February 25, 2004

US Youth Soccer Adidas Workshop & Coaches Convention
February 19-21 2004
Boston, Massachusetts

Scott Harward
Executive Director
UYSA

This year's workshops were very productive, useful and informative for me as I attended a special Executive Directors Seminar. The seminar was a new addition to the US Youth Workshops this year and its existence was a result of requests and planning from Executive Directors who attended round table discussions held during the 2003 workshops. Some of the goals and objectives of the Executive Directors Seminar were:

• To reinforce the value of sharing knowledge and vision between state associations while developing soccer in a business atmosphere.
• To strengthen individual state associations by working collectively to raise the standards of administration.
• To provide specific guidance and/or advice on organizing, sustaining and growing organizations
• To enhance the growth of the entire organization and increase the value of membership in US Youth Soccer
• To learn about new technologies for the efficient management and administration of a volunteer organization
• To develop a sense of camaraderie as lead staff in soccer

Topics and discussions of the seminar were selected by Executive Directors during last year's roundtable discussion because they were determined to be common challenges in each state association. Those who presented information were individuals who have developed solutions to some of those challenges within their own state Associations. I found the following discussions very helpful in providing some ideas on how we can improve our own operations and organization.

State AGM's and workshops.
State run tournaments do we manage, or do we contract operation of?
Identifying the HR legal requirements of our organization per law
Medical coverage for employees
Forming a retirement program (403 B, annuity, etc...)
Developing financial policies for our association.
Maintaining records to make our audit easy.
Insuring against employee theft.
Ideas on how to make the most of our investments.
Establishing a cash flow plan for investment purposes.
What is our staff's role versus the BOD and State Officer's role.
Making the budget process as painless as possible.
Using a strategic planning retreat
Databases
Constructing a Master Data Base.
On-Line Registration
Mailing List Usage
Protecting our association while using our database
Making the most of our insurance coverage.
Identifying Members Needs
Marketing/Public Relations
Promotions
Sponsorship
State Cup (what are the new requirements).
Branding
Effective use of the Marketing Mix
Public Relations

In addition to attending the special Executive Directors seminar and various administrative workshops, I had several meetings and spent considerable time with Varsity Communications, current sponsors, vendors and potential sponsors, in firming up sponsorship relationships, contract compliance and negotiations for future support.