NCSL Board Meeting

August 25, 2016

Westin Hotel

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m.

1. Roll Call

 

Roll call indicated that the following clubs were not in attendance: Bethesda Soccer Club; Capital Futbol Club; Cugini Soccer Club;FCVA; Fredericksburg Soccer Club; Freedom Soccer Club;Maryland United; Team America; and Washington Soccer Club.

 

A motion was made to approve the minutes of the May meeting.Motion seconded and approved.

 

2. Club Announcements

FPYC Technical Director presented information regarding summer opportunities to play in tournaments in Europe, for those teams/clubs interested.

3. Reports

Richard Smith, President, introduced 2 new NCSL representatives – Eric Popiel, Vice-President,  and Carol Coulter, Burke Club Representative, who will serve as VA Registrar.

Maureen Dalbec – VA Commissioner.  Reminder that the Club Representative is supposed to be the first point of contact for all teams, before reaching out to NCSL Board members.  It is the job of the Club Representative to distribute all the NCSL materials to the teams within the club.  Please check your U12 and up teams have added name and jersey info for Fall Rosters; after September 10, NCSL will enter the information, and each noncompliant team will be fined if that information is not entered.   The Coach and manager information also needs to be updated.  For U12/U13 teams, 2 certified STARs need to be listed per team.  Finally, reminder that PCA requirement is waived for coaches this year.

 

Kathleen Sessions – NCSL Administrator.  Reminded attendees to get parking validated in light of new parking system at hotel.  Schedules have been posted for fall 2016, there were a few last minute drops so some schedules will have to be adjusted and will have one less game within that division.  There were a handful of teams that did not have sufficient Saturday permits so only have 3 home games.  Reminder that Flex Scheduling is an option as long as both club representatives agree to the change and NCSL is advised prior to COB of the Tuesday before the game.  Please reach out to your teams now and look at the schedule carefully so that the season can go as smoothly as possible.

 

Anne Maynes - Treasurer.  Thanks to everyone for their cooperation in getting the fee forms in during the challenging age/division structure adjustment.

Alan Paez – R&D (Richard Smith presented for Alan as he was excused).  NCSL will continue to use the website www.refereefeedback.com to provide opportunity to give feedback – good and bad – on referee performance during an NCSL game.  Need to have the game number to enter the information.  If you have a specific complaint about a referee that you want NCSL to consider, need to send that directly to Alan for R&D to evaluate.   Reminder to check the Sit-Out list which has been updated and posted on the website.  Sit-out penalty follows the player/coach, regardless of whether they changed club, team, or age group, so check carefully as consequences for noncompliance are a sit-out for current coach and an additional sit-out for the person owing a carryover sit-out.  This list reflects the carry-over from last season, both for NCSL and former WAGS teams/players.  During the season, the list is not updated, and it is on the individual teams to track that information.  Information regarding cards issued during the season can be found on the individual team pages on the NCSL website.   Make sure the teams check that information frequently to ensure the information is accurate. 

 Richard Smith – President.   The new team meeting was well attended.  Reminder that there is a $250 fine per team for failure to attend the meeting, if their attendance was required.  NCSL checked several times with each club to check and double-check the list of new teams, and club representatives signed off on that list.  Every team must be represented by someone, and a person may represent only one team.  The next new team meeting is August 29, so make sure all of your new teams are represented at that meeting, if they did not attend on August 22.

 

The division structure readjustments to reflect the new age group changes made for a very hard summer, and it was an inexact science.NCSL Structure Committee did its best to reflect the requests made by clubs and individual teams as to where within the division structure they thought their respective teams belonged.As for Boys U11 and Girls U12, those divisions were done randomly per the rules.Some consideration had been given to trying to group those teams into tiers, and even though every club we spoke with was unanimously in favor, we did not have enough information from every club to complete that process this summer.We expect to make that change for Fall 2017.Will need to have further discussions about it with the clubs this year, as everyone seemed very enthusiastic about approach.

 

NCSL will continue to use Club Pass system.Note that girls and boys can play in the open division on club pass system, but only girls can play in the girls’ league.Players must have a US Youth Soccer TRAVEL card to use the pass system, recreation or US Club Soccer cards will notsuffice.NCSL rules allow unlimited club passes at U9/U10 teams, as long as the game day roster does not exceed 12 players.At U11 and higher, teams are limited to 5 club pass players.May only play in one NCSL game per day.Important that the club pass player info be added to the relevant blue game card.

 

STAR referees.U12 and U13 teams need two.The referee can be 15 or older, doesn’t need to be a parent or relative of a team member.At the end of the year, you submit the signed card and will get paid for that service.

 

FIFA laws of the game were revised over the summer, applies to the Fall 2016 season and beyond.Need to make sure familiar with the changes, ie kickoff rule has changed so that only one player stands in the kick off circle.Reminder also that US Youth Soccer made modifications to the heading rules of game which impact U11 and below during games.Richard hopes to have the updated NCSL manual on website by Monday.

 

Richard emphasized importance of Blue Game Card and asked that Club representatives in particular walk their teams that came over from WAGS through the card.

 

Please reach out and have your teams check to make sure their home fields are ready to go on the first day of season – ie lines and goals, flags.

 

Eastern Regional League deadline for Spring season is October 10.(Formerly known as Region 1 premier league).Not having a Fall season.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.