Meeting of September 9, 2002
Board of Directors Meeting
Northboro Fire Station
The meeting began at 7:19 p.m.
Board Members Present: Bob Kody, Darrell Lemmerman, Mike Proctor, Mike Turpin, John Courtney, Kim Miller, Carol Sexton, Ian Wallace and Brian Lanciault.
Board Members Absent: Janine Colleran, Angela Rose, Joan Clowes, Len Spencer, and Don Miller.
Minutes: Brian motioned to accept August 2002 minutes. Carol seconded. All in favor.
Secretary’s Report: Kim reported that the MYSA final certification for the fall 2002 is due October 8th and she will get the final numbers from Janine and John.
Kim reported that the NYSA Annual meeting needs to be held in October. It was decided to schedule an early October date to hand out spring registrations as well as vote on board positions.
Kim stated that the Northboro special Olympic/unified team is doing well.
League Updates
Assabet: Kim reviewed, for Janine, the number of Assabet players per age group and per gender. It was reported that there were numerous schedule changes in the Assabet league schedule and a concern was raised whether the changes were getting to coaches and referees in time. This will be researched to determine if any problems have occurred.
Nashoba: Darrell reported that he is still working on making the system for the Nashoba score reporting more efficient.
Treasurer’s Report: Brain reviewed the treasurer’s report for August. A question arose regarding a bill from U-Save for field paint. Brian will call Mike to review the details to make sure the bill was correctly paid.
Kim motioned to accept the August treasurer’s report. Mike Turpin seconded. All in favor.
Registrar’s Report: John Courtney reviewed the numbers for U6, U7, and U8. The numbers have remained the same in comparison to last year’s count. John stated that future draft nights need to be held a couple weeks earlier than previously done. This will help with team placement and getting rosters out to coach’s so players can be called earlier than right before the first game.
Coach Coordinator’s Report: Bob reported for Angela that the coach’s clinics were going well. The feedback was positive. Coaches prefer being an active participant than watching a demonstration. We are looking for feedback on the U8 MLS clinics and will report any feedback the next meeting. Based on the feedback, the board may consider scheduling clinics for U10 next year.
Kim reported that Angela will be taking over the mailing of Kidsafe forms to MYSA.
Travel Team Coordinator’s Report: No report given.
Referee Coordinator’s Report: Bob Kody reported for Len Spencer that
the first weekend of games went well. There are 31 active referees in Northboro.
The plan of having an experienced referee present at Rt. 135 fields to assist young and new referees during Sunday’s games has started. NYSA will look for feedback on how it is working out.
Mike Proctor complimented Bob and Len for the great job they do with Northboro referees.
Field Maintenance Coordinator’s Report: Mike Proctor thanked all who helped with moving the goals the first Saturday of the season. Mike reported that the fields are in great shape. He has heard a lot of compliments from parents and coaches.
Mike mentioned that the grass needs to be cut twice a week now. NYSA may want to talk with Rutland Nursery after talking to John Schunder, about taking over cutting and bagging.
It was mentioned that there are a few exposed sprinkler heads on the fields. Bob confirmed that Rutland Nursery is not responsible for filling those in. NYSA needs to do it for now.
Mike reported that the sand bags cost $5.00 a piece at 70lbs per bag. He will talk to Zecco and Agway to check availability.
Mike also reported that a small goal at Peaslee is missing. He will look into it. Mike has four small goals on order and will check with U-Save to find out delivery dates.
Fundraiser Report: Carol reported that she and Joan are looking into holding a spring NYSA road race as a fundraiser. They will contact the people in charge of the Applefest road race to get details. Carol and Joan welcome any new ideas to raise funds for NYSA.
Carol reported that the MLS summer camps went great. It was suggested that we stay with MLS for next summer providing that we can have a different MLS contact. Christian Green, this year’s MLS contact, was disorganized and did not communicate well.
The fall Coach’s game was discussed. We need to establish a date, order tickets, and get field at Algonquin. Mike Turpin suggested playing the high school varsity teams. Bob reported that MLS was able to field a team to play coaches as well. Carol will look into each option and call high school to check availability.
The FOD is in good shape. Carol and Joan are having a new sign made. Mike Proctor and Darrell Lemmerman were very helpful in cleaning out and reorganizing the FOD. Carol requested permission to buy a new wipe board to list the menu items and a new table to display NYSA items. The board approved the new purchases.
Equipment Coordinator’s Report: Mike reported that NYSA needs to create more time between draft night and coaches meeting so that he has more time to fill uniform and equipment requests. Mike also suggested that NYSA educate the new coaches on the process of requesting and picking up uniforms and equipment.
Mike also suggested that we create a system to track who paid for uniforms at registration and who did not. Mike stated that many people thought they paid for uniforms when sending in the money for registration and they had not. We need to make this process more efficient. A tracking mechanism for this is not part of the registration data base. At this point, we need to look at the hard copy of the registration to find out if a uniform has been paid for. Mike will look into creating or changing the system to fix the minor problems.
Field Coordinator: Ian reported that he is facing problems with coaches requesting last minute changes for field practice times. He stated that once coaches find assistants they request changes based on assistants availability as well as their own. Currently, Ian has ten coaches waiting to change practice times. Ian suggested that holding draft night and getting the rosters done earlier may help with this problem. Ian will send Bob the latest field matrix to update him on the changes.
New Business: New Stormwatch articles are still needed. Bob requested that everyone submit information to Mark Teehan as soon as possible.
John stated that we need to update and approve the new assistant coaches. John Courtney made a motion to approve Ian Wallace’s assistants, Mark Teehan and John O’Reilly. Darrell seconded. All in favor.
John C. mentioned that the late registrations were higher than ever this fall. John will look into getting out registrations through the schools. Also, John suggested that we add to the registration sheet, “Players are not guaranteed a spot on a team if the registration is received past the deadline. An effort will be made to place a player whose registration was received late if the possibility exists.” It was also suggested that “no requests for specific teams or coaches will be considered if the registration is late”. The board agreed with John’s suggestions.
Bob reported that he met with Barry Brenner and Allie to discuss field shortages. He stated that the administration was unaware of the problems. Bob plans to attend the Rec. Dept. meeting the following night to discuss field issues. The possibility of creating another large field at Rt. 135 exists and will be explored. John Schunder agrees with the plan for creating a new large field at Rt.135 adjacent to the upper fields in addition to more parking. The conservation committee must approve of plans also. NYSA will wait for conservation committee approval before proceeding.
Bob reported that MYSA will not be insuring any player playing indoor soccer this year. Any Northboro player playing indoor soccer will not be insured by MYSA. Any coach bringing a team to an indoor session must make sure parents sign waiver.
Bob is working on times with Teamwork’s for indoor clinics.
Bob requested that all board members indicate with the week whether they plan to continue with the board for the following year. Positions will be voted on at the NYSA annual meeting in October.
Kim motioned to adjourn the meeting. John seconded. All in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 9:31 p.m.
Kim Miller
Secretary