REGULAR MEETING - BOARD OF DIRECTORS
February 20, 2007

The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Youth Soccer Association, Inc., was called to order by President Denise Edwards at the Sheraton Richmond West at 7:00 pm. Board members present were:

Denise Edwards   President
Ray Greenberg      Vice President
Roger Underhill    Secretary
Bob Maynes           North Recreational Commissioner #1
Tom Gross            DC Recreational Commissioner
Ron Bedwell         Central Recreational Commissioner
Lorelle Myer          #1 VCCL Travel Commissioner
Anne Thompson  #2 WAGS Travel Commissioner
Debi Honaker       #6 NCSL Travel Commissioner

Board Members Jim Bonfils, Steve Bender, Matt Hinson, John Singleton, and Paul O’Connell were excused. Also present were Julie Caramanica (VYSA Administrator) and Gordon Miller (VYSA State Technical Director/ODP Chair).

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS BOARD MINUTES
A motion was made and seconded to approve the January 17, 2007, Board meeting minutes. The motion was approved.

TREASURER’S REPORT
The Treasurer’s Report (Attachment A) was distributed. The budget process will begin soon; finance committee meetings are set for April.

STATE ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
The State Administrator’s Report (Attachment B) was distributed. State Administrator Julie Caramanica listed clubs that have not yet submitted their data that was due Nov. 1. All clubs have been contacted several times. A motion was made and seconded to place those clubs listed in bad standing. The motion was approved.

Lynchburg United Soccer has requested a waiver that their rec teams be allowed to play teams from neighboring non-member organizations for the Spring, 2007 season, as there are not enough VYSA member teams. A motion was made and seconded to allow Lynchburg United Soccer to play non-member teams this Spring. The motion was approved.

The VYSA Workshop was a success. Julie thanked the Board of Directors for their participation and asked for their feedback. There was discussion regarding sessions and times. It was noted that the exhibitor show provides a large percentage of revenue for the workshop.

US Youth Soccer Workshop information was given to the Board members who plan to attend.

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Gordon Miller, VYSA Technical Director, reported that there is a full schedule of ODP events. The Virginia Beach Friendlies are this weekend. Other Region I states, regional teams, and North Carolina’s ODP teams, both boys and girls, will attend. College coaches from Virginia and North Carolina have been invited. SYRA Alan Liotta has arranged to use these games as training and instruction for referees.

Gordon noted that before returning to England after the Workshop, Mark Dempsey was offered a choice between a sight-seeing tour of the area and running an ODP outdoor training session. He chose to attend the ODP session at Striker Park. He also noted that Dan Friegang presented three sessions at the Workshop and has done several other training sessions around the state.

Several Coaching Education courses are scheduled for the coming weeks. A Coaching Education staff meeting was held at the VYSA Workshop.

Gordon will be conducting several Club clinics during March.

McLean will be hosting one-night clinics beginning in April. All are invited to these age group-specific clinics. Each features an appropriate age team and two instructors, one who works with the players and one who speaks to the coaches. These clinics are designed as continuing education for coaches who have their F certificates. A schedule for these clinics will be posted on the web site as soon as it is available.

Maryland Youth Soccer requires that all travel coaches have an E certificate by September 1st . Concern was expressed that Maryland coaches will flood the VYSA-subsidized courses. There was discussion about whether out-of-state coaches should pay a higher fee.

ADJUDICATION COMMITTEE REPORT
Ray Greenberg, Adjudication Committee Chair, distributed the Adjudication Committee Report (Attachment C). At a hearing for a player accused of referee abuse, the Adjudication Committee unanimously agreed that the player committed abuse and was not remorseful; he was suspended for one year. The player’s mother filed an appeal with USSF based on fact that her son is now sorry for his actions and that VYSA did not take into consideration his existing medical condition. No information about a medical condition was presented at the hearing. The USSF Appeals Committee remanded the case back to VYSA to hold a new hearing to review verifiable medical information and also to determine if the original suspension was consistent with previous decisions handed out by VYSA. A second hearing was scheduled and the player and his mother were notified. Neither attended the second hearing. Ray checked adjudication file history from 2002 to the present and determined that the one-year suspension was fair and consistent.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Denise Edwards noted that the Nominating Committee needs to be appointed next month. She asked Roger Underhill to report names at the March meeting.

USE OF MAILING LIST
Denise Edwards reported that VYSA and US Youth Soccer have received complaints regarding “People to People Ambassadors” mailings. People to People has used the VYSA mailing list to send letters to prospective players. People to People then encourages players and parents to believe they have been specially selected to go to Europe as ambassadors for soccer. A motion was made and seconded to no longer allow the use of the VYSA mailing list by “People to People”. The motion was approved.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Denise Edwards reported that the National League will begin in the Fall.

US Youth Soccer’s new awards are Girls and Boys Competitive Coach of the Year and Girls and Boys Rec Coach of the Year. It was noted that VYSA was timely in awarding the Rec Coach of the Year this year. Next year VYSA will award both a Boys and a Girls Rec Coach of the Year as well as the Boys and Girls Travel Coach of the Year.

GOOD OF THE GAME
Anne Thompson reported that a State Cup meeting was held at the Workshop, and discussion included how the State Cup schedule is affected by national testing and religious holidays. The consensus was to not allow any reason for rescheduling except inclement weather. Some Board members thought that if a certain number or certain percentage of players would miss a game the team should be allowed to reschedule. Others noted that some teams may circumvent those rules to their advantage. It was decided that the Seeding Committee present a proposal at next month’s Board meeting. A suggestion was made that Travel Commissioners get feedback from club reps.

Denise announced that Board members will break into committees after the March Board meeting as long as the agenda for the meeting is light.

NCSL has offered to sponsor any of its member clubs that would like to hold a Positive Coaching Alliance workshop. The only requirement is a guarantee of a minimum of 40 attendees.

Denise thanked the Board members for their participation in the Workshop.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:38 pm.
Prepared by
Julie Caramanica
VYSA Administrator

Next Board Meeting is March 21, 2007, at 7:00 pm at the Sheraton Richmond West.