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Sonoma Valley Youth Soccer Association

Minutes for the Board Meeting

7:00pm, September 2, 2009

At Common Bond. 172 West Napa Street, Sonoma

Directors Present (9):, Karen Cline, Vikki Griggs-Demmin Rick Hicks, Sam Honey, Teri Miller, Edwin Richards, Dino Rossini, Jim Van Sickle, Phylis Wakefield.

Absent: Antonio Alvarez, Jean-François Ducarroz, Lynn Abaté-Johnson, Deidre Verdu, Stacey Schoeningh, Mike Verdu

Also Present: Renee Caruso, Jennifer Rochlin, Greg Volker

Apologies: Jean-François Ducarroz, Lynn Abaté-Johnson, Stacey Schoeningh, Deidre Verdu, Mike Verdu

Public Comment

Phylis reported that at a recent U10G game, a shade canopy was blown onto the field by the wind. While shade canopies serve the obviously useful function of providing shade, they can be easily blown by a moderate gust of wind if they are not secured with stakes. Since the legs of shade canopies are usually made of metal, there is a potential for danger to people. Sam said he would send a general email reminding people to secure canopies with stakes.

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve the minutes for the August 5, 2009 Board Meeting proposed by Rick, seconded by Vikki. Carried without a dissenting vote.

Mission Moment

Martin Chourre, coach of the U12G, had made some comments to U12 AGC Dave Diamond. Dave had forwarded these to the Officers for circulation to the Board. The Secretary read the comments to an appreciative Board:

“I want to comment on Opening day and the league in general. I am very impressed with the forward progress this league has made since I was coaching my kids 8-10 years back. There is so much more going on, from new bathrooms, new fields, better equipment, all the way to competitive select teams, etc…  Generally much more professionalism and dedication.  Kudos to the new board to having overcome the divisiveness of the last few years to emerge stronger and united in cause.  Keep up the good work!”

President’s Remarks

Sam reported that by all accounts Opening Day (August 22) had gone well. The second day had started awkwardly as all the goals had been put away on Saturday evening, which had apparently been unexpected. However things were sorted out and games went ahead with goals in place.

Sam thanked everybody for their support following the death from cancer of his ex-wife, Liz. Fifty to sixty people had attended the funeral, after which they had returned to Sam’s house to find food had been laid on for them. People had turned up throughout the evening and it had been a grateful celebration of Liz’s life. Sam reported that in the last months of her life, Liz had shown a very positive attitude to her situation and had strengthened the bonds of her relationship with their daughter, Michelle. Liz’s attitude had left Sam feeling very upbeat.

Vice President’s Remarks

On Sunday August 30 at the High School East field, two players had been injured in a U14G game. The ambulance had been called, but had initially been unable to get onto the field. It had not been obvious who was in charge or who had a set of keys. The situation emphasized the need to have somebody “in charge” at all times, with a set of keys to open access to emergency vehicles. It was resolved that Sam and Vikki would work together to come up with an emergency plan.

Vikki also reported the following feedback from Tom Young (Waste Management), Gaudencio Beceril (Field Preparation) and Todd Kneeland (Recycling).

Tom wanted a universal key for the locks used to secure goalposts when not in use. The various goals were now locked with different keys. Jim explained that Greg Volker (Equipment Manager) had originally purchased locks openable with a common key, but over time various locks had gone missing, necessitating their replacement. The replacement locks came with different keys. Jim suggested that Greg purchase re-keyable locks so in the invent locks went missing in the future, all locks could be re-keyed, keeping a universal locking system in place.

Tom also asked that people not move trash containers from where he had placed them. He used his experience to place trash cans in optimum positions to maximize their use. When people, for whatever reasons, relocated the trash cans, the amount of litter dropped increased.

Todd Kneeland requested that people not move recycling containers, he would do that.

Sam undertook to send an email to everybody requesting that they not move garbage or recycling containers.

Tom and Gaudencio requested that goals not be put away after the final games on Saturdays, since they had to be moved back into position first thing Sunday. Their request included leaving pugs out also (pugs are the small goals used for U6 games). The board felt that if the pugs were left out, there was a high risk of theft and therefore insisted that the pugs be put away. It was agreed that the other goals could be left in place, though Jim warned that there could be interference with these.

It was also reported that three signs encouraging fair play had been stored overnight in a ditch. Since there was a risk of theft, it was agreed that these signs be placed in the storage room at the end of each game day. Since the signs were being deployed for the first time this season, protocol concerning their use had not been clearly defined. Where should they be placed and who should put them away?

Phylis remarked that in Stockton, where she had been involved with soccer prior to moving to Sonoma, the coach who had the last game of the day had the responsibility of putting things away. The field at Adele was furthest away from the equipment shed, but needed to have a sign. It was resolved that Sam would email the first and last (home) coach of the day at Adele and ask that they be responsible for set up and collection of all signs.

