On Friday, May 2nd, the UYSA Constitutional Convention continued its task of designing a new governing structure for the Utah Youth Soccer Association. The main focus of this session was on the role of geographic subdivisions of the State Association. In previous meetings, the Constitutional Convention concluded that member organizations (a term encompassing leagues and clubs under the current system) should be the basic membership unit for the Association. Member organizations would be responsible for registering players and providing soccer programming for players. The State Association, in turn, would be responsible for supervising the registration process, obtaining insurance, overseeing risk management, and administrating state-wide programs such as the State Competition League, the Olympic Development Program, TOPSoccer, and the Coaching Education Program.

The Constitutional Convention focused its attention last Friday on the subject of regions within the State Association. First, the Convention affirmed its previous plan to divide the state into six regions. The boundaries for these regions would not be permanently fixed; rather, the regions would contain roughly equivalent player populations (to ensure fair representation) and would be periodically adjusted by the Board of Directors to respond to fluctuations in player populaces.

The Constitutional Convention next considered whether these regions should be geographic subdivisions of the State Association or independent affiliates. The Convention concluded that the regions should be geographic subdivisions. This means that the regions would not have separate entity status. Since several of the current districts currently possess their own corporate status, the proposed change means that such districts would have the choice of either dissolving (and distributing their assets on a pro-rata basis to membership within those districts) or becoming member organizations. This choice would, of course, be made at the local level by the current membership of the affected districts.

The Constitutional Convention also discussed how the regions should function. It is anticipated that the regions will provide administrative support to the State Association in the delivery of the Association's membership services. This means that the regions would, for example, supervise the registration and risk management processes. The regions would not, however, directly operate any soccer programs. That responsibility would be shared by the State Association and its member organizations. The State Association would offer soccer programs on a state-wide basis (such as the State Competition League) and could also offer (but not mandate participation in) programs on a regional basis. For example, the State Competition Committee could decide to organize the lower divisions of the State Competition League into regional leagues (say, Division 3-North and Division 3-South). Member organizations, both individually and collectively, would also be empowered to offer programs on a regional basis. Those districts that currently operate leagues or soccer programs could transition into member organizations or transfer these programs to be operated by existing member organizations.

Last Friday's meeting was attended by delegates from five of the current seven districts, representing enough of the Association's membership that could enact the proposed changes at a State Council meeting. All members of the Association are invited--and encouraged--to contribute to the Association's Constitutional Convention. The Convention meetings are open to the public, and the next meeting will be Saturday, June 7th at 9:30 AM at the UYSA State Office. You are also invited to provide written feedback. Please direct any comments to Paul C. Burke, Chairman of Constitutional Convention, at pburke at rqn dot com.