing this online.

5.9 Recruiter

• Recruit at Cambridge schools through PE teachers
  • Late in the school year
  • Early in the school year
• Outreach through local media - Chronicle
• Get articles into Globe - many in Cambridge do not read Chronicle
• Get a school liaison for each public school and independent school in Cambridge - make sure all our events are sent to the family liaison in each school for inclusion in newsletter/e-mail list serv
• Recruit from roller hockey league - run by Officer Lopes, Eddie Poirier has made contact
• Recruit through other youth sports - baseball end of summer, soccer in the fall
• Recruit at Cambridge festival (Danehy Park??)
• Run skating Jamboree early enough in the fall to get more Mites and girls for Girl's teams

5.10 Fund Raising

5.11 Sponsorship

5.12 Ice and Facilities Coordinator

The main job of the Ice and Facilities Coordinator is to sell ice that FMC forces CYH to buy, but that CYH does not want. The main technique for doing finding buyers is sending email to one or more of the following email lists. Different kinds of buyers are interested in different things: for example, other town programs are more likely to be interested in Saturday morning ice; adults without kids are more likely to be interested in hours that occur during school holidays.

Once a buyer is found, then both the CYH Secretary and the FMC Ice Scheduler (Patrick Furze) need to be notified. FMC and the CYH Secretary will jointly decide if CYH or FMC is going to bill the specified hour(s).

5.13 Banquet Chairperson

5.14 Sysadmin

The CYH Sysadmin (Systems Administrator) is responsible for keeping CYH's internet infrastructure in order. This includes the following tasks:

• Keeping the domain name registrations current.
• Keeping the web hosting contract current.
• Keeping the DabbleDB contract current.
• Managing user accounts on the web host.
• Managing DabbleDB user accounts.
• Creating and redirecting email addresses on CYH domains.
• Creating new email lists (both Mailman and Google).
• Ensuring that the proper addresses are subscribed to the proper email lists.
• Maintaining the Ice Summary report.

Derek Rayside has volunteered to perform these duties until 2012. However, he is willing to pass these duties on before that time if someone else is interested in them.

5.14.1 Mailman List Settings

General settings

• moderator and admin emails
• list name
• do not send monthly password reminders
• do not send welcome messages to new subscribers
• do not send goodbye messages to unsubscribees
• moderator should get notice of subscribes/unsubscribes
• do not send mail to poster when message is held for moderation
• max message size == 0 (no limit)

Privacy / Subscription rules

• require approval for subscriptions
• require approval for unsubscriptions
• list admin can view subscription list

Archiving

• frequency: yearly
• private archives

Content filtering

• do not auto-convert HTML to ASCII

5.15 Auxilliary Volunteers

Auxilliary Volunteers are people who are willing to help out with administrative tasks on an as-needed basis. The Vice President coordinates the Auxilliary Volunteers, and connects them with the other volunteers who need assistance at a given time.

5.16 Travel Team Coach

Coach ...

5.17 Travel Team Manager

A Travel Team Manager helps the Coaches organize off-ice matters. These include, but are not limited to:

5.17.1 Rosters

• Ensure that the Registrar's roster information is correct:
  1. Get a copy of the team roster from the team web page.
  2. Confirm the information (emails, phone numbers, address, etc) on it with the parents and players.
  3. Determine which families prefer phone calls in addition to, or instead of, emails.
  4. Send corrections to the Registrar.
• Distribute copies of the updated roster to all parents on the team, by both email and hard-copy. Tell parents to keep a hard-copy in the car, so they have access to the phone numbers when they need them.
• Assist the CYH Registrar in getting signatures on USA Hockey roster forms.
• Once numbers are assigned, print out complete rosters on labels to put on game sheets (need 3 per game, one on each copy of the game sheet); These also include Coaches names and certification numbers
• I also print out a little card that includes players name, number and parents names. These are especially helpful in the beginning of the season, when not everybody knows everybody else.

5.17.2 Communication

Help Coach contact all families as needed:

• A few days before each game, send out an email with the date, time and location of the game; also, what time the player is expected there and a reminder to let me know if a player will miss the game (relay info to the coach). Include directions to the rink if it is an away game. The address of the team email list is on the team web page. Rink directions can be found at ArenaMaps.com and MassHockey.com/Rinks.
• Phone families who requested phone notification.
• Post information on team blog (on team web page).
• Direct players/parents to locker room.

5.17.3 Transportation

Help everyone get to games and practices, by identifying people who need help with transportation, and ensuring they get the necessary assistance.

5.17.4 League Matters

• Notify the league about game results (different leagues do this in different ways).
• Help Coach re-schedule games (contact the appropriate league).
• Report cancelled games or practices to the appropriate league and to the CYH Secretary. (This is important to ensure that CYH only pays for ice you actually use.)
• Answering questions from the league about rosters, games played, etc.
• Answering questions from the CYH Secretary about games played.

5.17.5 Jerseys, Water, etc

Coaches may request assistance with the following:

• Storing game jerseys between games.
• Transporting game jerseys to games.
• Washing game jerseys.
• Attaching sponsor names to jerseys.
• Attaching player names to jerseys.
• Ensuring that there are fresh water bottles at every practice and game.
• Washing water bottles.

Some coaches prefer to let the players hold on to game jerseys in between games. Other coaches prefer for the team manager or coaching staff to collect the jerseys after every game.

