Gold Country Youth Soccer League

Annual General Meeting

Nevada County Office of the Superintendent of Schools

Nov 20, 2005 Minutes

 

 

Meeting Called to Order by Sophia Meyer at 4:05pm.

Roll Call: Sophia Meyer- President, Sandi Bownas- Registrar, Jeff Moore- Purchasing, Thomas Breitter- Webmaster, Steve Schaffer-Fields Director, Jim Oebker- Referee Director, Steve Langley- Coaching Director, Hosea Bostic-Treasurer, Cathy Ivazes-Secretary, Dan Vielhauer- Metro Director. Dan Kumetat- Vice President absent.

Credentials: 100+ teams, 9 coaches and 3 assistant coaches with voting privileges present.

Guests: Ananda Breitter.

Acceptance of 2004 AGM Minutes: Dai Meagher moved to accept. David Denkers seconded. Approved with changes to “Roll Call”, along with running special projects, Cathy Ivazes served as registrar in 2004.

Introduction of Board Members: Jeff Moore and Dan Kumetat are leaving board after years of dedicated service. Jim will be running again and Hosea will be donating another year as well. Everyone’s work is greatly appreciated as per coaches in attendance.

Reports:

President:  Sophia thanked all in attendance for their volunteer work this year. The continued operation of this youth soccer program relies on volunteer participation and that continues to be the specific need of this league. We have reached maximum capacity with fields and coaches. We packed as many kids on to teams as we could, but in order to grow we need more fields and volunteers. This continues to be our main limitation. 

 

Treasurer: The yearly financials were presented.

 

Secretary: The teams came together this year a little better due to some changes to our registration process. We still desperately need volunteer help in the office and in the field. An enormous amount of time is still expected of too few people in this league to keep things running and we are all volunteers.

 

Registrar: We had about 1500 kids/110 teams, mostly 8-12 year olds. Registration was down because we finished in July not August, adding only those need to fill existing teams. This barely impacted us as our league was filled to capacity with limited coaches and fields. We currently have no room for expansion.

 

Webmaster: The website has been regularly updated. Parents, coaches and referees have been using it extensively. Thomas has been adding videos and pictures from the games sent in by parents. He is looking at improving our site by expanding our links and advertising revenues. Our online registration is in line with CYSA and District VI and cannot be modified much beyond their standards but has been working better for our parents each year. We would like to get parent email addresses so we can send important notices that way.

 

Coaches: We held 2 F clinics and all but a few coaches are licensed. Next year we plan to add the E course to promote coaches growth. 80% of our coaches are returning and let us know very early, usually by February, through emails or phone calls. The rest must be found somehow. We also pick up many coaches at registration. Although we check the coach’s list with the Meagan’s Law list, we still aren’t requiring yearly fingerprinting as this is still in discussion at the district level. We do not post recreation coaches phone numbers on the web as was requested as this infringes on their privacy, but we may want to create a list of coaches numbers for coaches to be distributed only to them. A midseason coaches meeting would be beneficial if all would attend, but too few attend our other meetings it is currently not feasible. A request for coach mentors to be found and game protocol/ team function forms to be distributed or added to the coach’s manuals were requested to aide new and inexperienced coaches.

 

 

Fields: We spent about $2500.00 for fields lining and maintenance this year. We need a surveyor to initially set the fields up so they are square. GCYSL uses 14 fields, some charge some don’t. Some require reservations. The toilets have increased in price to $90.00 per month. We use 60 cases of paint on fields each year. We may be sharing fields more this year with other sports organizations.

 

Referees: We held 2 referee certification classes. 24 passed the first session and 19 passed the second session. Kids are still struggling with the questions. We had 140 names to call for referees but only 63 were active referees this year. Of these, 12 were 16 years of age or older. We ended up with 68-70 games per weekend and only about 40 referees to fill the jobs. We desperately need more adult referees. We pay any parent or coach who has to referee a game due to our referee shortage. GCYSL has considered teaching a parent/coach mini ref class but too few people volunteer as it is. We also need to provide more positive feedback to our referees to encourage them to stay.

 

Metro: GCU had 12 metro teams and 1 competitive team. Most are enrolled in the District VI Cup Tournament. The August Ore Cart Classic had Boys U12s and Girls U12-U19. We always need help with running the tournament and require lots of volunteers. GCU remains self-sufficient with parents and teams shouldering the burdens of traveling teams expenses. 

 

Girls League: Our combining with the Auburn Youth Soccer Club has been keeping the girls rec league alive. We have had U10-U14 teams and hope to again next year. Parents prefer not to travel at this level of play, but serious players are keeping it going.

 

New Business: Volunteers are needed in every area of the league. A discussion of how to recruit and manage volunteers led to suggestions regarding mandatory parental participation, possibly charging parents a financial deposit or payment for services required, setting up a volunteer booth at registration, setting up call lists through coaches’ team parents, and appointing a board member to set up and run our volunteer program.

Uniforms: Because our uniforms became discontinued by the manufacturer, and replacement was inconsistent and improper- (sizing, colors,) we began switching to MLS jerseys. Teams were not assigned names and many teams used the MLS name and a teams selected name like the LA Dragons. Jerseys were based on flight placement and a need for a lack of conflicting colors. Samba Soccer has offered to do some swaps or assist in a swap shop set up. Although some complaints about the particular MLS team assignments occurred, most teams and coaches found the new uniforms to be positive. Many kids became aware of their MLS teams and professional players.

 

 

Proposals for change of Constitution, Bylaws, and/or general procedures and specific rules: None

 

Election of Board Of Directors: The three board members whose terms are expiring are: Jeff Moore, Dan Kumetat and Jim Oebker .Jim reran.  Two new candidates were Chuck Hemmert and Leslie Nemeth. Jim, Chuck and Leslie were elected.

 

Good of the game: Men’s World Cup is going to happening during our registration!

 

Meeting Adjourned 6:30pm.

 

Minutes submitted by Cathy Ivazes.