Bathrooms – Vikki reported that on game days she and her husband had been opening and locking up the new permanent bathrooms next to the track at the High School. They had also been cleaning the bathrooms up at the end of the day and had provided additional toilet paper. She said she had left a message for Paul Tuohy (Deputy Principal at the High School) to enquire about what the High School’s plan was for cleaning the toilets. Regarding the toilet paper, it was noted that Vikki should be reimbursed from the equipment fund. It was remarked that the Porta-potties, which the League pays for, were on a twice-weekly cleaning schedule.

Codes of Conduct - Vikki had earlier emailed the board copies of the Codes of Conduct for Select Teams which she had compiled following extensive discussion of the codes by the Select Committee. There were three Codes of Conduct: one for players, one for coaches and one for parents. She presented them to the board for review.

Phylis suggested that the Code for Coaches add a clause to emphasize the responsibility coaches had to develop the whole team. The following addition was suggested:

Coaches are responsible for developing the team as a whole as well as the skills of individual players.

A clause concerning the coach’s responsibility to back up parents was explained (e.g. if the parent has, for disciplinary reasons, forbidden their child to play in a game, the coach was to support the parent and not allow the child to play).

The use of alcohol by coaches and parents was clarified. Alcohol was not to be used between games played on the same day, but could be consumed after an appropriate interval following the final game of the day (e.g. at a team meal in the evening, if the team is out of town at a tournament), even though there were games the following day. The idea was to say that it was okay for adults to consume alcohol in the presence of children provided they did so responsibly and after the day’s games had finished (and of course, not at the field of play), but that it was not okay to consume alcohol between games on the same day. Coaches could ask adults associated with their team not to consume alcohol at any time when players were present if they so wished.

Karen remarked that there was no compulsion in the code for select coaches to specifically attend a referee course, although this had been a policy. It was explained that the referee course requirement was covered by the stipulation that coaches attend “any required courses.”

A motion to accept all three codes of conduct with the three changes noted above was proposed by Phylis, seconded by Jim and carried unanimously.

Secretary’s Report

Edwin remarked that at August’s Board Meeting, the order of the agenda had been changed during the meeting for various reasons. He had tried to make sure all items were covered, but one item had been overlooked: “Volunteer and Hotline Update.” An unfortunate consequence of this had been that it had not emerged that no one was checking the hotline. In response to a query from Renee (Registrar), Edwin had checked the hotline in late August and found it had 49 messages on it. Most of these messages had been left early in the month and concerned issues that had been resolved in one way or another. Edwin had tried to resolve some of the outstanding issues and had referred some of the other outstanding issues to Renee, the Registrar.

At the June Board Meeting it had been decided to try to get people who had volunteer hours to fulfill to check the hotline, and Edwin, who had been doing that job until then, stopped. However, volunteers had not been found. The list of volunteers contains lots of names and contact information, but it’s difficult to gauge who would be suitable to check hotline messages just by looking at the names.

Edwin said he would check the hotline through the end of November. It was suggested that since most of the pressing issues on the hotline concerned registration issues, it might be an idea to put in the registrar’s contract that the registrar checked the hotline. The registrar was not present at the time the suggestion was made.

Edwin reported that Mara Lee Ebert had emailed the suggestion of starting a banner inventory and database, whereby team banners would be stored at the end of the year and reused the following season by other teams with the same name. This was felt to be a good idea. The question of whether banners could be stored in the equipment shed was raised, although not resolved, because Greg was intending to make sure all balls and cones were handed back in at season’s end; since these would be stored in the equipment shed, space might be at a premium. Alternative storage locations for any banners collected were not discussed.

As an FYI, the Secretary noted the emailed suggestion from Nicole Ducarroz that the SVYSA appoint an Athletic Director.

The Secretary said that Lynn had wanted him to raise the point that the T-Shirts for coaches had been very well received. There was general agreement that this had been the case.

Coaching Coordinator’s Report

Mike being absent, Dino spoke on his behalf. Two sessions designed to help coaches had been held. At the first session on August 23, 25-30 coaches had shown up. They had been given demonstrations of various drills and had been handed out a packet of drills that they could incorporate into their training sessions. Feedback from attendees had been very positive. Attendance fell for the second session, with only seven coaches showing up, but it was felt to have been a successful event. It was suggested that next year, the sessions could be spread further apart. That way coaches might come with more questions to the second session. Greg said it was a brilliant idea to focus on coaches.

Registrar’s Report (including AGC Feedback)

Renee reported that a total of 1,242 children had been registered with the SVYSA to date. Some children were withdrawing. Renee estimated the final net count would be about 1,230 children. So far, $110,206 had been collected in registration fees. There had also been $985 worth of general donations and $1,235 of scholarship donations. Renee asked if there was a point at which we say there are no more registrations. She was told it was her (i.e. the registrar’s) decision.

AGC Feedback

Renee had invited AGCs (Age Group Coordinators) to give her feedback on their work. She passed this on to the board.

1. Player Assignment System

Players had been assigned to teams via mass assignment (i.e. by the computer in a random process). Nevertheless some coaches told their AGCs that they had been given a preponderance of less skilled players. The League 1 software used by the SVYSA assigns players via last name. Player rankings aren’t entered into the program. It was speculated that League One could add a function enabling players to be sorted by rank. In the past coaches had been asked to complete player evaluations (assigning each player a ranking of 1 through 4). There were problems with the system – not all coaches filled out their ranking sheets and the ranking methodology wasn’t entirely satisfactory. In addition players who hadn’t played the previous year didn’t have a rank. There was consensus that some form of ranking system should be adopted for age groups U10 or U12 and upwards. If teams could then by assigned via computer then that would be helpful, but it would also be possible to have AGCs implement a draft system using the rankings.

