NCSL Board Meeting

May 9, 2019

Westin Tysons Corner

The meeting was called to order at 7:34 p.m.

I.         Roll Call

The following clubs were in attendance at the meeting: Alexandria Soccer Association, Braddock Road Youth Club, Broadneck SC, Burke Athletic Club, Calvert Soccer Association, Calverton Soccer Club, Chantilly Youth Association, D.C. Stoddert, Damascus Soccer Club, DORADUS, Epic Soccer Club, Fairfax Police Youth Club, FC Dulles, FC Frederick, Fort Washington, Front Royal Soccer Association, Herndon Youth Soccer Association, Laurel Soccer Club, Lee-Mt. Vernon Sports Club, Leesburg Football Club, Loudoun Soccer Club, McLean Youth, Northern Virginia Soccer Club, OBGC, Old Dominion Football Club, Potomac Soccer Association, Premier Athletic Club, Prince William Soccer, Inc., Severna Park Athletic Club, Shenandoah FC Elite, Soccer Association of Columbia, South County Athletic Association, Southwestern Youth Association, Springfield South County Youth Club, St. Mary's Soccer, Sterling Youth Soccer Association, Takoma Park Soccer Club, Team America Football Club, Thunder Soccer Club, Vienna Youth Soccer, Virginia Soccer Association, Waldorf Soccer Club, Washington Capital FC, West Virginia Futbal Club, Winchester Youth Soccer Club, Woodbridge Soccer Club

Roll call indicated that the following clubs were not in attendance: A3, Alliance Soccer Club

Annandale Boys & Girls Club, Antietam United Soccer Club, Arundel Soccer Association, Davidsonville Athletic Association, FCV Ashburn, Fredericksburg FC, Hagerstown Soccer Club, Montgomery Soccer, Real World Futbal Club, Virginia Blackwatch Soccer Club, VISTA, Warrenton Youth Soccer Club

Approval of Minutes

Premier Academy made a motion to approve the March 21, 2019 minutes. Takoma Park seconded. All were in favor and the motion passed.

II.        Reports

Ryan Rich – Executive Director:

CCL and NCSL are in an alliance that will be mutually beneficial. We will use the alliance to forge strategic partnerships with sponsors that will benefit all clubs. NCSL will develop a flyer that will lay out the benefits.

We are hosting another college combine. We’ve secured some pro players and also having video sessions with college coaches. These are items beyond the training sessions. June 22^nd for the boys June 23^rd for the girls.

Futsal will be kicking off mid-June. If teams want to participate, more info will be forthcoming.

Great feedback with Alison Smith coming on board. It has been a bit slow working with Demoshpere but we are taking your feedback and will continue to improve some of the processes. We will strive to continue to make your jobs easier. Open to feedback and will take it seriously.

Maureen Dalbec – NCSL Commissioner:           

Nothing.

Doug Walls – NCSL Commissioner:

Nothing.

Mike Basileo – Maryland Registrar:

Nothing.

Carol Coulter – Virginia Registrar:

Nothing.

Alan Paez – NCSL Rules & Discipline:

Nothing.

Alison Smith – NCSL Administrator:

Thank you for finding turf space. Thank you for supporting the flex reschedule program. Thank you for your patience with the process.

Team registration will be available once the budget is set. We hope to have this open tomorrow. Ryan has simplified the entire process. Watch out for teams who have sat out for a season – look for their number and don’t mark them as new.

Carol Montoya – NCSL Secretary:

Nothing.

Anne Maynes – Treasurer:

Eric Popiel – NCSL Vice President:

Thank you for supporting the STAR program.

Ryan and Eric will stay after the meeting and talk to clubs who are frustrated about their STARs not being used.

Richard Smith – NCSL President:

Flex reschedule – talk to your managers about the flex reschedule program and ensure they understand it. We still need forms to come from you.

NCSL division 1 winners will be in a playoff to get into the regional championship. We are working to get the press release out. There will be small committee to run the pilot program. This is exciting for this league. At the division 1 level, we want them to aspire something larger than just playing in NCSL. If you are the NCSL champion, you would get to a playoff and that would get you entrance to the regional championship. If you win the regional championship, you get access to the national championship.

We continue to look at fees and provide the best value we can to teams. It is much more expensive to play in EDP than it is to play in NCSL. The difference is you will pay a lot more money to travel further to get you back in the exact same spot you would (read regional championship). In the lower divisions, you just pay more for not a whole lot more.

We have heard the message loud and clear about marketing NCSL and we will continue to market the league as aggressively as possible. We are coming up with a marketing plan to promote the league, players, etc. If you have kids who are playing in NCSL who are going off to play college soccer, we want to hear about them and promote them. IRT travel, in VA there are a lot of clubs in a small area. In MD, we are identifying some clubs who can help us strategically and bring shorter drives to the younger players.

NCSL Champion – the pathway will run U13 – U18. Within those age groups, we need to figure out who the NCSL champion is. We also realize that there are sit outs in MD and VA. Ryan will form a competition committee from clubs in various areas of NCSL (MD and VA). We want a lot of diversity of clubs to talk about what makes sense and decide what works best. We want this to be a groundswell from the member clubs. CCL does things a bit differently – we have a more difficult path. We will solve the problem and determine a way to identify a champion.

Comment from a WV club: In WV, it is a state rule that kids can’t play club and high school sports at the same time.

Comment from a club: NCSL should fully concentrate on this pathway.

College combine – Jun22nd and 23^rd at the St. James. We ran this in the winter and will run it in the summer because we sold out. Please go back to your clubs and market this. It is available to any level player. They don’t need to be in NCSL, all are welcome. We had the full range of coaching represented. Don’t think of this a s a combine for the very best, think of it as a combine for everyone. Other leagues can participate and we want that marketing to get out. Age rising U13 – U18. $160 for NCSL members, $199 for non-NCSL members. The majority of the fees go to paying the college coaches.

The St. James and FCV – we are looking at our partnership with the St. James. They wanted to be a member of NCSL. You need to prove to the board that you have staying power. NCSL is looking carefully at what is going on. We’re talking with people at the St. James and other close clubs. We are being careful with our relationship and partnership there. We will continue to honor our club members.

III.      New Business

New Club Application – VA Revolution: Niko and Stephanie were in attendance to represent VA Revolution. President Smith noted that the New Club Committee has interviewed the club and conducted a site visit to check out fields. Club representatives also attended an Executive Committee meeting and were further interviewed.

VA Revolution made a presentation to the NCSL Board.

Niko and Stephanie left the meeting.

Discussion ensued. Takoma Park Soccer Club made a motion to accept VA Revolution into the league. Alliance Soccer Club seconded.

A voice vote was taken and the motion passed.

2019-2020 NCSL Budget:

We distributed our estimated budge without the club fees and referees fees. These were estimated. We then sent the board the fee increase.

A motion was made to approve the estimated budget and give the EC authority to amend the budget as necessary to take into account the new fees by Takoma Park Soccer Club. Frederick seconded. A voice vote was taken and the motion passed.

Other Motions:

A motion was made to approve the team fees as distributed by Frederick. Takoma Park seconded. Some discussion ensued and President Smith read out the fees for each age group. A voice vote was taken and the motion passed.

A motion was made to delegate to the EC the authority to negotiate new referee fees and new percentages with the assignors by Damascus. Frederick seconded. A voice vote was taken and the motion passed.

A motion was made by Alexandria and seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:48 p.m.