5.17.6 At the Rink

• Direct players/parents to locker room.
• Help the coach get rink dividers, extra nets, and other equipment on to the ice efficiently so that practice can start on time.

5.17.7 Tournaments and Special Events

• Locate and book tournaments, working with familes on player availability.
• Collect money, as necessary: eg, for tournaments, presents for coaches, etc.
• Work with Coach on non-CYH team bonding experience (ie, group tickets to college, semi or pro game)
• Ordering players' patches at the end of the season (have to save gamesheets where player has earned a patch, you have to send a copy in to get it)

6. Processes and Procedures

6.1 Board Elections

6.1.1 Definition of Terms

• Ballot: a piece of paper that lists all candidates.
• Vote: a clear mark on a ballot that indicates a particular candidate.
• Cast Ballot: a ballot on which votes have been marked.
• Under-voted Ballot: a cast ballot on which less than the expected number of votes have been placed.
• Over-voted Ballot: a cast ballot on which more than the expected number of votes have been placed.
• Spoilt Ballot: a cast ballot that has been ruined by over-voting or some other means.

6.1.2 Who Counts Ballots

6.1.3 Counting Procedure

Each step of the counting procedure should be verified by at least two people.

1. Count the number of ballots cast.
2. Count the number of over-voted ballots.
3. Count the number of otherwise spoilt ballots.
4. Remove over-voted and otherwise spoilt ballots from further consideration.
5. Separate the under-voted ballots.
6. Count the number of votes missing from the under-voted ballots.
7. Compute the total number of expected votes by multiplying the total number of good cast ballots by the number of open positions (usually five or six), and subtracting the number of votes missing on the under-voted ballots. This number will be used to check the result of the candidate-specific vote counting process.
8. For each candidate, divide the good cast ballots into those that voted for the candidate, or did not vote for the candidate. Count the number of ballots in each pile (for and against). Confirm that the size of the for and against piles sum to the total number of good cast ballots. Record the number of votes for the candidate under consideration. Repeat for the next candidate.
9. Add up the votes allocated to each candidate. This sum should equal the number of expected votes, computed preivously above.
10. If two candidate have almost the same number of votes, and it looks like this could affect the result of the election, consider recounting the votes for those candidates.

6.2 Coaching Director Selection

6.3 Assigning Players to Travel Teams

discuss: sending players back to IH

discuss: ratio of A/B+/B

discuss: goalie allocation

6.4 Assigning Awards

slight preference given to players in their last year of eligibility for an award

6.5 Tryouts

7. Hockey Curriculum

links to USA Hockey curriculum ...

CYH-specific ideas ...

Geography of the Rink

Lines on the ice goal line (offensive) blue line (offensive) red line (neutral) blue line (defensive) goal line (defensive)
Zones offensive neutral defensive

The Slot the area in front of each goalie most goals are scored from within this area, often on a rebound defence wants to protect the slot forwards want to be in the slot to score The Crease the area marked off for each goalie players cannot enter the crease  (well, the rules are actually more subtle than that, but it's a good guideline)
The Hash Marks the small lines on the outside of the circles in the offensive and defensive zones this is where wingers are based in the defensive zone

The Point the area just inside the offensive blue line this is where the defence are based in the offensive zone "pass to the point" and "shot from the point" are common phrases
Top of the circle the part of the circles closest to the blue lines defence wants to stop incoming attackers from getting past here forwards will often take a shot from the top of the circle and then go in for a rebound

8. How to Be A Hockey Parent

8.1 Communication with Other Adults

let the team manager know if you can't make a game or a practice

team email list

keep a copy of the team phone book in your car

8.2 Participation and Presence

CYH is an all-volunteer 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Most of the volunteers are parents like yourself. Everyone is expected to do their bit. For parents, this includes:

• Paying your child's fees.
• Completing the appropriate waivers and paperwork for your child to play hockey.
• Ensuring that your child is present and punctual for games and practices.
• Meeting other parents and players on your child's team early in the season.

Parents who have been involved in hockey for years understand the game and probably already know most of the people on their child's team. Parents who are new to hockey are strongly encouraged to personally attend and observe a minimum of one third of their child's practices and games, in order to develop friendships on the team and a better understanding of the game.

8.3 Caring for Your Athlete: Sleep and Nutrition

Athletes, and growing children, need an old-fashioned balanced diet that includes carbs, protein, fat, and vegetables — in balanced proportions, and reasonable amounts.

Sugar before a game will make cause your hockey player to run out of energy in the third period.

8.4 How to Yell at a Hockey Game

Yelling at hockey games is part of a long tradition of the game. As a coach, I often feel that I'm not doing my job if I'm not yelling sometimes. However, every fan can make choices about what they yell and when they yell it, and these choices can have a positive or negative impact on the performance of their team.

The players on the ice cannot hear what you're yelling. The people who hear what you're yelling are those in the stands and on the bench. The acoustics of hockey rinks are such that you cannot effectively communicate instructions to players on the ice from the stands.

What everyone in the rink can hear is the tone of your voice. Are you angry? frustrated? dissapointed? anxious? happy? encouraging? Everyone in the rink will know how you feel, and your feelings will influence their feelings. But they won't be able to hear the actual content of what you say.

The main choice you face as a fan is the following: are you going to yell anxious instructions before the play happens? or, are you going to yell congratulations after the play happens? The players on the ice can't hear your instructions. They can hear your anxiety. Anxiety does not help players perform well.