In attendance: Joffa Harris, Lonnie Childress, Toru kanamori, Jesse Takahashi, Murray Clarke, Dan Salter, Steve Bull, Matt Downer, Paulo de Berriozabal, Niall Conlon, Lawrence Hii, Jerry Brady, Will Thompson, Erin Hughes, Andy Ballard, Rob Poulton, Jo Iwasaki, So Nagashima, Yoshihiro Sato, Shino Iwasaki, Kyoko Conlon, Lucie Ballard
Joffa opened AGM with positions:

Team Manager: Joffa Harris
Assistant Team Managers:  Murray Clarke, Erin Hughes

Joffa, guilt-ridden over a lost set of jerseys and expanded responsibilities at home, attempted to step down from his role as Team Manager.  Unfortunately for Joffa, he was not allowed.  After much deliberation, it was decided to create two Assistant Manager positions to help ease the burden of responsibility on Joffa.  Put to a vote, Joffa remains as Team Manager, with Murray and Erin serving as Assistant Managers.  

Captain:  Murray Clarke
Vice-Captain: Matt Downer

Nominations for Captain included Matt Downer, Al Nimmo, Murray Clarke, and Dave Kelver.  After speeches from all (and on behalf of those not present), it was decided that Murray will be the new Captain for the upcoming season.  Further discussion continued for Vice Captain, with the general consensus being that since the Vice Captain should be from the backs.  Matt Downer was selected as Vice Captain.

Treasurer:  Steve Bull

Steve Bull remains as team Treasurer.  If you haven't done so already, everyone needs to pay their annual dues of 20,000-yen as soon as possible…don't make Steve come looking for you!

Social Directors:  Al Nimmo and Will Thompson

On an unanimous vote, Will Thompson and Al Nimmo are the club's joint Social Directors.

Web Masters:  Mauro and Erin

Mauro and Erin will remain as the club's Web Masters.  Erin proposed the creation of a Moderator to help ease the burden of editing and uploading content, but was decided by Czar Joffa et al. that responsibility for content will remain with Erin and Joffa.

Fitness Coach: Andy Ballard

Steve Bull proposed the creation of a new position, that of Fitness Coach, to organize team fitness sessions.   Andy Ballard was nominated and selected as the team's new Fitness Coach.

Team Representative (for Tokyo Cup):  Jesse Cutler

Jesse remains as Team Representative for the Tokyo Cup, with So Nagashima volunteering to help attend meetings for the competition.

Sponsorship Procurement:  Will Thompson

Will Thompson unanimously voted as the club's Sponsorship Procurement Officer.

Other issues addressed at the meeting:

Tokyo Cup:  

A pressing issue for Tokyo Cup is the need for helpers (at least 10), a team Medic, and Linesmen for the competition.  Without these issues being addressed, the club will be unable to participate in the competition.  Lucy & Kyoko have offered to take the Medic course, and ideally the club would like to have around five people attend the course.

Training:

It was proposed that three or four individuals step up and organize training sessions in terms of drills and objectives to be accomplished during training.  It was also discussed to expand practice to twice a week (one day midweek perhaps once or twice a month).  Sunday practices still remain at Futako-Shinchi at 11am.  It was reiterated by Joffa that training sessions could be occasionally moved to other locations provided that someone suggest a location and if grounds can be secured.

Dan Salter said he will look into securing futsol grounds at the British Embassy as another training option mid-week for Wednesdays.  Will need constant participation of at least 10 people each time if the location can be secured.

It was proposed that the club invest in more training equipment to incorporate into training sessions, such as tackling bags, step-ladders, more tackling pads (as of now the club has two tackling pads), etc.

Player Recruitment:

Through general sentiment it was expressed to further expand efforts to recruit more players–especially Japanese players, such as targeting recent university graduates from study aboard programs in Australia, New Zealand, etc.

It was proposed to create a recruitment page on the website in Japanese and in English.  Sato-san volunteered to help with the Japanese page.  Sato-san also volunteered to translate recruitment flyers into Japanese.

Website:

In terms of written content for the website, Dan Salter, Sato-san, Joffa, Murray, Andy, Dave Kelver and Jesse all have agreed to write articles to put on the website.

It was also proposed to add a google map to Suzuki Sports and the Canterbury store on the website so newer players can know where to find equipment.

It was noted throughout general sentiment that Al has done an excellent job as Captain the past two years and his efforts and leadership have been much appreciated.

End of TGRFC 2008 Annual General Meeting