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Terms of Reference Updates / Senior Club Council Focus Areas

Terms of Reference Document:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16YtkwZy9ZfG0UuRM876lkvTFc2GKA_kw/view

Working group was established in Q4 to create a structure that allows the Senior Club Council to execute
Officers:

Chair: manages Council meetings & holds committee chairs accountable
Vice Chair: supports the chair & Governance
Secretary: correspondence, oversight of website & social media, record keeping
Treasurer: forecasting, financial record keeping & non-profit reporting

Committee Focus Areas specifically what has to be true to play rugby:

Competitions (7’s and 15’s split into two committees)
Eligibility- coordinating and consistency
Discipline- consistency & visibility
DE&I- supporting council & local union programs to encourage broad & diverse participation
Note: A&R and T&E Committees eliminated. USAR A&R has the Council Treasurer on the committee and USAR leading T&E efforts specifically on coaching, referee courses
Working groups can still be established as needed

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Senior Club Council Elections

https://www.usaclub.rugby/council-news/senior-club-council-now-accepting-candidates-for-leadership-roles
Executive Committee is made up of two components:

Council Officers: Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary & Treasurer.

These roles are to be filled from the Union Presidents
Nominations are now open and will close February 3^rd
Rank choice voting will be leverated & votes are weighted base on union size
To make a nomination: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfpp1B3_w515-o-VYnrppXN2S0t6dcG3FjOyMqCk1J96Ju6eQ/viewform

Chairs of Standing Committees: Governance, DE&I, 7’s Competitions, 15’s Competitions, Eligibility & Discipline.

Any USA Rugby in good standing may apply
Nominations are now open and will close on February 26. Anyone may be nominated and may�apply. If you have questions for these candidates, they may be submitted here by the end of the�nomination process.
Rank choice voting will be leverated & votes are weighted base on union size
To make a nomination: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeD2jNOGQm9aigp_6ffEkYAlFZ1xXcGQO2ZyA_m_6jYjzcYpg/viewform

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Senior Club Council Financial Update

Non-profit status completed with by-laws approved

Bank account created & $294k transfer underway from sportlomo holding account

Budget was created using $15/member @ 18.6k members or 60% of pre-covid registered membership

Expecting additional registrations thus additional revenue creating opportunities to increase services or reduce dues in the future

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Senior Club Council Dues: $15/member

18.6k assumed members vs. ~33k average pre-covid & <15k in 2020
$303k in revenue of which $279k is member dues

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Active Relief: https://www.activerelief.com/

CBD based Nutritional supplements - 12% revenue sharing

10% club/1.5% union/0.5% council revenue sharing
If union has not opted in, union portion goes to Council. Does the True South want to opt in?
If a union sells directly, club portion goes to the union

This is voluntary for Unions and Clubs to opt-in…it is not a formal sponsorship
If your club wants to participate, do you want to reach out to Active Relief directly or do you prefer we pass along your clubs contact info to get set-up?

**True South ExCo recommends comparing prices for any member looking take advantage of this opportunity

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True South Championships:

Location: Knoxville, TN

Date: April 9^th & 10^th

D2 Men: format, seeding

D3 Women: format, seeding

D3 Men: format, seeding

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Gulf Coast Super Regional: Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Texas & True South

D3 Men: April 23^rd & 24^th , Super Regional Play-in, Location TBD

One team each from FL, GA, Carolinas, and True South

Winner advances to the Super Regional (National Round of 8)

Gulf Coast Super Regional

Date: May 7^th & 8^th

Location: TBD (We will be proposing New Orleans)

D2 Women and Men:

One team each from GA/Carolinas, FL, True South, & Texas Championships

Two matches (National Sweet Sixteen and Round of 8)

D3 Men:

One team from Southern play-in and one team from Red River

One match (National Round of 8)

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National Championships: � �15’s: �May 20-22, 2022�May 19-21, 2023� �7’s: �August 13-14, 2022 August 12-13, 2023

National Championship Announcement:

https://www.usaclub.rugby/council-news/bid-to-host-a-usa-club-rugby-national-championship-event

If you want to be considered, register your venue:

https://www.usaclub.rugby/council-news/register-your-venue

Actual bid information:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6pM5NW1JMnd5fwdrh0bAUsHIaZ7dj9F1t-DNGQ4ItS-ENXA/viewform

Bids are due by February 18^th, 2022
Bids will be reviewed as they are received so no need to wait
Bids for 2022 & 2023 will be awarded by March 1^st, 2022

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Player Eligibility: https://www.usaclub.rugby/eligibility1.html

Please note that in order to be eligible in the USA Rugby Playoffs, any player who has transferred to a new senior club, after playing in a Qualifying Match with a different senior club, during the current competitive 2021-22 season, must receive a Waiver from the Senior Club Eligibility Committee.

Reminder of content covered in the Fall AGM:

2 qualifying matches with the club (must play in the match- not just be listed on the roster)
For clubs fielding multiple sides: if 66% of matches are in an upper division, the player can’t compete in playoffs in a lower division
Professional Rugby (MLR) players:

On playing in three (3) or more regular season matches with a Professional Team, a player is no longer eligible to compete with a team competing towards any USA Rugby Championship in Division 2.
On playing in one (1) regular season match with a Professional Team, a player is no longer eligible to compete with a team competing towards any USA Rugby Championship in Division 3.

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Non-traditional club governance

Working group has been formed to ensure proper governance of non-traditional clubs (think USA South that plays MLR development sides, Gypsies/Vandals type clubs,

Principle: all non-collegiate adult rugby that is not a prior USAR sanctioned competition are governed by this Council and its unions, all participants must be registered with their geographic union and USAR – enables compliance for insurance, eligibility, discipline

How to handle teams that span multiple unions?

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U23 Women’s High Performance Pathway Opp

Purpose: Identify and develop a broader pool of U23 athletes for inclusion in WNT 15s or 7s, especially those who enter the game after high school. Tournament will serve as a selection venue for the USA Rugby’s U23 Women Team, who will compete against equivalent Canadian teams in July 2022.

Motivation: Athletes typically enter the HP pathway either at the U18 or U23 level. Those entering at the U18 level are playing rugby in high school, while those that enter at the U23 level are either late maturing high school players or athletes who begin playing rugby after high school or college. These late entry athletes typically participated in other sports in high school or college.

Competition Structure:

Two geographically based divisions, each consisting of 4 teams (goal in the first year). Teams apply to represent a particular region of the country. Link to application information and team standards
Weekend 1: Division Playoffs-- 2 games each team, top two teams advance to finals Dates: June 10-12*
Weekend 2: Semi Finals---cross division playoff; Finals to follow. Dates: June 23-26*

*exact dates will depend on venues and teams involved.

The deadline for team applications is January 31st, though, if we haven't filled out 8 spots, we will likely seek out additional teams

Questions can be routed to Martha Daines: mdaines@usa.rugby