NCSL Board Meeting
May 10, 2018
Westin Tysons Corner

 

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

 

I.         Roll Call

 

The following clubs were in attendance at the meeting: A3, Alexandria Soccer Association, Annandale Boys & Girls Club, Bethesda Soccer Club, Braddock Road Youth Club, Broadneck SC, Burke Athletic Club, Calvert Soccer Association, Calverton Soccer Club (via proxy), Capital Futbol Club, Chantilly Youth Association, D.C. Stoddert, Damascus Soccer Club, Davidsonville Athletic Assoc., Epic Soccer Club, Fairfax Police Youth Club, FC Frederick Soccer Club, Fredericksburg Soccer Club, Future Soccer Club, Great Falls Athletic Assoc. (via proxy), Gunston Soccer Club (via proxy), La Plata Soccer Academy, Laurel Soccer Club, Lee-Mt. Vernon, Loudoun Soccer Club, Northern Virginia Soccer Club, OBGC Olney Soccer Club (via proxy), PAC Premier Athletic Club, Potomac Soccer Association, Prince William Soccer, Inc., Real World Futbal Club, Reston Soccer Association, Sdor Barca Futebol Clube, Soccer Association of Columbia, South County Athletic Association (via proxy), 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, Warrenton Youth Soccer Club, Winchester Soccer Club, Woodbridge Soccer Club

 

Roll call indicated that the following clubs were not in attendance: Alliance Soccer Club, Antietam United Soccer Club, Arlington Youth Soccer Club, Arundel Soccer Association, Chantilly Soccer Club, Culpepper Soccer Club, FCVA Ashburn, Fort Washington, Fredericksburg FC, Front Royal Soccer Assoc., Hagerstown Soccer Club, Herndon Youth Soccer Association, Leesburg Football Club, Maryland Rush, Maryland Rush Montgomery, McLean Youth, Montgomery Soccer, Inc., Old Dominion Football Club, Severna Park Athletic Club, Southwestern Youth Association, Stafford Soccer Club, Tri-County Soccer Club, Virginia Blackwatch Soccer Club, VISTA, Washington Soccer Club

 

A motion was made and seconded to approve the March 26, 2018 minutes. All were in favor and the motion passed.

 

II.        Reports

 

Kathleen Sessions – NCSL Administrator: No report.

 

Anne Maynes – Treasurer: Anne noted that many teams have not turned in STAR cards for the Fall 2017 season and asked reps to remind their former U12 and U13 teams to turn them in for payment.

 

Maureen Dalbec – NCSL Commissioner: No report (not present).

 

Carol Montoya – NCSL Secretary: No report.

 

Alan Paez – NCSL Rules & Discipline: Alan asked reps to remind their teams to turn in sit-out documentation. Forms should be sent to the R&D email.

 

Club reps were asked to monitor the accumulated points for their teams. Some teams are getting close to the 20-point threshold. Richard noted that accumulated points can be found after logging in as a club rep. Team administrators can also access the information after logging in to their team page.

 

Carol Coulter – Virginia Registrar: VYSA will be using a new database system starting in the fall. Webinars for club reps were held this week. In-person training sessions will be held later this month. Carol strongly suggested that someone from each club attend a training session. Registration can be done on the VYSA website. Of note:

 

• All player information will be available on one page
• All players and officials will need new photos
• Player information can be uploaded with an Excel file
• Proof of age and other documentation will not need to be resubmitted
• Player passes can be printed on plain card stock
• Families can create an account and upload their child’s proof of age directly
• Once registrars approve a player, the proof of age is removed from the system

 

Mike Basileo – Maryland Registrar: No report (not present).

 

Alison Smith – Assistant Administrator: No report (not present).

 

Eric Popiel – NCSL Vice President: No report (not present).

 

Richard Smith – President:

 

EDP/US Youth Soccer

Richard has been keeping up with the changes occurring as a result of EDP moving to US Youth Soccer. He explained the structure to the national championships via State Cup and then regional competition. Currently, in addition to State Cup winners, a wild card team qualifies for the national competition. The wild card was the champion of the Region 1 regional league.

