L O U I S I A N A S O C C E R A S S O C I A T I O N Executive Committee Meeting Sunday, September 27, 2015 @ 1:00 pm Baton Rouge, LA Minutes ATTENDANCE Sean Esker, President Jeff Moyle, Treasurer Charlie Freel, Vice President - Youth Chad Vidrane, Vice President - Adult Dee Flint, Youth Competitive Commissioner Grant Guthrie, Youth Recreational Commissioner (Via Teleconference) Jonathan Rednour, Adult Competitions Commissioner (Via Teleconference) Gabi Erny, Member at Large Mark Godwin, Director of Coaching (Non-Voting) Tucker Reynolds, Executive Director (Non-Voting) CALL TO ORDER The Meeting was called to order at 1:02 PM on Sunday, September 27, 2015 at the LSA Office in Baton Rouge, LA by President, Sean Esker. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting of July 31, 2015 were presented and reviewed. A Motion to Approve the Minutes as corrected was made by Dee Flint and seconded by Jeff Moyle. There being no opposition to the Motion, the Minutes of the July 31, 2015 Executive Committee Meeting were APPROVED as presented. REPORTS a. President s Report The President s Report was submitted as written. A question concerning implementation of the US Soccer Player Development Initiatives was raised and tabled until discussions in New Business. b. Treasurer The Treasurer s Report was submitted as written. The Treasurer expressed confidence that the financial c. Vice-President Youth Discussion of moving Risk Management functions into the office. d. Youth Competitive Commissioner Brief report of status of LCSL. e. Youth Recreational Commissioner The Youth Competitive Commissioner Report was submitted as written in email form. No further questions or comments were raised. f. Vice-President Adult and Adult Competitions Commissioner Reports were presented together. Louisiana Premier League to start with 5 teams. Teams from Biloxi, Houma and Shreveport are showing interest. The Collegiate League was a
success. US Open Cup will see Montagua facing a North Carolina team. Dee Flint suggests submitting Collegiate League standings in newspapers. Time frame on next round on November 21 st weekend with third round in April. g. Chairman of State Referee Committee The report of the Chairman of State Referee Committee was submitted as written. h. Director of Coaching The report of the Director of Coaching was submitted as written. A question about the Coaching License database was raised. A report was given as to the progress in developing the database. No A, B or C license courses will be taught during the winter months as US Soccer is re-writing the curricula for each course. US Soccer is contemplating a license requirement nation-wide. US Soccer no longer accepts NSCAA as a licensing equivalent. For the E-License requirement to coach in the LCSL LSSA will continue to accept and recognize NSCAA diplomas. The issue of state association audits by US Soccer was raised. A question concerning the partnership LSA has developed for the operation of summer camps was raised. The summer of 2015 saw 3 camps across the state. Through our partnership with Soccer Academy both the host organization and LSA receive a rebate. Our absence in providing a soccer camp alternative provided an opportunity for British Soccer and other like organizations to enter the Louisiana market to run substandard camps. Chad Vidrane raised a question of providing a week long high school camp with a tournament at the end. Gabi Erny raised a question as how clubs can determine whether outside camp companies are performing risk management on their coaches. A background check for these visiting coaches will not reveal anything as they are largely coming from Great Britain. i. Executive Director The report of the Executive Director was submitted as written. A question concerning which team or teams are to receive Game Reports was raised and the policy of having both teams receive a report was reiterated. An update was given on the research being conducted on a new registration platform and Affinity s marketing efforts that took Jeff Schoonover out to California for a sales conference. Charlie Freel offered that the Risk Management platform in GotSoccer is one of their strengths. Chad Vidrane raised a question concerning the out-ofstate forms. LSA is trying to convert to an e-approval. LSA is moving away from the paper laden procedures. No longer doing pass cards or rosters. LCSL non-weather related rescheduling requests was at a 25-30% rate which translated to 6 days-worth of man hours in LSA scheduling efforts. OLD BUSINESS LCSL Update o Rainout Weekend procedures were raised by Gabi Erny. In the scheduling process LSA received requests to reschedule onto the Rainout Weekend, all of which were denied as the Rainout Weekends were held out. o Issue concerning the vague accusations made against Mandeville SC was discussed. LSA asked the accusing party to be more detailed in her accusations, but received no followup. NEW BUSINESS Policy Amendments. Dee Flint made a Motion to Consider all of the Policy Amendments to be presented. Jeff Moyle seconded. There being no opposition, the Motion to Consider was PASSED.
