Unapproved draft minutes

UTAH YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors
August 18, 2005

CALL TO ORDER

The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of Utah Youth Soccer Association was called to order by President Leisa Vineyard at 8:00 p.m. at the State Office of the Utah Youth Soccer Association in Salt Lake City, Utah. The following Board Members were present during the meeting:

Leisa Vineyard, President
Scott Maxfield, Vice President
Jodi Wells, Secretary
Rick Henage, Treasurer
Bruce Cuppett, Director of Development
Debbie Haycock, Girls Competition Director
Kurt Cottrell, Boys Competition Director
Allan Jones, District 1 Chairperson
Eric Blommer, District 2 Chairperson
John Gygi, District 3 Chairperson
Dave Mills, District 4 Chairperson
Mike Hall, District 5 Chairperson
Richard Messenger, District 6 Chairperson

Also present were Jodene Smith (State Cup Chairperson), Teresa Ortiz (Risk Management), Norm Williamson (SYRA), Tina Patterson (State Registrar), Greg Maas (State Technical Director), Kim Smith (Rules Chairperson), Linda Kay Messenger (Tournament Chairperson), Orden Yost (District 1), Steve Pasterino (Real Salt Lake), Greg Zaskowski (Real Salt Lake), Chad Sackett (Real Salt Lake).

Board Members who were not excused included: Delon Brower (District 7 Chairperson).

WELCOME

President Leisa Vineyard welcomed all those in attendance to the meeting, along with Kim Smith, our newly appointed Rules and Revision Chairperson, Orden Yost from District 1 and Steve Pasterino General Manager of Real Salt Lake, Greg Zaskowski and Chad Sackett Real Salt Lake.

ADOPTION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

Secretary Jodi Wells presented the meeting minutes of July 19, 2005 that had been e-mailed out to the board for approval. Motion was made and seconded to accept them.

GOOD OF THE GAME

President Leisa Vineyard presented a clock to the Board that was given to the State Association from US Youth Soccer for the outstanding job hosting the National Workshops.

President Leisa Vineyard also presented a plaque to Steve Pasterino, General Manger of Real Salt Lake, for the partnership that Real Salt Lake and Utah Youth Soccer have formed. Leisa Vineyard thanked Real Salt Lake for all that they have done, and hope that we can continue with our partnership as we both grow.

Steve Pasterino stated that Greg Zaskowski & Chad Sackett really help make things work through ticket sales. Our business is about dreams, something to aspire to. Thank you for your support, we still have a lot of work to do. Thanks for all your support!

Chad Sackett, Real Salt Lake stated that September is Youth Soccer Month. There is a lot of stuff planned for the month. Sept. 24, 2005 will be youth soccer night at the Real Salt Lake game; we will have group rates available. I appreciate all that you do.

APPOINTMENTS

Motion was made, seconded and approved to ratify the following appointment by President, Leisa Vineyard, Kurt Cottrell as Boys Competition Director. We will have an election within 120 days for Boys Competition Director.

REPORTS

STATE TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

"What a year for Utah", noted State Technical Director Greg Maas. This past year has been a very successful for our ODP program. A huge thank you to ODP Administrator, Judy Martin, Girls ODP Coordinator Lissa Baddley, Boys ODP Coordinator Linda Bullough, and ODP Travel Coordinator Robin Harlow for their commitment and expertise behind the scenes in providing first-class administrative support for our entire program.

Maas also reported that ODP established an all-time record for Utah players being selected to US Youth Soccer's Region IV ODP Pools. ODP garnered 30 selections (15 boys and 15 girls) to this years Region IV ODP Pools, eclipsing last years record of 24. Congratulations to the following players who were selected to US Youth Soccer's 2004-05 Region IV ODP Team Pools in their respective age groups:

Maas also reported that all summer coaching education courses have been completed, the state staff has done an awesome job. We have added a D License course in Cache Valley the end of August, and we have Youth Modules scheduled with Impact and Southern Utah Soccer Association in the coming weeks.

Maas concluded in reporting that Monday, September 5, 2005 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. at Lone Peak Park a US Youth Soccer Clinic will be held for all UYSA Members 5-14 years of age and their parents. Governor Huntsman's Proclamation as September as Youth Soccer Month in accordance with US Youth Soccer. (See attached written report)

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Director of Development, Bruce Cuppett reported that the x-league alignment has been completed. We have 22-- 10 boys' teams, and 15--U10 Girls teams. We will be reporting scores to get a data base going for alignment in the spring, and for U11.

Play will start after Labor Day, and they will have 10 games.

Cuppett reported that they will be following the competition rules, and that we are letting the system do the schedule.

COMMITTEE STATE CUP

State Cup Chairperson, Jodene Smith reported that State Cup fall dates have been set, they are October 17-29, 2005. We will be working 3 sites during pool play, Weber County Fairgrounds, Desert Peak in Tooele, and Lakeside in Orem.

Smith also reported that we will be including a U11 Bracket for both boys and girls fall state cup, and Presidents cup will also be run at the same time at Lakeside in Orem.

