Board Meeting
October 12, 2006 Minutes


Meeting Called to Order by Sophia Meyer at 6:30pm.
Roll Call: Sophia Meyer, Thomas Breiter, Steve Langley, Dan Vielhauer, Steve Schaffer, Jim Oebker, Cathy Ivazes, Sandi Zadjeck.
District Meeting: Issue regarding league and district registrars’ pay status discussed.
League Business and Correspondence: A child who would like to be a recreation player has requested to join a team with only 4 weeks left in the season. Due to the lateness of the request, it will have to be denied.
Apparently, some coaches have been allowing kids who are not on their teams to play on their teams on game day. No child my play for two teams. A message will be sent out to coaches stressing the penalties to coaches and players caught cheating in this way.
A recreational player was supposedly injured in a game and the coach didn’t know until much later that the parents took the child to the hospital the next day. Coaches need to use the injury paperwork CYSA provides if any player gets injured during soccer activities. Coaches need to let the league know in a timely fashion so we can get the insurance paperwork started.
It’s time to set the dates and start planning for the AGM. The date selected is November 12th, 2006. We will reserve the Superintendent of Schools office and post the time soon.
Dogs: We have a problem with people bringing their dogs, on and off leashes, to practices and especially games. No dogs are allowed on the fields we use. Coaches must be responsible and police their own teams. This should not be a referee job and there are not enough board members to police every field. Although it is already posted around the fields and schools, posting more signs, like universal No signs, might help as well.
Referees: In 2006, 35 people took the referee class. Of the 20 who ref for us, 15-16 are regular referees. . We have five more who returned from last year. We need 46 referees per weekend. Many young referees are getting too comfortable with the two man system and not stepping up to center a three man system. A suggestion was made to offer some sort of monetary incentive like college bond money, to young referees as many have left for better pay, etc. A suggestion was made to advertise in the Union classifieds. Because we need more referees than we can gather this year, we will follow past policy and have coaches or parents referee the U6 and U8 games, receiving payment as would any other referee. These coaches need whistles added to their coaching packets next year.
Fields: The coaches helping with equipment set up and tear down has been working well at most fields. U8 and U12 fields had some errors. We need a scheduler for our field volunteers. So far, coaches have been covering for each other.
Metro: The trainers “CLEATS” are doing OK with clinics and training.
District Cup applications should all be ready to send to the tournament coordinator in District VI. Our U19 girls metro team is asking to host District Cup.
We are having problems at the metro training field, Sierra College field especially during Saturday’s rec and metro games. Signs are posted asking people to stay off the hillside, but we need to again ask our coaches to please ask their team families not to allow their children to play there. Also, soccer players are kicking balls up the hill and we are going to be charged for erosion damage by Sierra College. We need to be proactive on this issue stopping this erosion problem now.
Coaches: There have been a couple of red cards, all handled by the PAD committee. Parents and coaches need more education about this process.
Registrar: Sierra Auto Body is trying to raise money for a charter school. They would like to try to do a small concessions stand at the U6 and/or U8 field, with board approval. Some teams have tried this in the past and have lost money, but this particular kids non-profit group is welcome to try at this time. GCYSL assumes no responsibility for this group.
Secretary: Had the chance to visit a smaller very rural CYSA league and shared some of the lessons from this league. It is all volunteer with very few certified and paid referees, and all coaches must be able and willing to referee their games, do field set up, take down and maintenance. All rec league kids, U6-U19, must be willing to drive an hour to away games. All coaches are given a referee whistle at the coaches’ meeting. Thus coaches and parents must start to referee, etc. or kids cannot play. All leagues are run by volunteers, especially small rural leagues who face multiple challenges. The size of our league is in between this and larger leagues in the greater Sacramento area. As a board we have been struggling with getting help and we need to seek more help in our area. We need to be able to ask more of our coaches than some leagues, but luckily less than others. Thankfully, most of our coaches have been able to help without complaint.
Website: Our site needs to reflect which fields are open/closed for practices as well as games. We are still covering air quality even though the local forest fires are over now.
New Business: Camp bids need to be updated.
Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm.

Minutes submitted by Cathy Ivazes.
 

 

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