State Referee Committee AGM Online August 2, 2018 8:30 PM SRC Committee Members Present Chair Ken George SRA, SYRA Paul James SAC Cliff Clement SDA Ernie Fisher SDI Abbas Piran NCYSA President Keith Price NCASA President Scott Eisenbraun NCASA/Member At-Large Jeremy Mikell NCYSA Classic VP Marvin Bishop NCASA/NCYSA At-Large Herk Degraw NCSRA Admin Marianne MacDonald NCSRA Admin Alex Rhinehart Excused Absence Call to Order Call to Order by Ken Determine Quorum A quorum of ten (10) was determined. Approval of Minutes Motion to approve minutes by Ernie Fisher and seconded by Jeremy Mikell Motion is carried to approve the minutes. Financials All expenses are in except $6,000 which pertains to the Marriott Hotel for the USYS Regional Championships tournament. At the end of the 2018 fiscal year, NCSRA has a profit of $20,690 after our bills have been paid. Assessor expenses have reduced to $15,000 versus the budgeted $16,000. The money saved will be beneficial as it can be used for other programs such as the upcoming NC Referee ID Program. Region III Events are reflective of our profit and loss. The NCSRA budgetary details cover all of the apparel, mileage, and meals for these events. Supplies listed were for the Marriott Parlor Room which was used for entertainment by NCSRA. 2018 s housing expenses have greatly reduced from 2017 however it will go up by $4000 due to payments to NCYSA for the USYS Region III Championships. For NCSRA s clinics, the Assignor, Assessor, and Instructor clinic total amount is $4,289. The amount includes housing costs. The State Referee Clinic totaled $1,771 for usage of the UNCG facilities and for lunch each day from Publix. Both clinics combined was a total $6,060. NCSRA had budgeted $10,000 for these events. Abbas asks about the makeup State Referee Clinic and how much we should budget for it. Paul says $10,000 can be applied for the budget throughout the year for a possible makeup clinic. As of July 31, 2017, the total for checking and savings was $67,362.14, and as of July 31, 2018, the total was raised to $78,515.55.
NCYSA has reimbursed NCSRA $4,781.39, which is 50 percent of the total cost to send referees to ODP Alabama by airlines. In addition, Region III has also reimbursed NCSRA for a small food purchase of $80.00 that was during the Regional Championships. As of today, NCSRA has a total of $108,942.42. Scott asks about the referee cost at regionals and is the same being done for the USASA Regional Championships? Paul states that NCYSA pays for the Referees to attend the tournament and NCSRA pays for the Assessor staff that is sent. Due to North Carolina hosting this event, more money was added than normal for the Assessor staff. There were additional support costs, but those costs will not exist in 2019 because NC will not be hosting the tournament. Paul then added that meals for the NC delegation that attended the USASA Regionals were paid for. Scott says that NCASA has spent more money in 2018 than 2017 during the USASA Regional Championships. Marianne said that housing was the insured cost. Paul states that the USASA Regionals asked for more referees which is why the costs went up. The USASA Regionals took about the same amount of referees as did USYS Regionals. National Referee Coaches were also involved; NCSRA covered them at the tournament even though they were local. Paul adds that if NCASA would like to do something for the NC Delegation, he would welcome it but no planning has been made. Marianne says that NCSRA has contributed around $2,700 toward this event, which includes meals, and apparel. Paul states that if NC hosts a tournament, then NCSRA and the Adult Association could provide some entertainment together. Reports Paul James During the previous SRC Meeting, NCSRA had not yet completed and released the State Cup tournament schedule. The event was successful. The USYS Regional Championships which was held at Bryan Park was a success. This years event was an even bigger success than 2017. Paul had heard nothing but compliments. The Assignor, Assessor and Instructor Clinic occurred on July 21-22, 2018. The State Referee Clinic occurred on July 28, 2018. Both events were successful and were well organized. As of July 1st, the 2019 Registration is available. The Arbiter has had a few technical glitches, but those have been corrected. NCSRA has exceeded our capacity to accept money through the registration system. The system is set as a soft limit. If NCSRA s income is over the $50,000 a month cash limit, we are not allowed to send invoices to anyone until the system resets. Paul provides the example of the Labor Day Shootout. Paul attempted to send an invoice for payment of this tournament on July 31. It was not allowed due to the cash limit until August 1. NCSRA s income will continue to be high due to the number of registrations that will be completed in August and September. Currently, registrations have increased from last year and should continue to go up each year. NCSRA is currently running smoothly. Abbas Piran NCSRA is planning to hold at least 2 additional clinics for State Referee s and Assessors that missed the State Referee Clinic. The AGM in January will be another opportunity to have a clinic for intermediate and advanced level referees. NCSRA is still continuing to streamline our certification process. We want to continue making it easier for referees to become certified. NCSRA is now concentrating towards on-field training sessions for referees. It s important that referees get hands-on training to further their success. The Assignor, Assessor, Instructor Clinic was a way to provide knowledge about the on-field training for these staff members; so they can run these events.
