November 12, 2008 TASL MEETING MINUTES The regularly scheduled TASL meeting was held on November 12, 2008 with the following in attendance: Dorothy Morgan, Dave Dearborn, Teresa Phillips, Nan Beck, Ray Franklin (WBSC), Milt Cummings (SSC), Mike Davis (CSL), Dan Eaker (CUSC), Mike Williams (CUSA), Brian Francazio, Angela McCann (NYSL), Barry Scott (PSC), Mike Marston, Stacy Pauley, and Jill Wentzel (SYAA). President Dorothy Morgan called the meeting to order at 7:37pm. She asked that all introduce themselves and state club affiliation. Dorothy asked that the meeting minutes from the previous meeting be reviewed. She then asked for a motion to approve the minutes as corrected. Dave Dearborn made the motion and Brian Francazio seconded it. The motion carried. Dorothy asked Ray Franklin, Treasurer to review the financials. Ray stated that more money was spent for the fall season. He recommended that a standard rate for referee fees be established by TASL since there is too much inconsistency in payments. A review of the upcoming dates and deadlines included the following comments were made by Dorothy: Nan Beck, Secretary has reserved the conference room at Towne Bank at 137 Mt. Pleasant Road in Chesapeake for monthly meeting dates for 2009 except for the March meeting which will be held at Centura College on Greenbrier Parkway, Chesapeake. All meeting dates will be posted on the TASL website. Dave Dearborn, VP, Teresa Phillips, TASL Administrator, and Dorothy have been discussing spring schedule for several weeks. After discussion on the proposed schedule, number of regular season games, and rainout date options, the following schedule for Spring Season 2009 was approved. The season will extend from March 7th to May 10th which will include: Regular season games scheduled for March 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and April 4th, 18th, 25th Rainout dates for regular season games scheduled for March 22nd and April 19th Tournament games scheduled for May 2nd and 3rd. Rainout dates for tournament games scheduled for May 9th and 10th End-of-Season-Tournament (EOST) language needs to be changed to TASL Tournament since the tournament is part of the season and payment is for all games. All agreed and all were asked to make sure all club members understand that each team will get an average of ten games during the season, even with rainouts. There will be some doubleheaders and bye dates depending on divisions and will be determined after team declarations have been submitted. These teams will be able to request bye-dates but they must meet the deadline for these requests. Teresa announced the following dates: Team declarations are due on February 6th. The first part of the TASL meeting scheduled for February 11th, beginning at 6:30pm will be the competition meeting for seeding for spring season. The fees will be due to TASL by February 11th. The team roster freeze date will be on April 1st. Let Teresa know at this time if any players have dropped from the team roster. If there is any team personnel changes, Club Rep must notify Teresa of this also. The competition meeting for the tournament seeding will be held before the TASL meeting scheduled for April 8th. Dorothy continued with a few additional announcements. She stated that the request from other organizations to participate in the spring season will not be allowed due to the documentation already in place in the TASL handbook. However, they can ask for sponsorship from another voting member club. Dorothy will notify organizations of this. She also announced that the TASL meeting scheduled for December 10th will be the annual dinner meeting with member spouses and referee assignors. Everyone agreed to the date and the location suggested as Olive Garden in the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake. Dorothy asked Teresa to report on the rainout games. Teresa stated that many teams were played this past weekend while some will be played this upcoming weekend. There has been criticism from some coaches about playing rainouts after the EOST, stating that it is hard for some to field a team and it hurts those teams that want to play. Teresa requested that if there are any teams not planning to play this weekend, to let her know so referees will not be assigned to those games. There was a suggestion to allow them to play Friendlies with any players that show up. Dorothy asked for a review of the recent EOSL and began by commenting on the following: Concerns Site concerns: When Site Reps are in charge of a playing site, they should man their site at all times. Tents should be set up so people know where to check in, ask questions, and where match cards should be picked up and turned in. She stated she was very disappointed at the lack of man power at the tent/table location at all times. There were justifications given as to why the site area was not manned but her response to all was that things happen so plans need to be made ahead so this does not happen. She continued to state that the more TASL grows, the more TASL Reps need to be more visible. Her final comments on the subject request that all realize it is a concern and work toward a better solution. First Aid Kits: You must have these kits at all sites as stated in the TASL Handbook. Dorothy asked that all Club Reps remind their coaches that they