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1 Board of Directors Subject: LSC Monthly Board Meeting Agenda Location: Litchfield Intermediate School Art Room Bistro due to snow Date: Mar 19, 2013 Time: 7:30PM 1. Attendance 2. Previous Meeting Action Items 3. Financial Report - Brian 4. Spring 2013 Soccer a. Registration Status Travel Program 3/18/13 = 143 Recreational Program 3/18/13 = 63 Boys (Grade 4&5) 14 Boys Nipper (K) 4 Boys (Grade 6-8) 19 Girls Nipper (K) 7 Boys (Grade 9&10) 16 LIH Boys (Grade 1&2) 12 Girls (Grade 4) 13 LIH Girls (Grade 1&2) 19 Girls (Grade 5) 19 LIH Boys Plus (Grade 3) 9 Girls (Grade 6) 13 LIH Girls Plus (Grade 3) 12 Girls (Grade 7) 16 Girls (Grade 8) 13 Girls (Grade 9&10) 20 b. Practice Times/Dates c. Travel Coaches Meeting March 27 6:30PM Crowne Plaza Southbury d. Placement of players on 6 th grade girls team 5. Fall 2013 Soccer 6. Fields a. School Approval and physical mailing late March b. Registration open Mid May, On-time close June 8 c. Recreational Structure Proposal (Sam) i. LSC Recreational Program Description (attached) ii. U5 Program Proposal (attached) iii. U6 & U7-8 Program Proposal (attached) d. Travel Coordinator Position 3/19/2013 The Litchfield Soccer Club Page 1 of 2 is an active member of the Connecticut Junior Soccer Association (CJSA), Northwest District

2 a. Field Layout b. Reset of goals B/D 7. Referee 8. Fundraising 9. New Business 10. Next Meeting May 28, /19/2013 The Litchfield Soccer Club Page 2 of 2 is an active member of the Connecticut Junior Soccer Association (CJSA), Northwest District

3 Litchfield Soccer Club Recreational Program Programs and Descriptions March 2013 Dino-Mites Age: U5 (Pre-K) Season Duration: 6 weeks Sessions per Week: 1-45 minutes - 1 hour Scrimmage Size: None Dino-Mites is an introduction to soccer for the pre-k aged player. Players will be accompanied on the field by a parent or adult guardian. The session will be led by one or more coaches who will not have a child participating. The Dino-Mites program is a themed curriculum purchased by LSC from Xara Soccer. The Dino-Mites program will focus on basic movements related to soccer (running, kicking, etc.); in many instances exercises will be run without a soccer ball, at least at first. The goal of the program is to get the player used to moving in a space with other players, without and with a ball. The program will also help players become accustomed to a coach-led format, allowing for a better transition to the Nipper program. Nippers Age: U6 (K) Season Duration: 10 weeks Sessions per Week: 2-1 hour Scrimmage Size: 2v2 or 3v3 Nippers is a beginning soccer program for children in kindergarten. Players will be on the field by themselves with one or more adult coaches. Parents must remain at the field at all times. The Nippers program will focus on the basic skills of soccer with a strong emphasis on ball familiarity and dribbling. The goal of the program is to develop a players on-the-ball skill with a curriculum based on the one child, one ball concept. Typical sessions will involve dynamic warmup with the ball (typically a variant of red light, green light ), two skill-appropriate exercises (British Bulldog, What Time is It Mr. Fox, Ice Tag, etc.), and a short, small-sided scrimmage at the end.

