Meeting Minutes - 8/29/2021
NCWCA Board Meeting 8/29/21
All 12 Board members present
· Board Quorum - With a newly expanded Board (12 members) there was discussion about the required quorum for Board meetings. The NCWCA bylaws specify a majority of the Board is needed for quorum. This will now require 7 members due to the Board expansion. Coach Uy expressed that the Board should always meet with either the President or Vice President (or both) present, even though it’s not required by the bylaws.
· Non-Voting Regional Reps – Coaches Harris, Rogers, and Perry will head up a committee to appoint non-voting regional reps in addition to clearly defining the role of non-voting reps. The Board agreed that each region from all classifications should have representation. Coach Harris suggested we consider people who ran for Board seats in July along with coaches with interest in serving on the Board. Finally, it was agreed that these appointments would be for two years with the primary function of communicating between the Association and the regions. It was agreed that non-voting reps will not participate in regular Board meetings but could be asked to join if necessary.
· Dues - No association dues were collected in 2021 due to COVID 19. In 2021-22 we will collect dues again via PayPal and checks sent to Coach Perry. Coach Perry will maintain the spreadsheet for dues collection. Dues will be required to nominate athletes for the all-star team or to run for a Board seat in the next election. Coach Perry reported that we have $900 in the account currently. Coach Baker indicated that we have all-state certificates to be mailed, requiring Association funds for the purpose. The Board also agreed that NCWCA funds should be used to the all-star team which is set to resume in 2022. Board members were also in agreement that the Board would have 100% participation in dues before asking the members to pay.
· 1A Regional Imbalance: Due to the number of schools that have wrestling teams, 1A East currently has 11 teams while 1A West has 32. The NCHSAA is looking at a strategy to balance the 1A regions by moving teams from 4 conferences (Piedmont Athletic, NW Piedmont, C. Carolina, and Yadkin Valley) and asked for Board input. Bradford Prep is the only school in Metro 8, which could be also be moved to the East. Coach Ross said if there is a shift in teams moving from West to East, every effort should be made to find a regional host that in a central location to offset travel. The Board also noted its concern about the number of programs losing wrestling teams and the need to help grow the number of wrestling teams in North Carolina.
· Regional Assignments: There was brief discussion about regional assignments made by conferences (rather than longitude). Coach Baker explained that some Athletic Directors were opposed to the idea of separating teams in the same conference.
· NFHS Weight Classes: Weight class changes introduced by the NFHS will be determined by individual states in the upcoming year. We will need to survey our membership this year and see what neighboring states are doing with weight classes before reporting our position to the NCHSAA.
· Regional Seeding: Coach Watson suggested reviewing seeding for regionals (only placed to 4th last year at state tournament) The Board will survey coaches statewide about regional seeding before going making any recommendations to the NCHSAA.
· Girls Wrestling: NCUSAW is proposing, with the support of the NCWCA, to have the girl’s invitational in conjunction with dual team state. All matches prior to placement matches Friday night, placement matches in between the dual final’s rounds. Coach Holleman is working on an initiative with NCUSAW to increase the number of girls teams (2 girls minimum) and will report back to the Board about girls wrestling initiatives.