should have a First Aid Kit with their team at all times. Notices for field changes: Put signs up on fields where field changes have been made. Be sure to notify Teresa of any changes made to field assignments. Equipment, field conditions, nets in poor condition, and goals secured are also things that need to be addressed. Dorothy continued by reminding everyone that information must flow both ways with the chain of command followed….coaches to Club Rep and not directly to the TASL Board since the club is responsible for their teams, not the TASL Board. Checking schedules should be automatic. The TASL Handbook posted on the website must be read and guidelines must be followed. Red Card procedures: Dan Eaker asked to speak on the topic since an incident had occurred that he was involved with in which a coach did not follow proper procedures for the suspension of a red card. A red card issued results in a player sitting out the next scheduled match. However, a situation developed where the next match was a forfeit and the coach thought that the forfeited match would serve the suspension. . Dorothy then stated that four professionals were polled to explain intent of red card. All stated that at the next scheduled match, the player who previously received the red card and is physically going to play, is when the player serves the suspension of the red card by sitting on the bench while his/her teammates are playing. Notification of the suspension may be by word of mouth but referees are supposed to get the information of the suspension to the referee assignor. However, TASL needs to establish a procedure so the representatives of clubs know where and how to get this information. Since all referees do not use MySoccerLeague, this information may not be available in the system. However, all red cards issued should be reported to Teresa. Teresa then suggested that clarification of a red card suspension be updated in the TASL handbook. Dorothy offered to bring wording for that to be presented at the January meeting. Referee concerns: Concerns were expressed that referee rates need to be consistent. Dorothy agreed that there needs to be one rate based on the age and the division of players and suggested that this topic be discussed at the January meeting. She asked Ray to put together a report of referee rates to present at the January meeting with a possible solution for this. Another issue addressed was the understanding by referees of who they are working for. Although, the referees are working for a club referee assignor, they are ultimately working for TASL so they are required to follow the rules in the handbook. The referees are getting paid for the job so they must follow the guidelines of their job. Dorothy asked that all Club Reps report the following information to their referee assignors: Referees must report red cards to their referee assignors and to the TASL Administrator. Referees cannot move to other sites from where they have been initially assigned unless the referee assignors are aware and have approved the move. Referees are to check team rosters and player cards. Even though TASL cannot make this mandatory, there needs to be a way to reward referees who are performing job tasks as requested by TASL. However, TASL is not allowed to reward them due to the non-profit status. Dorothy will plan to talk to each referee assignor to find out how TASL can help them, to find out their concerns, and how TASL can help improve as well. Several additional issues suggested to Dorothy for discussion included unqualified referees, referees being assigned matches with their friends and then horsing around with them during the matches, and young referees being assigned to matches with older players. One suggestion to solve these issues was to suggest to the referee assignor to reduce the number of games they are assigned to ref. Competition concerns: Dan Eaker explained that coaches do not understand the movement of teams between divisions for proper competition. There are not any seeding procedures in the TASL handbook that give a detailed explanation of this. Dan has put together some wording to be added to Section 501 to help with this. He will send it out electronically and will be discussed further at the January meeting. Other concerns: Dorothy asked for further suggestion and consideration on the "gentlemen rule" of playing down. She described a team from the fall season who had only ten team players on the team which required all the others teams to play down when competing with this team. Brian Francazio warned that the maximum number on the team should not be hurt by the team competing against a team in this situation since it would not be fair to their playing time. Unfinished Business: Dorothy asked for any unfinished business. Mike Williams asked that North Carolina receive a copy of the sanctioning documents approved by VYSA for the spring season as soon as possible. Dorothy stated that she and Matt Hinson, President of Chesapeake United will get that done right away since dates have already been determined. New Business: Dorothy asked for any new business but there was none With no new business, Dorothy asked for a motion to adjourn. Dan Eaker made the motion and Mike Davis seconded it. The meeting was adjourned at 9:52pm. Respectfully submitting, Nan Beck TASL Secretary