June 17, 2009 TASL MEETING MINUTES The regularly scheduled TASL meeting was held on June 17, 2009 with the following in attendance: Dorothy Morgan (CSL), Dave Dearborn (NUSC), Teresa Phillips (NYSL), Ray Franklin (WBSC), Barbara Kester (CSL), Allison Milam (WBSC), Jimmy Holland (PSC), Don Luzzato (SYAA), Milt Cummings (SSC), Taekwan Hodges (AYSO), Mandi Harris (CUSC), Richard Brooks (SYAA), Jill Wentzel (SYAA), Stacy Pauley (SYAA), Michael Williams (CUSA), Robert Tucker Jr (SSC), Brian Francazio (NYSL), Crystal Allen (NYSL), Scott Truesdale (Carolina), Mario Hoffman (EEL), Ryan Haggerty (EEL), Tara Harbour (CSC), and Barry Scott (CSC). President Dorothy Morgan called the meeting to order at 7:40pm. She introduced guest, Denise Edwards, VYSA President who came to speak about the upcoming VYSA elections. She asked that all clubs with VYSA membership support their club's VYSA Rep, attending the meeting and/or make sure they assign someone as their proxy. There is no deadline for proxy - fax copy to state office (703)551-4114 or bring to meeting. She also provided proxy forms to be handed out should anyone like to take one. The floor was then open for discussion for people to ask questions of Denise: Goal Safety - Due to the death of a child, goal safety has been a focus of VYSA. A policy is being finalized and all clubs/organizations will be notified shortly of the new mandatory policy regarding goal safety. She suggested clubs have a meeting to go over how to anchor goals and review the policy with their staff. Lightning is another safety issue. VYSA is also discussing rules and guidelines for lightening safety and storm safety in general. A policy will all be in place hopefully by August. There are concerns of players playing up more than one year. Playing up two years tends to be alright in Rec but it should be based on the player's ability. Consideration should focus on if can they play up and compete at that higher level. However, sometimes parents and coaches push sibling issues and player development. You should ask the following questions….. Will the child be overwhelmed with emotional and physical development? Would you want your child exposed to these differences at higher levels? Can they fit in emotionally and physically for the entire year? Some players have to play up due to the number of players available. Dorothy stated that TASL takes all of this into consideration and follow these guidelines. Coaches are asked to explain and get parents to understand. Dorothy asked if there were any other questions. No one had any further questions at the time. Dorothy then thanked Denise for her time. Denise thanked everyone again and left. Dorothy introduced Bob Roth, TASL webmaster and stated she had invited him to speak about the TASL website. No one is tired of the current website but Bob suggested updating the look since it has been the same for two years and feels it is getting stale. Bob referred to a graph for the number of hits for the website. He stated that it is not Google or eBay but pointed out it is a pretty good number of hits for what is presented for soccer on behalf of TASL. He pointed out that the absolute biggest problem is a lack of people submitting to the web site. ALL clubs have been instructed that TASL uses a revolving picture system and would like to add more pictures from each club of their teams. This way they can be added to the revolving pictures. He asked that any related information - classes, community news, etc. be sent to him for posting. Submit the information to Dorothy, Teresa or Nan o be sent to Bob for posting. He continued to state that websites should give the user value and a reason to be there. He asked for ideas no idea on what a new website should look like. Suggestions from Bob: Blog. Someone in TASL would have to be moderator of blog, keep content pure to soccer and someone to respond to blog. Information about events, camps, clinics, training techniques from each club to dump on web site as content pages about member clubs. Would like to add a blurb on each club (as long as the club agrees). We are entering 5th year of web site and this site is 2nd generation, he does not go off to solicit info, and would rather TASL come to him. Dorothy asked Bob for a timeline to put ideas together. Bob recommend a month. Mario Hoffman, Club Rep from East End Legacy stated that being a new guy, when he looked at the site, he saw U-9 and was not sure of level he was looking at so maybe an explanation of TASL on the front page of the website about being Advanced level of play would be helpful than going to each tab. He also stated that as a parent looking for camps, this would be free advertisement for clubs on the site. There could be a link to each club for further information. A complaint is that contact info is not available such as cell phone numbers for the coaches.. There was discussion on making a secured section for coaches. It was stated that minimum info is allowed on the site but Bob cannot add more than what a coach gives TASL. It was pointed out that everything runs through Club Reps and not like Virginia Soccer League where they contact coaches. This protects the kids and us. There has been talk about a secure site within our site for coach's info. Dorothy recommended that Bob plan to come back to the August 12th meeting and bring ideas to that meeting. She asked everyone in TASL to give feedback by July 3rd including basic ideas, functionality, look, and feel of sites. Any other questions should be sent to Dorothy. Dorothy asked Ray Franklin, Treasurer to review the financials. He reviewed the budget worksheet that was handed out at the meeting. He reported that two clubs had submitted ref fees late which threw off the previous numbers. This was not an issue as far as the budget was concerned and that monies were fairly on track. It is a concern that all clubs were instructed to have all bills in and all referees paid no later than May 30th, 2009. He then asked for any questions but there were none. Dorothy asked Ray to put together a projected budget for one year to be presented and voted on at the July meeting. There was then discussion on the baseline structure for referee fees. Ray explained that there were six referee assignors, stating the reason for this and also stating that all have something different; thus, making it hard to do budget. TASL has been discussing this since its inception. The goal is to come up with one set of referee pay scale that TASL will pay to each assignor hired by TASL participating clubs for assignment of referees for TASL games. Ray needed a baseline to set a fee so he used U19 which is the highest paid. He broke it down this way- 90 minutes divided into pay $1.00 a minute - each age group took (U-10) 50 minutes divided by half rounded to 25- 1 man center gets half - AR gets half divided by 2. U-12 60 minutes $60, $1.00 per min break down. Dave - Center referee should get 