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The American European Racquetball Association
(AERA) exists to promote racquetball and provide a means of competition to U.S.
Military, Department of the Army Civilians or other Americans who are assigned,
reside or visit the European Theater for extended periods. The AERA will
coordinate to ensure military-sponsored tournaments do not to conflict with
AERA, European Racquetball Federation (ERF), and other international
tournaments. To implement and maintain a viable point ranking
system for all AERA members. To assist U.S. Army and Air Force
installation sports representatives in establishing tournament-play guidelines
and rules for all tournaments and players. To coordinate
between the ERF & U.S. military directors for the sanctioning of ERF
tournaments to be played on U.S. Military Facilities throughout
The AERA will maintain a Board of Directors,
which shall have charge, control and management of policies, property, affairs
and potential organization funds. The board will anticipate, plan, advise and
implement policies and procedures to meet the needs/desires of AERA members, to
include the cooperation with the ERF, host nation racquetball organizers, U.S.
Department of Defense, public, private and community organizations.
The Board will consist of seven (7) members. Fifty-one (51) percent of board
members must be U.S. Identification Card or eligible to obtain an ID card.
Board members will serve a term of 18 months and elections will be held in
conjunction with the annual meeting prior to board member's term expiration. No
board member shall receive, directly or indirectly, any salary, compensation or
emolument from the AERA in their capacity unless authorized by a vote of a
majority of the entire board without counting the interested board member's vote.
The members of the board of directors shall
consist of the following:
The president is the chief executive officer
(presiding officer) of the AERA and is responsible for the daily administration
and operation of the organization. The president will interface with all local,
national and international racquetball organizations as appropriate. He/she may
delegate portions of these activities to any and all members of the board as
required.
The vice-president performs all duties given
by the president and assumes all duties of the president when he/she is absent
or unable to perform in his/her capacity.
The general secretary is the chief
administration officer and responsible for all AERA records. The general
secretary is also responsible for recording and maintaining the minutes of all
meetings and proceedings.
The treasurer will not be an active position
at the inception of the AERA. The board members will elect a treasurer at a
time deemed appropriate and necessary.
The tournament coordinator is responsible to
interface with all USAREUR & USAFE, ERF, and other national tournament
directors and coordinate tournament dates. The primary goal is to ensure there
are no conflicting tournaments on the same dates when possible.
The tournament coordinator will ensure that tournament dates are posted to the
host nation website enabling the widest dissemination possible.
The membership/points/rankings coordinator is
responsible to maintain a record of all active AERA members. The coordinator
will maintain the AERA rankings through out each season and the number of
points each member has earned in tournaments.
The board member at large will act as an
advisor to all other board members. He/she will assist any and all board
members in any capacity needed. He/she will step in and perform the duty's of the tournament coordinator and the membership/points/rankings
coordinator in the event of their absence or are unable to perform their
duties.
The tournament committee is responsible to
evaluate upcoming tournaments and recommend AERA support, approval, assistance
and eventual sanctioning. The tournament committee will advise the president of
their recommendations and the president will then approve or disapprove
committee recommendations. Should the president and the tournament committee disagree, the issue will then be voted on by the board of
directors. The tournament committee will consist of not less than three (4)
members of the AERA. The Chairman shall be the tournament coordinator. He shall
have the authority to call a committee meeting whenever required to discuss
future tournaments and any problems that may arise. Tournament committee
members will serve for 18 months. New elections will be held at the scheduled
annual meeting prior to the current committee term expiration. Should a
committee member be unable to serve his full term, the president with the
approval of the tournament committee coordinator shall appoint a replacement
member to the committee. Should there be a disagreement between the president
and tournament committee coordinator, the board of directors will then conduct
a vote.
This committee will review, determine and vote
to ensure that AERA members are playing in the division appropriated to their
playing abilities at all tournaments. The committee decisions will be passed on
to the local tournament director (S) for final decision. Un-sportsmanship
conduct will be referred to this committee for investigation. The committee
will provide investigation results and a recommendation to the president and
the board. Actions authorized to the board are as follows: No action: The board
determines no action is warranted. Letter of Warning: The board determines the
investigation warrants a letter of warning to the player concerned and that
another or similar display will result in further action by the AERA.