2.  Information Flow

The theoretical flow of information was Registrar to AGC to coach to parent to player and vice versa (often from parent on up). Renee felt that sometimes getting the AGC involved was more trouble than it was worth, since the Registrar was often the only one able to solve the problem. In practice the AGC was sometimes left “out of the loop” as parents or coaches directly approached the Registrar or the President. It was agreed that the AGC needed to be informed about issues concerning their age group; if Renee or Sam were approached directly by a coach or parent, they would cc AGCs via email.

3. Do Everything Sooner

Everybody seemed to want things to happen sooner – coach recruitment, player allocation, equipment hand out, team parent meeting. In particular it was suggested that team parents be pre-allocated and rosters be handed out at the parent meeting.

In order for everything to happen earlier, registration would need to start and be finalized sooner. Renee noted that 119 players (roughly one tenth of the total) registered late, i.e. after the May 31 deadline. It was suggested that walk-in registrations start a month earlier (some time in March), although it was recognized that some people would want to register late for legitimate reason, for example moving newly into the area. The basic conflict was between wanting to get things set up early for administrative efficiency and wanting to let every child who wanted to play soccer do so.

Renee noted that select teams were the first teams she had to register since their season started earlier. Some select team coaches were late in getting team rosters to the registrar. This is problematic, because in League One, players are grouped by age group, with players of all levels (D1/D3/D4) pooled together.  Only after D1 and D3 players have been placed in their respective teams can the League One system mass assign the remaining players to D4 teams. Some of this delay can be explained by the fact that CYSA limits the number of player changes to rosters once teams have been registered. Select teams have long seasons and sometimes players drop out and need to be replaced, coaches don’t want to limit their options to change rosters any more than they have to. Having paperwork (1601s) available at select try-outs might be slightly helpful in getting players to register, but wouldn’t help with team registration. It was remarked that US Club is more practical than CYSA over team registration.

(337 players tried out for select teams and 234 of these were successful.)

4. Safety and responsibility Issues

The referee is responsible for player safety and can enforce a water break. Coaches are responsible for parents, who are supposed to stand in designated areas (close to the coach, near the halfway line, not behind the goals). Greg Volker had sent an email to U10B coaches telling them that they were responsible for the behavior of player parents.

Bookkeeper’s Report

Jennifer reported that she had been doing a fair amount of “cleaning up” of the SVYSA accounts in Quickbooks. Financial reports had been distributed to the relevant select teams. She was awaiting confirmation from teams that the balances were correct. Once she had heard from everybody, she would make the final adjustment to the accounts. She stressed that she did not want to make more than one final adjustment. Dino asked Jennifer to send him list of outstanding issues and he and Jim would contact the relevant select teams to get things taken care of. A number of those present asked Jennifer team specific questions about the accounts.

Risk Management Update

Phylis said she would follow up with Deidre regarding the dates of scheduling Jeff of We Print You to give a talk on risk management.

Fields & Insurance Update

Rick reported that all requested fields had been obtained and that the schedule of availability should be on website (it was).

Greg would write to Teresa (Sonoma Developmental Center) telling her what improvements he would like to make (on the SVYA’s behalf) to the John Mesa field there.

Vikki suggested making other fields the priority. Altimira School has stopped watering the grass and the High School will cease watering soon, apparently. (There is a drought and everybody is being urged to save water.) Dry fields were hard and there was a risk of player injury. It was speculated that some visiting select teams might refuse to play.

Absent significant rain, the possible solutions were to pay for water to be brought in to irrigate the grass or to pay for a proper well to be drilled. (It was noted that there was a well at Adele, but the water it produced was not safe to use.) Greg said he would investigate the cost of trucking in water and the amount that would be needed to irrigate the fields.

Regarding the use of Maxwell it was suggested that Tom Young might be able to persuade the (County) Parks people to move the goals further apart (the field there is currently considered too small).

Insurance

It was noted there had been some player and coach injuries recently. The correct procedure is for the coach to submit injured player (or injured coach) reports directly to CYSA.

Select Coaching Coordinators’ Report

Nothing additional to report.

Volunteer Update

It was again noted that there were many volunteers who had pledged hours in exchange for scholarships. There were lots of volunteers listed, there was a need for volunteers, but coordinating them was a huge task. Karen remarked that in the past the volunteer list had never been satisfactorily coordinated either. It was concluded that the SVYSA volunteer list was available, if people wanted to use the list to recruit volunteers for SVYSA tasks they could use it. If not all people who had volunteer hours to use were actually called upon, that was considered okay. It was just the way things were.

Any Other Business

Greg reported that Martin Munson donated material and labor to fabricate stakes to secure goal nets. Those present expressed their gratitude for Martin’s work.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned some time between 9.30 and 10.00 p.m.

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