Minutes of the VASC Board Meeting - February 24, 2003

Present: Jeff Petersen, Mary Buckman, Scott Clement, Dan Nuthals, Brenda Schmidt, Mary Mattison.

ALL TEAMS MUST BE REPRESENTED AT A MEETING ON THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 7:00, VERONA PUBLIC LIBRARY

Summer 2003 Soccer Camps:
There will be two camps offered this summer in conjunction with the VASC. Wisconsin Soccer Academy will do a camp as well as Capitol Soccer Camp. The average number of players that want to go to camp in this area is 75-100 and the club received an inquiry about doing a third camp. It was agreed that the Verona area could not support a third camp. Brenda Schmidt will represent the club at the Summer Information Fair at the Verona Public Library, March 18th, 4:00-6:30pm. MAYSA will provide brochures to hand out and Brenda will offer information on the VASC.

Manager Training Meeting:
There was discussion about having a one time managers' meeting so managers understand what it is they need to do. When teams submit registration materials, new managers will be noted so that they can be contacted.

Premier Fields:
Andy Slawek reports many things are in place for the premier fields. The repairs and updates will take place in April. Tim Sweeney of Sweeney Construction has offered to donate the use of his equipment and manpower to help regravel the parking lot. Thank you! Dan Nuthals is looking into what we need for benches and will check into pricing and bring that information back to the next meeting.

Footskills:
The clinics continue to go well and are receiving good feedback. Note: the footskills clinic on Fri, 2/28, was cancelled due to Savannah Oaks not being unlocked as promised. The club is hoping to arrange a makeup of this clinic. MAKE UP DATE WILL BE FRIDAY APRIL 4TH AT SAME TIMES.

MAYSA AGM Meeting:
There was the Annual General Meeting of MAYSA on February 22 where small-sided games were discussed for the U11-U12 group for the 2003-2004 season. Some areas in Minnesota and Illinois are already doing this. This would involve another field size and possibly different size goals to accomodate the change. This is something the Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association (WYSA) may be pushing for along with smaller fields at the U8 level. It appears that small-sided U11 will be mandated in Fall of 2003, with small-sided U12 to begin in Fall of 2004. Starting in the fall of 2003 MAYSA will schedule eight games/season. The season will start after Labor Day and end by the teachers' convention in October. Fees will stay the same. This will give teams the opportunity to play in more tournaments and fit better into the school year.

Effective August 2003 the following licenses are needed by head and assistant coaches:
U6-U12 G license
U13-U14 E license
U15-U19 D license
There are four dates blocked out in August for coaches to obtain the G license. The state is talking about issuing coach's passes. This plan would include recreational teams, too. The VASC plans on sending out information on these changes about once/month to remind coaches of the licenses they must have. Verona is looking into hosting local training in August.

The new MAYSA board members that were elected are David Weisbecker, Watertown; Diana Horton-Williams, Magic; Rob Summers, Regent; and Ben John, Yahara.

The age exemption policy was discussed. This makes it possible for a player to play down a grade level if no team is available at his own age. This happens sometimes in smaller clubs. It must be initiated by a parent and the child must be playing at the rec level and be in the same grade level as his teammates. The individual's club must hold the documentation of this, but MAYSA reserves the right to call up that documentation.

Further changes in the player transfer policies were discussed. Specific changes will be articulated at the club meeting on March 13th.

The referee pay scale will increase in the fall of 2003. Following is the new pay scale.
U7 and U8 - no ref is needed
U9 and U10 increases from $12 to $15
U11 and U12 increases from $15 to $20
U13 and U14 increases from $20 to $25

The Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association has put together a half hour video tape on how to deal with overzealous parents. Massachusetts has not committed to mass producing the tape yet, but the VASC is hoping to possibly get it aired on local access stations. Those that saw it said it was a wonderful video from all standpoints - player, coach, ref.

Regent voted to approve in house U9 teams. This means next year U7, U8 and U9 will be playing club soccer. The in house league will probably be run by Magic. There will be a slight money savings for these teams since there will be reduced MAYSA fees. The teams will be a mix of boys and girls. The fields that will be used are behind Chavez Elementary and the West Town fields that are located behind ChiChi's on the west side of Madison.

The tryout dates have been set. The specific tryout grid will be posted on the MAYSA website.

A scholarship request for the 2002-2003 season was accepted and approved.

Brochures for the event are going to Park Printing. Wording for radio spots need to be written before April. They will air two weeks before registrations are due. Mary Mattison has agreed to write the initial ads. Brochures will also be provided to the radio stations so they have more information.

Classic Teams, A and B versus Parity:
The board discussed a situation that has come up with a two classic teams at the same age group and whether these teams should be split into an A and a B team or whether they should be left as is. After much discussion, it was decided a final decision should wait until the coaching director could be present.

Web Site:
Andy has suggested that we show off all of our players by getting pictures of our teams on the veronasoccer.org web site. Andy and Mary M. will try to visit every team this spring to get pictures. These will not necessarily be team pictures, but may be action shots. No names of players will be printed. If you have digital pictures to share, please email them to and be sure to state the team name and level (U9) and they will be posted online. The club is also hoping to update the web site in the near future to make it more user friendly.

The VASC is still looking to fill the positions of Vice President, Youth Director and Volunteer Coordinator. The youth director position may be split so that each person is handling fewer players.

• March 13 (Thurs.), 7:00pm - Spring managers meeting with spring schedules handed out - Verona Public Library, lower level
• March 24 (Mon), 7:00pm - VASC monthly meeting, one week later due to schedule conflicts - Junction House
• May 10 - VASC dance with Moondance - Wildcat Lanes, upstairs

Next meeting is Monday, March 24, 7:00pm, Verona Public Library

Submitted by Mary Mattison, Secretary