60% for center worried number is lower than any assignor pays referee. Dorothy pointed out that North Carolina pay scale is lower than any other assignor in TASL so TASL needs to be economically minded and user friendly. Ray's opinion was that for some clubs we pay too much for Referees. Dorothy pointed out that there must be a happy median somewhere? Dorothy pointed out that Ray, as TASL Treasurer, had presented a proposal. The discussion was dragging on and with no agreement in sight Dorothy pointed out that Ray should have some help. It was decided to review the information Ray had presented, further, and to combine what was best and most feasible for a fee structure. Dave suggested helping and to look at whether or not TASL should propose a reimbursement rate or just set rate per division. Don with SYAA asked if we penalize an assignor for a ref that does not show. Mario with Legacy East End suggested using a standard business model, you pay for the service. Dorothy then reminded everyone that the Assignors contract with each club, not with TASL directly, but are by default bound to TASL rules and guidelines and that this could also include a reimbursement rate but that any differences would have to be worked out between the club and the Assignor. It was further discussed that there needs to be a set breakdown for a center ref and a line ref but Dave pointed out that a man hour fee is standard. Several questions arose to address if TASL had ever had a meeting with any referee assignors. A few years ago TASL met with TSRA but it did not work with all clubs. Then TASL went and looked at other assignors and all clubs would not agree to one assignor so all clubs stated they would provide an assignor as had been previously done. Dorothy pointed out that the discussion was taking a long time so she asked Ray and Dave to meet to come up with a proposal to set a fee structure as a fair amount and will bring this proposal back to the July meeting. Some clubs may then have to readjust their agreement with the assignor. It was suggested that a third person help out. Teresa Phillips, TASL Administrator will help. Ray and Dave will send their proposal to her within a week. Dorothy reminded everyone all of the following: Clubs need to adhere to TASL deadlines, stressing that this is very important! Come to the declaration meeting with all necessary information. Make sure everyone knows TASL requires correct rosters with all information included. All information is in the TASL handbook and all Reps, Coaches, Assistants, Players and Parents should know it. Ignorance of the rules and guidelines or failing to read the handbook/manual is not an excuse for violation of the rules and guidelines. This holds everyone accountable for the safety of the kids and to enjoy and love the game. Unfinished Business: Dorothy asked for discussion on the following issues that were left over from the last meeting: Limits on bye requests - Dave Dearborn, Vice President suggested one per season. He then made a motion for one bye request per season per team and Jimmy seconded the motion. It carried. Dorothy stated that this will appear as an addendum - 1 bye request per team per season - in the TASL Handbook. Teresa asked what the penalty would be for more than one request. Dave stated that teams can ask for two but only one will be approved and the other will not. That is now the TASL policy. It was also pointed out that if a team misses a game there is a $75 penalty and the team should be charged. This is all in the TASL Handbook. All bye requests are to be in by competition committee meeting and no later. Lack of participation at meetings - It was pointed out that there is not any information specifically stated in the TASL by-laws concerning this. Dave asked if it was being addressed to put in the by-laws. Dorothy stated that she had discussed the issue with individual clubs but was asking for any comments? It was pointed out that Teresa addressed this at the last meeting because a lot of members were not present to help make policies and help run TASL. It was stated in last minutes. Barbara Kester recommended it be tabled to next month's meeting in July. Brian Francazio agreed and suggested ideas be brought to next meeting. New Business: Dorothy asked for new business and the following was introduced: Ryan Haggerty, representative from East End Legacy asked about having home games at Hines Middle School. Dorothy explained that in accepting their club for participation in TASL, it was agreed that teams from Churchland, Western Branch, Suffolk, Smithfield and Portsmouth would agree to travel to you and others would meet at a mid-point. The plan was intended to make less travel for all. Mario then asked if they would be responsible for home game referees or if there was another club they could tag onto or do they have to have our own? Dorothy suggested talking to Smithfield for Referee Assignor contact due to proximity. Mario also stated that they had asked for two teams to play in TASL but, what if they have a U10 team, what would the deadline be? He was told that July 1st is the TASL deadline but TASL would have to approve the additional team since Legacy East End is in their probationary status and that is outside of their initial approved declaration. Dorothy reviewed the nominations for the elections. She stated the following nominations had been made and also stated if they have been accepted or declined: Dorothy Morgan, President - accepted nomination Milt Cummings, VP - declined nomination Nan Beck, Secretary - accepted nomination Teresa Phillips, TASL Administrator - accepted nomination She then asked if there were any nominations for vice president. There were none from the floor until Dorothy nominated Dave Dearborn for the position. He accepted the nomination. She pointed out that the position of Treasurer is not open. Ray Franklin has another year to serve his term in that position. She asked for any other nominations. There were none so the nominations process was closed. She then asked for a motion for one vote for the entire slate as no one was running opposed. Jimmy Holland made the motion and Brian seconded it. It carried. All voting members then voted for the officers with one abstention, none opposing and the remaining voting members approving. Barbara Kester abstained on behalf of Churchland Soccer League. The new Slate of Officers were announced as: Dorothy Morgan, President Dave Dearborn, VP Nan Beck, Secretary Teresa Phillips, TASL Administrator Ray Franklin, completing his term as Treasurer Dorothy then stated that TASL needs more people to get involved and be ready to fill shoes in two years. She thanked everyone for their dedication to their clubs and to TASL. With no more new business, Dorothy asked for a motion to adjourn. Milt Cummings made the motion and Brian seconded it. The meeting was adjourned at 9:24pm. Respectfully submitting, Nan Beck, TASL Secretary