4 Lower In-House Age: U7/U8 (1st and 2nd Grade) Season Duration: 10 weeks Sessions Per Week: 1-1 hour, hour Scrimmage Size: 3v3 Lower In-House is a program for first and second graders that will build on the skills learned at the nipper level (although players with no prior experience should be able to easily start at this level). The coaching focus will continue to be on individual skills. In addition to continuing focus on on-the-ball skill, new concepts such as passing and defense will be introduced consistent with an approach focusing on small-sided exercises with little to no downtime for players. Typical sessions will continue to utilize a dynamic warmup with the ball, with two to three skillappropriate exercises, and a small-sided scrimmage at the end of the session. During the 1.5 hour session, time devoted to exercises and scrimmage can be expanded as appropriate. Lower In-House Plus Age: U9 (3rd Grade) Season Duration: 10 weeks Sessions Per Week: hour, hour Scrimmage Size: 3v3 or 5v5 Lower In-House Plus is a program for third graders that is intended to help transition to travel soccer at the U10 level. The coaching focus will continue to be on individual skills, however, exercises will be progressed to teach both individual skill and application of the skill in a team/ competitive context. Exercises will continue to use a small-sided approach so as to minimize player downtime, with greater complexity than at the LIH level. Friendly 8 v 8 matches will be scheduled against teams from surrounding towns. Typically two or three friendly matches will be played per season. Matches will be in addition to (not in lieu of) training. These matches will be played on a standard U10 size field with a center official. The focus of the matches will be on application of skills and concepts learned in training, and on learning the basic format of competitive soccer.

5 Proposal for LSC U5 Program 3/11/13 U5 program would be open to kids in the second year of preschool (i.e., who will enter Kindergarten in the next school year). The program would be parent and child playing together, with an independent coach leading the session. Proposed elements: Once per week, 45 minute sessions on a weeknight evening or on Saturday 6 week program - for this spring start April 13 end May 18 Use Xara Dinomites U5 program - $31/player Program kit includes shirt/shorts/socks and ball plus session plans and 1 hour coach training Program includes 8 weeks - use fall/spring and pick exercises to repeat Items to discuss: Include shin guards? Sportsmen s price $7/set, Diadora Forza soft shells, come in black or pink Total cost - $50 +/- break even with shin guards. Spring discount for returning players if no new equipment needed? $20? Seek sponsors or grants to defray cost? WBYS offers program for $5 but they have sponsor funding. WAYS is $65 for Pre-K. Karen has volunteered to lead this spring - not sustainable long term. Recruit high school or college student(s) to assist/lead? Pay similar to line ref? Cannot be parent led because parents participate with their kids. Also, depending on number of signups, may need more instructors as a practical matter. Do parents need CJSA insurance/background checks? Or just sign waiver? Action: Field time availability - need to finalize schedule Registration Form Website update Facebook update

6 Proposal for LSC U6 and U7/U8 Program 3/17/13 For fall 2013, the following program changes are submitted for discussion: U6 This age group (K) would continue to be broken out as we have this spring. Based upon the success of the proposed U5 program, the use of the Xara DinoMites curriculum for U6 soccer should be considered. The cost would be similar to the U5 program ($31/child). U7/U8 In addition to continuing the current skills-based training, a team element would be added to this age group. This would consist of players being assigned to a 3 or 4 player team. At Fall 2012 enrollment levels, this would equate to ~80 players on 20 teams. This number has the potential to increase as knowledge of the program spreads in Warren, Morris and Goshen. Groups of three teams would be assigned to specific coaches for training. These coaches would also be responsible for conducting the scheduled games (other than managing substitution to the extent required and rolling balls back into play no coaching would be expected for these games). Games would be twenty minutes in 3v3 format with no keepers and coaches rolling balls back in as they go out. Games would be played during the second half of the weeknight practice. Items to discuss: Player uniforms. Would like to keep the Litchfield uniform as a base for training. Would need differentiated uniforms for weeknight games. Options: Colored T-Shirts - ~$8/per with printing MLS Rec adidas shirts - $15/per with printing all MLS teams available Xara City or International shirts - $28/per (retail) w/o printing wide variety of international pro teams or countries available Goals. Players loved the Pugg type goal for scrimmages in the fall. This would be a nice touch for the program instead of using cones to mark the goal. Would need goals that retail for $100/each. Sportsmen s quote $2,275 for 35 goals (went for more because these could also be used for U6 and U9). We can apply for a Seherr-Toss grant to defray cost - how much (if any) can the club contribute? These goals would remain at White Field and could conceivably be used for training by travel teams as well. Team Sponsorship. Additional jerseys would be a straight cost add to the current program. Should we consider soliciting local businesses for team sponsorships at $75/ team (fundraising committee)? Our current sponsors who are at ~$250 would get teams automatically. These sponsors would also continue to be listed on the Litchfield uniform given to all players, whereas team sponsors would not - they would only be listed on the

