August 8, 2004

US Youth Soccer Holds Annual General Meeting
UYSA President Paul C. Burke Reports on USYS AGM

As Utah celebrated Pioneer Day, I attended the Annual General Meeting of the US Youth Soccer Association in Orlando, Florida. I represented the Utah Youth Soccer Association by virtue of my elected office, and I also represented United States Youth Soccer-Nevada by proxy at the request of its president. The conference consisted of two separate events: a meeting of the Region IV Council on Saturday morning, followed by a National Council meeting in the afternoon.

Region IV Meeting

The meeting of the Region IV Council, which consists of fourteen state associations in the western United States (Utah, Alaska, Arizona, California-North, California-South, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming), was dominated by elections. At the request of United State Youth Soccer-Nevada, I rose to nominate its resident, Darl Rose, for another two-year term as Regional Director. After Rose's election was accepted by acclamation, I again rose to the podium, this time on behalf of Utah, to nominate Jolene Woodhave for another term as Deputy Regional Director. Woodhave, a Centerville resident, previously served as the Deputy Commissioner (now Vice President) of the Utah Youth Soccer Association. Woodhave's election was also accepted by acclamation. The final post due for election--Secretary---was left unfilled after Linda Bolin, the long-time incumbent, decided not to seek re-election. Bolin was honored by the Region IV for her long and distinguished service to the Region. The Secretary's post is expected to be filled at the Region IV Workshops in October. If anyone is interested in serving in this capacity, please contact me.

The Region Council next addressed several regional events. After reviewing the lessons learned from this year's Far West Regionals, discussion turned to the upcoming Region IV Workshops, which will be hosted by Utah in October. The Arizona Youth Soccer Association also announced that it will submit a bid to host the 2007 workshops in Tucson. A final decision on this bid will be made in October at the next Region IV Council meeting.

Finally, the Region IV Council extended its congratulations to all of the teams from the Western United States that advanced to the finals of the US Youth National Championships. Notably, a U19 boys team from Hawaii advanced through the Far West Regionals and ultimately won the national championship. The Hawaii Bulls, who featured Utahn Bret Shimizu of Roy (soon to be a sophomore at Stanford University), captured the hearts of observers and became an inspiration for teams from smaller states like Utah by earning the national title.

National Council Meeting

The National Council considered several bylaw proposals and then conducted two elections. The first two bylaw proposal addressed risk management. I spoke in favor of a proposal that would have allowed state associations to immediately suspend individuals accused of child abuse and other conduct detrimental to youth, but I opposed a measure that would have made such suspensions compulsory even if the allegation was obviously not credible. Ultimately, the risk management proposals were referred back to committee for further refinement. A proposal that would have permitted the Board of Directors to add unelected members to the Board was soundly defeated, and a proposal to modify the rostering process for the National Championships was also referred back to committee. Only one bylaw proposal was passed: a measure to officially eliminate the non-existent "Database Marketing Committee." The National Council ratified the proposed budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year, albeit after a vigorous discussion about whether the budget reflected the organization's mission and strategic goals.

President David Messersmith was then re-elected by acclamation to a final two-year term (term limits will then take effect). The Secretary's race featured two strong candidates, incumbent Rich DeJana and New York-West President Anthony (Tony) Buiniskis. Not surprisingly, given the quality of the candidates, the race was close. More surprisingly--but fittingly, given that Florida was the venue for the election---the results were subjected to extended scrutiny due to the discovery of two "overvotes." Finally, it was announced that Buiniskis had succeeded in his bid to join the US Youth Board of Directors.

The National Council meeting closed after I extended the welcome of the Utah Youth Soccer Association to all members of the US Soccer family for the US Youth Soccer National Workshops, which will be held next winter in Salt Lake City. Members of the Utah Youth Soccer Association are also encouraged to attend the convention next February 17-19th. The National Workshops will feature coaching clinics as well as presentations aimed at coaches, referees, and administrators. It will be a valuable opportunity for Utah's soccer community to attend this annual event.