No U11 will pass on to regionals; they will only be classed as Utah State cup winner.

Smith also stated that no teams will be allowed to play up for state cup.

Clarification on Birth Certificate-we will be asking for a legible copy of the Birth Certificates.

Smith also stated that no district teams will be eligible for state cup play.

Smith concluded that a notification has been sent out to all certified referee assigners to put in a proposal to assign for State Cup this fall.

X-league Jamboree will be done in the spring.

STATE COMPETITION DIRECTORS Girls Competition Director, Debbie Haycock reported that this has been a nightmare year. . Haycock stated that the Developmental Pass is coming along and is ready to go, we are waiting for a vote, and we want to have the roster to go out also.

Alignment process also needs to be improved.

Haycock also stated that the club exchanges were able to be worked out, I hope the clubs will see that we are trying to work with them. We also may need to look at getting registration dates changed, to be able to get the alignment and schedules done in a timely manner before games start up.

Haycock also stated that U11-U14 would have a maximum of 2 year play-ups, and High School Provisional play U15 and up would have a 3 year play-up.

Haycock concluded in stating that the clubs that do not affiliate are independents, and they will draw from the league that they are registered or tied to.

SCHEDULES

President Leisa Vineyard handed out the following outline of challenges that Amy faced this year in trying to produce the State Competition Schedules. (See handout)

PRESIDENT President Leisa Vineyard reported that the Kohl's American Cup has been cancelled. We had only 2 applicants. We are talking to Southern Utah to have them do it in November after their season.

Vineyard concluded in stating that we will be having a planning meeting on November 12, 2005 to do the calendaring for next year. This will be held from 10:00 am to 3:00 p.m.

DISTRICT REPORTS

District 1

District 1 Chairperson, Allan Jones reported that increasing referee fees would be helpful in retaining referees; our district has talked about implementing a bonus system. If we could get things going state wide that would be good.

Vice President, Scott Maxfield suggested that at different events that we have referee recruiting tents this would be an opportunity to help build the base.

Jones concluded in stating that he would like to have Dave Josse on next month's agenda to come talk about how he was able to gain those new fields.

District 2

District 2 Chairperson, Eric Blommer reported that they are ready for the season to start.

District 3

District 3 Chairperson, John Gygi reported that a concern that they have is that the State BOD agenda is not posted the 10 days in advance.

District 4

District 4 Chairperson, Dave Mills reported that they had a coaches meeting, and Real Salt Lake came up. It went really well.

We held elections for our competition committee people. Nancy Christensen will represent the Club teams, and Rob McGill will represent the Independent teams. We had a great turn out.

Mills concluded in reporting that they are finishing up with their summer tournaments.

District 5

District 5 Chairperson, Mike Hall reported that the biggest problem that they have been having is play up is player age specific, not age group specific.

District 6

District 6 Chairperson, Richard Messenger reported that they have discovered that the computer program has items that can be turned on and off. That has been a big problem.

Messenger concluded that all their leagues are set and ready for the season.

District 7-no report

TREASURERS REPORT

Treasurer Rick Henage reported that we are in the last 2 weeks of fiscal year, and we are only at a $6,000 deficit.

Henage also reported that we have done some administrative changes; we have step by step procedures and forms that have been set up for the office to start implementing.

TOURNAMENT RULES

Tournament Chairperson, Linda Kay Messenger reported that participation on all tournaments is getting low. Suggestion is that tournaments work together. The Calendaring would be good, that way we would not have tournaments on top of each other.

Recommendations for the entry fee, to host a tournament, leave the fee structure as it is, but take out the need for a bond.

Motion to delete policy 1.02 1a-(Entry fee equivalent to the tournament fee, if more than one fee is charged, the higher fee applies). Seconded and motion passed.

Motion to add policy 1.07 add a #9. Must display a UYSA Banner provided by the State Association. Seconded and motion passed.

X-LEAGUE STRUCTURE AND PURPOSE State Technical Director Greg Maas has put together the following background and philosophy for the X-league (see handout)

SYRA

State Youth Referee Administrator, Norm Williamson reported that on referee retention we have the same issue as other states. We need to start retaining and working with the youth referees. We are developing our teams but not the referees.

Williamson stated that we need to create tournaments that are quality ones, that referees can go and ref with some high level refs, and develop a referee academy.

The pool of referees in this state is stagnate; we did not break 1,000 this year. We should get a booth at a Real Salt Lake game to get more people to come out and become referees.

Williamson concluded in stating that by increasing referee fees and mentoring the youth referees would really help in retaining our referees.

POINT OF ORDER

Vice President, Scott Maxfield stated that we need to get credentials for everyone here on the board and the districts to help with any problems we have out on the fields.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

Motion was made and seconded to move into Executive Session to discuss Office Personnel.

ADJOURNMENT

Motion was made, seconded and approved to adjourn at 11:15 p.m. The next meeting of the Board of Directors of the Utah Youth Soccer Association is scheduled for Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at the State Office of the Utah Youth Soccer Association.

These draft minutes were prepared by Secretary Jodi Wells.
Please direct any corrections or clarifications to ewells@networld.com