 

Previously, EDP was affiliated with US Club Soccer, and competed with US Youth Soccer leagues for players/teams.  US Youth Soccer has agreed to sanction EDP and has turned over the Region 1 regional league to EDP to administer.

 

As part of that change, USYS has divided Region 1 into four conferences.  Our conference includes Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, restricting regional league competition to essentially just another local league.

 

Richard noted that EDP is closely affiliated with a for-profit entity.

 

There is some misinformation about the opportunities available to teams playing in EDP, with regards to showcases and championship games.  Some clubs have been noted as “committed” to EDP, but we are told by some of these clubs that EDP is misleadingly classifying clubs as such when they agree to have some teams play in the league.

 

Any clubs that want to further discuss with Richard should reach out to him.

 

In response to a question of what NCSL is doing to address the EDP issue, Richard noted that we are building on the success of the Elite Spring Series by adding a fall series (to be renamed the Elite Soccer Series). This will give Maryland high school teams an opportunity to play in the fall. The registration fee will be $650. The Series will be open to high school age teams only.  Some U15 teams played in the spring. The same opportunity will be offered in the fall. Clubs with U15 teams that want to participate should contact Alison Smith (asstadmin@ncsl-soccer.com).

 

Richard is developing marketing materials both for the league and the Elite Soccer Series.

 

Executive Director

Richard noted the need for someone from the league to meet in person with club executive directors and directors of coaching. To address that and other needs, the Executive Committee has agreed to hire an executive director for the league. The person in this position will help with marketing the league, handle some administrative components, such as meeting preparation, and have a responsibility for some fundraising. Richard will send information to the club reps to help advertise the position.

 

CASRA

Richard has been talking with representatives at CASRA. Progress has been made in having CASRA assign Maryland games for the spring. It has been reported that the referee pool is declining. Changes we have made to the FLEX rescheduling process has helped with the relationship. Richard will maintain communications with CASRA.

 

Nominations

Howard Kohn is heading the nominating committee this year. Nominations are open for the positions of President and Secretary.

 

III.      New Business

 

Vienna Youth Soccer made a motion to put U11 Girls into division structure. Lee-Mt. Vernon Soccer Club seconded.

 

Doug Walls explained that WAGS did not put the U11 Girls team into tiered structure. NCSL puts U11 Boys into structure. Passage of this motion would create parity with how the Girls and Boys teams are handled.

 

There has been discussion of having Boys teams NOT in structure until U12, to create parity in that manner. Richard noted that other leagues have tiered division at U11.  Larry Dunn noted that a focus on player development would mean structure for all starting at U12, rather than the younger age.

 

The vote was called and a voice vote was taken. All were in favor and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Vienna Youth Soccer made a motion to align U11 Boys and Girls teams in three groups, e.g. high, medium, low, for fall division structure, as a precursor to spring division tiering. Lee-Mt. Vernon Soccer Club seconded.

 

Doug explained that grouping teams by “top, middle, bottom” will help create a more accurate division structure in the spring as well as normalize the competition at the younger age levels. Richard explained that currently division assignments for fall for U11 is done by random draw. The motion would allow the structure committee to tier the U11 Fall teams into groupings, avoiding much of the uneven competition that the former random selections created.  If the motion passes, the Fall U11 season would operate much like the current U9-10 age groups.

 

The vote was called and a voice vote was taken. All were in favor and the motion passed.

 

IV.       Other Business

 

President’s Cup/State Cup

 

If an NCSL team win President’s Cup or State Cup, NCSL will provide a stipend to assist with funding the costs of competing at the regional level. Additional awards will be given to teams that win the regional competition. The team information, including address and payee, should be sent to Richard.

 

U18/U19

 

Richard noted that NCSL sometimes has a small number of teams participating at U19.  Accordingly, once applications are submitted, the division structure committee may combine the age groups to create full divisions during the structure process.

 

Transfers

It was noted that VYSA has passed a revised rule that the transfer cap of five per team per year will apply only to inter-club transfers, and no longer include intra-club transfers.

 

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:36 p.m.