PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

Congratulations to all the teams and officials who participated in the National
Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky April 18
th
-21
st
2013. It
was an exciting ending to another wheelchair basketball season.

As your new NWBOA President I am looking forward to creating a NWBOA Board
that responds to our members needs. Our number #1 goal this year is to provide an
open line of communication between the NWBOA Board and its members.

My e-mail address is Gmanref@aol.com. Our new NWBOA Board is listed below
with their e-mail addresses. Please contact them if you have any questions about
the up coming 2013-2014 wheelchair basketball season. The NWBOA Board is
looking for NWBOA members to participate on several committees this year. If
interested please e-mail our Member @ Large Brad Smeltzer to get more
information.


President-Elect Bill Kuerzi kuerzi@hotmail.com
Secretary/Treasurer Al Liskunas algis40@aol.com
Interpreter Mike Woodard michaelwoodard@comcast.net
West Regional Director Mark Larkin azbasketballref@cox.net
East Regional Director Gary Nesvisil narvy30@hotmail.com
Member@ Large Brad Smeltzer bsmelt@hotmail.com

YOU ONLY GET WHAT YOU GIVE

David Gerletti
President NWBOA


Members,
One of the biggest challenges facing the NWBOA is to gain the support of
NWBA. Our organization is tasked with providing the NWBA with skilled,
trained, professional officials for every game. My goal is to first,
communicate with all members regarding rule interpretations, and training
strategies. My involvement in wheelchair basketball has spanned 28 years
and I feel it is every officials obligation to give 110%, be professional, and
always work on learning, improving their game, along with helping others
along the way. You can contact me anytime with your concerns, ideas,
and suggestions in making the NWBOA the best organization we can.

Mike Woodard



First, I look forward to working with everyone on this board. I am very
passionate about officiating and basketball in general. I love to watch and
participate in the game and we are lucky enough to witness some of the
most amazing athletes in the world play this game. I have been officiating
now 16 yrs and I have been doing wheelchair for 13 of those. I am glad
Tracy C. asked me if I wanted to make a few more dollars on a weekend in
college. I have met and made some wonderful people and friends. So
with that said, thank you.

My goal as East Director to increase member communication:
Tough topic, as I know firsthand communication has not been the greatest
in past years, no offense to anyone, we are pretty spread out across the
US and Canada and it is difficult and we all have a lives beyond
basketball. I think with the technology we have and the better relationship
with the NWBA it can be better. I want to be the voice of the officials in the
EAST. But before I can do that, I need a list. A list of all active members
and non-active members. I will communicate with them and let them know
I am open to their suggestions and I want to work with them to get them
what they need to be successful on the court and help them become better
officials, not only for themselves, but all the athletes. They deserve the
best on the court and I want them to trust us, so no matter who is
officiating their game, they can feel confident it will be officiated the same
way across the board. If we are consistent as an organization, players,
coaches and us as a board, we can feel good at the end of the day.

Again, I look forward to working with you all.
Gary Nesvacil



Areas that need to be addressed:

1. Communication
a. Website refined and utilized to a greater capacity (Test online,
member list online)
b. I will create a newsletter for OCT, NOV, DEC, J AN, FEB, MAR,
APRIL (includes presidents
letter, articles, information highlights, board members, organization
actions, etc.)
c. Bimonthly Interpreter questions from Mike Woodard, emailed out.
d. Forms and documents available for download/copying from the
NWBA/NWBOA website.

2. Officials Ranking System
a. devise a ranking system for officials, this should include a revision
to the approbation process
which is antiquated and no longer serves the NWBA or NWBOA
appropriately. This ranking
system should be used as a tool to invite officials to the national
tournament.
b. Testing should be in colaberation with the ranking system, but we
need a bank or database of
questions that can be used for testing.

3. Education/Camps
a. We need a teaching tool that can be univerasally used to educate
officials. This should probably
include video and written materials.
b. Camps need to be identified and a plan for the officials aspect
created. Historically we have used
collegiate camps. Could we use established tournaments early in
the year, or maybe throughout
the year as teaching opportunities.

4. Operating Handbook
a. We need a handbook that provides guidelines to each board
members responsibilities, this way
individuals will know exactly what they are signing up for. I don't
think this should be part of the by-
laws because it should be a very dynamic document, possibly an
appendix to the by-laws.

Bill Kuerzi


Al Liskunas

My goal is to attend all meetings for the NWBOA, take minutes, be a part of the
discussions and do what it takes to make this association one of the best in
basketball officiating.
One of the most important roles will be to make sure all minutes are submitted to
the board members for review and approval prior to all meetings. Upon approval,
communicate the minutes to the general membership when applicable.
A goal of mine is to see that the board members set goals for the upcoming season
and make sure that the general membership is made aware of not only our goals to
communicate, but also to involve the members by assigning committees for various
functions.



I believe that the NWBOA needs to bring its constitution and by-laws up
to date to reflect technological capabilities. The responsibility of the
NWBOA Executive Committee is to get the membership to become as
active as possible in this process. We should see that our Rules
Interpreter registers on the NCAA Mens HUB so they have access to all
rules tests, quizzes, case plays and video provided on NCAA rules and
then share this information to the membership. Supplying our
members with a NCAA rules and case play book is a must. When we are
all involved, we can accomplish much!

Mark Rosales Larkin
Western Regional Director




To increase membership participation!!! The key to increase participation is to
increase communication and to act on commitments that are made. Such as rules
books and patches being handed out in a timely fashion. Saying what you are going
to do and doing what you say. Communication and follow up by the board has been
lacking at best. To keep and encourage membership participation we need to do a
much better job of this. We also need to supply are membership with better tools to
do their job as officials. Rules interpreted and answers sent to our memberships on
a weekly basic. If a play happens during the season review the play and get a
explanation back as soon as possible and share with our the membership. Hope all
have a great upcoming season. I will try and answer all question you the
membership has.

Brad Smeltzer
Member@Large NWBOA