7 individual team uniforms. Other option is to add $15 to the registration fee. Field Space/Marking. This number of scrimmages will require a significant amount of space one weeknight per week (probably Tuesday). We would probably need all of White A. Also it would significantly ease and speed setup if fields could be marked with paint - use orange similar to Field D.

8 March 19, 2013 Seherr-Thoss Foundations P.O. Box 292 Litchfield, CT Ref: Litchfield Soccer Club, Inc. Dear Foundation Members: The Litchfield Soccer Club (LSC) respectfully submits the enclosed application to the Seherr-Thoss Foundations for the purchase of small goals for our recreational soccer program. The request is for $2,000, which will be used to purchase 35 small goals. The Mission Statement of LSC is: The Litchfield Soccer Club is a community-based organization serving the town of Litchfield, devoted to providing a positive experience for boys and girls of all ages in learning and understanding the game of soccer. Players will be given quality instruction in the game of soccer, will be able to continually grow as individuals within the program at a pace they are comfortable with, and will meet levels of competition based upon their experience and skill level. Above all, the mission of the Club is for everyone to have fun. LSC is run by a Board of Directors, which is entirely voluntary. We also belong to the Connecticut Junior Soccer Association (CJSA), which provides competition formats for travel teams and insurance coverage for all of the players. The LSC recreational soccer program serves players aged 4 through 9 (pre-k through 3 rd grade) in a variety of divisions. Over the past three years, LSC has undertaken an effort to enhance our recreational soccer program by focusing our curriculum on individual player skill development. This has involved use of outside trainers to educate our coaching staff and has been well received by parents and children alike. A typical training session consists of 75% of the time, or more, spent on individual skill development, with the balance of training time spent playing small-sided (3 vs. 3) scrimmages. While we are pleased with the success of our program, one of the areas frequently cited as an area for improvement by parents is to incorporate more of a team dynamic into the competitive element of the program. Currently, teams for small-sided scrimmages are assembled from whichever players are present on a given day. This means that from week to week, an individual child will likely not be playing with the same players. While this does not harm the skill development of players, one of the benefits of playing a team sport is the social aspect of playing with teammates toward a common goal, and

9 ad-hoc team assignment does not provide this benefit as fully as other approaches might. Starting this fall, LSC will assign players to teams of three or four for the duration of the season, while continuing to also train as a large group. Each team will play one smallsided game per week in a competitive format, with the balance of training time continuing to be used to teach and develop individual skills. At current enrollment levels, we anticipate 20 to 40 teams, playing 15 to 20 games simultaneously on small fields. In the past, the club has used cones to mark goals for these small-sided games; however, this past fall, we used small goals for some scrimmages. We found that the players really enjoyed playing with the small goal instead of the cones, as it gave a better target for shooting the ball, and was more realistic relative to the larger fields many of them have seen older brothers and sisters playing on. Fifteen to twenty games would require thirty to forty goals (2 per field). The club already has several small goals, so our request is for funding to purchase an additional 35 goals. In addition to greatly enhancing our recreational soccer program, these goals can also be used by our travel programs during training to work on advanced skills such as shooting accuracy. We believe this enhancement of our recreational soccer program will lead to even more enthusiasm among our players and parents and is in keeping with our mission of player skill development and fun. The Seherr-Thoss Foundations have supported LSC on many occasions in the past, for which we remain extremely grateful. We hope that you will give your consideration to this request. Thank you again for your previous support of the club. We have included eight copies of our request, copies of our organization s latest Financial Statements, and our letter from the IRS validating our tax-exempt status. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at Sincerely, Scott Shakley President, Litchfield Soccer Club Attachments Supplier Bids, YR2012 Financial Statements, IRS 501(c)(3) Letter