o POLICY 204 CLUB AFFILIATION US Youth Soccer has told us that LSA can only set criteria for membership, but cannot prohibit an applicant who meets all of the membership criteria cannot be subject to approval. Discussion of Spartans FC efforts to become members. Spartans FC met the membership criteria and must therefore be accepted as a member. The only restriction that would be subject to Youth Council vote would be a waiver on the 2-year restriction on formulating Competitive teams. Past practices encouraged new clubs to shuffle players to other clubs to play Competitive even though those players would therefore not be included in the minimum of 70 registered players. Grant Guthrie offered his perspective of the membership process as a barrier to participate and questioned the purpose of the 2-year restriction. Sean Esker pointed out that FC Spartans was encouraged to enter the process 2 years ago, before their players were of Competitive age. Exemptions from the 2-year restrictions have been requested, but never granted. Discussion of the 70 player minimum as being restrictive since a start-up club can only be Recreational and 70 players at the 3 v 3 level of play is a lot of players. There being no opposition after discussion, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. o POLICY 206.1.2 TEAM ENTRY FEES Charlie Freel suggested that the Open Cup Fee be reduced. Discussion about treating all fees together rather than as individual charges. Dee Flint pointed out that the numbers presented in the Amendment were the same numbers presented and agreed by the Competitive Committee at their 2 meetings during the summer and in theory. LSA covers the $1,000.00 entry fee into Southern Regionals. Comparison between Louisiana Invitational Tournaments, other state tournaments and other state run leagues and those fees charged by LSA. MOTION to amend the entry fees to include the Bob Abbott Cup as $400.00. There being no opposition after discussion and after amendment the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment as amended was PASSED. o POLICY 302.9.2.3 MINIMUM AGE TO PLAY COMPETITIVE The motivation of the Amendment was the US Soccer Player Development Initiatives and brings the minimum age to competitive soccer in line with those initiatives. There being no opposition after discussion, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. o POLICY 304 AGE GROUPS Charlie Freel raised a question as to the purpose of the language if playing outside the club at the end of 304.1. There being no opposition after discussion, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. o POLICY 309 PLAYING RULES While this amendment to policy is necessitated by the US Soccer Player Development Initiatives, issues of enforcement of goal size initiatives was questioned by a member club. There being no opposition after discussion, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. o POLICY 311.2 COMPETITIVE TEAM COACHING REQUIREMENTS As the F-License course is now exclusively on-line so this amendment makes obtaining the F-License a requirement for the E-Waiver. There being no opposition after discussion, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. o POLICY 311.3 ADMISSION TO COMPETITIVE LEAGUE Discussion of moving dates up so LSA can publish schedules earlier. There being no opposition after discussion, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. o POLICY 311.5.4 COMPETITIVE LEAGUE SCHEDULING Discussion about eliminating language throughout the Policy that pertains to the ending dates of the LCSL. Motion for amending the Amendment deleting language pertaining to the
ending dates of the LCSL was accepted. Discussion also about pushing the starting date back to the weekend before Labor Day and the burdens it may place on clubs in starting their preseason earlier. The purpose of the amendment is not to start the LCSL earlier across the board, but to provide one additional weekend for high school aged kids to schedule games. There being no opposition after discussion and amendment, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. o POLICY 311.5.7.6 PROMOTION AND RELEGATION Discussion about inserting language to give the higher seeded team the right to elect whether they play the first game in the home and away series at their home or away at the lower seeded team s field. Discussion also about giving a team the ability to abandon the home and away series after the first game in the case that the result of the first game is lopsided. Finally, it was agreed that all promotion and relegation matches must be completed prior to the commencement of the state tournament. There being no opposition after discussion and after amendment, the Motion to accept this Policy Amendment PASSED. Summary of SCAC Meeting US Soccer Player Development Initiatives Tucker Reynolds reviewed the Summary of the Soccer Culture Advisory Council meeting on September 10, 2015 as presented in the Summary distributed. The primary concern voiced at the meeting was the purchase of new goals to adhere to the US Soccer Player Development Initiatives. The possibility of LSA purchasing some portable goals to use at state tournaments was discussed. While clubs don t have enough goals at present to accommodate tournaments, they do have enough to accommodate league play. Clubs are already preparing for the shift to the Calendar Birth Year. The procedure on how brackets will be formulated at the end of the seasonal year was discussed. At the end of league play, the Club will own the spot achieved by the team in the 2015-16 seasonal year. The 50% plus 1 Rule will be reduced to include players from the same club as opposed to the same team. Reshuffling at midyear would be limited to obvious instances where a mistake was made and their performance dictates that a shift must be made. Discussion about whether teams will adjust to calendar year or continue to play together with younger players playing up. Dual Registration Prohibition Sean Esker initiated a discussion regarding the practice of prohibiting dual registrations of players. Dee Flint and Chad Vidrane raised fears of clubs using the dual registration opportunities to seek competitive advantages. The purpose of opening up dual registrations would be to give clubs greater flexibility in placement of players within their club. Gabi Erny raised issues of policing and past abuses. Player Transfers Sean Esker raised the issue of player transfers and when players become committed to a particular club. There were discussions about a lawsuit that had been initiated in Virginia that seems to negate policies that restrict the ability of players to transfer from club to club. Examples were raised when players commit to a number of different clubs and the affect that those commitments have on the clubs, teams and players who may be cut from teams. Dee Flint offered that LSA may just add restrictions to players transferred. Crossroads U15 Boys Team Tucker Reynolds related the facts and the timeline concerning the failure of Crossroads to submit its rosters, the subsequent placement of their U15 Boys team in the bottom division for failure to meet the 50% plus 1 rule, the complaints filed by Crossroads and the avenue of
resolution offered to Crossroads. The 3 other episodes in which other teams failed to file rosters in a timely manner and how those teams resolved the problem were discussed. Dee Flint offered that he had been apprised of all developments and was in agreement with how it was handled. There was a general agreement that, for the sake of the development of the Crossroads players, LSA would explore options to elevate the Crossroads teams. Treatment of this team will be consistent with past practices in elevating teams. If a transfer of teams is made, the teams transferred would assume the record of the team they replace. The Committee was in agreement that LSA will revisit the placement of the U15 Boys Crossroads team at the end of the fall season. FC Spartans Gabi Erny sought to clarify the status of FC Spartans. They are an LSA affiliate. Competitive teams playing under the LA Fire name are and will continue to be LA Fire, not FC Spartans, teams, and FC Spartans must register the requisite 70 recreational players. The Committee had a general discussion of delays in registrations of recreational players in other clubs. Charlie Freel raised the issue of whether LA Fire puts its coaches through the Risk Management. FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME Bob and Pat Abbott will be inducted into the Region III Hall of Fame. Louisiana has a player invited into ODP National Team Camp and the LA Fire team in the National League is in second place in its division. ADJOURNMENT