Recommendation to USAREUR/USAFE Sports for action: If warranted, the board will
recommend action to the USAREUR/USAFE Sports that players' privileges to
participate in upcoming racquetball tournaments by revoked for minimum of 3
months to maximum of 1 year. Dismissal from the AERA: A player whose behavior
has been determined to be so severe, the board shall, upon the recommendation
of the this committee, revoke all membership
privileges for a specified period of time i.e.; remainder of present season or
one calendar year.
NOTE: ALL NOTIFICATIONS WILL BE MADE TO THE MEMBER BY WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE
The membership/points/rankings coordinator
will chair this committee. The membership committee is responsible to assist
the membership/points/rankings coordinator as needed. The committee is
responsible to publicize, advertise and solicit new AERA membership. The
committee chairman will submit all advertising, news, or promotional releases
to the president for approval prior to publication. The general membership
committee chairman shall be responsible for the issue of AREA patches to the
membership as appropriate.
The Publicity/Newsletter Coordinator will be
selected by the Board of Directors and will serve at the pleasure of the board.
The coordinator will have access to all board meetings, but will not be a
voting member of the board. The coordinator will comply with the guidelines set
forth in these by-laws. The Publicity/Newsletter Coordinator will be
responsible for following:
A quarterly newsletter will be published by
the AERA. All input (S) will be forwarded to the webmaster for consolidation
and dissemination to the general membership. The president may direct
subsequent AERA releases on the AERA Website when warranted. As a minimum the
following will be included in each newsletter
The President will discuss the over all status
of the AERA and any information he feels the general membership should be aware
of. The General Secretary will provide notes/comments from all board meetings
since the last publication and any appropriate upcoming activities. The
Membership/Points/Rankings Coordinator will provide the Top 10 rankings for
each division and also the top four finishers in each tournament since the last
publication. The Tournament Coordinator will discuss events of interest of
previous tournaments and provide information for upcoming tournaments. Any
disciplinary actions taken by the AERA will also be included. The General
Membership Coordinator submits a status of the AERA membership. All members of
the AERA may submit articles for inclusion into the Newsletter. All input will
be submitted to the General Secretary. A directory of
Name/address/phone/email of all members of the board of directors, committee
chairpersons and webmaster.
A designated member of the AERA will work to
ensure AERA-sponsored tournaments are publicized in the community newspaper,
European Stars & Stripes and American Forces Network Radio. Post
tournaments on AERA, ERF, and GRF as soon as the sanctioning process is final.
Contact newspapers editors in the European theater with brief or article
publicizing the tournament with dates, times, divisions, courts, billeting,
costs, POC and phone numbers no later than three weeks before tournament date.
Post tournament results on website NLT than 24 hours after tournament is
complete. Write an article of tournament results and forward to community
newspapers of those who place. Send tournament results to S&S immediately
after the tournament is completed with 1-3 winners and consolation in each
division, number of players who participated, place and other newsworthy
information. For the USAFE and USAREUR championships, send an article to
RACQUETBALL Magazine.
The Webmaster, working through the Board will
design and regularly update an AERA site that adequately portrays the
activities of the association to include its organization, bylaws, tournaments,
rankings, racquetball links, chatroom, item sales,
and other items determined by the Board. Design a homepage that is unique to
the AERA that is professional and functional in design. Home page should
include the Association's patch, logo etc. Home page should be one that is easy
for visitors to navigate . . . short, sweet, simple, but elegant and
professional. Should have a hit counter. Should have
links to other racquetball sites. Should have an avenue for
visitors to provide feedback. A board member will be designated to
provide general information. Information on rules or the organization must be
brought to the attention of the Board. Should have photos of
the winners and other general shots of each tournament. Establish a
domain: for example AERA.ORG