USSF is currently working on new content for online courses and field training. New field training sessions should start to be provided in 2020. Abbas is assisting to help develop these courses. Paul asks that Abbas elaborate on the on-field training for new or young referees. Abbas says that he was not able to attend the AAI Clinic. There was a lot of good content that was shown. The videos that were displayed, showed some on-field training and how to conduct them. NCSRA would like Assignors to become involved with our ARA s to administer on-field training sessions. Fourteen different videos have been created regarding on-field training. These training videos are tailored for Entry-Level Referees. Jude Carr presented the videos at UNCG during the AAI Clinic. A hard copy of the on-field training manual was also given out. It demonstrates each training session and how to set them up. More content and more training can be created moving forward. Ken suggests that Abbas discuss s his meeting with USSF. Abbas states that at the National Level National Assessors have been rebranded as National Referee Coaches. USSF has the intention to combine State Instructors and State Assessors and call them Referee Coaches. Those that do not wish to follow the path to Referee Coach will be considered Mentor or serve the game in other capacities. Ernie Fisher Ernie elaborates that USSF has not clarified that State Assessors will be called State Coaches or Referee Coaches. Ernie has spoken with Pedro as US Soccer and nothing has been finalized and approved. Neil Barbulescu has attended the State Assessor/Instructor course that was held in April. USSF has not sent out the pre-requests for these new assessors. Currently, their requirement is five shadows and the feedback given shall be video recorded. Before a candidate is approved to become a State Assessor, the national office has four designated personnel who will communicate with these candidates as to what they need to focus on. Ed Guzowski completed the Assessor course. He has no requirement to send in video recordings. Ed, has completed 6 shadows, so he is now an official State Assessor. NCSRA has two national coach candidates. Mark Kadlecik is the first. Jon Wilson, the second, is a former FIFA Assistant Referee would like to become an assessor and referee. Abbas has spoken to Rick Eddy and Jon Wilson was given the approval to become a State Assessor. NC has fifty-one Assessors. Of the fifty-one, twenty-seven are considered State Assessors and nine of those have not completed their 2019 registration. Recently there have been thirteen submissions to become Assessors. As of last year, NC held a joint assessor clinic and from that course seven of those are actively working as Assessors and three are not actively working. Ernie would like to administer another Assessor clinic which would be similar to the AAI Clinic. Ernie is asking if a clinic is intending to be scheduled. Abbas states that he is working on a date. Instruction staff will need to be lined up for this clinic. Ernie states that an email should be sent to Assessors that did not attend the AAI clinic. The email should advise those Assessors to attend the scheduled clinic. Ernie states that attendance to AAI Clinic was not mandated by NCSRA, so he believes that it should not be part of their annual requirement. Paul suggests that the next clinic is video recorded so it can be used in the future. Ernie says that he would like to review the information from the AAI clinic again, because of its training benefits. Keith asks about Mark Kadlecik and the assumption that mark is the anointed one. Ernie states that Mark works with PRO as an instructor and mentor. He is under Rick Eddy s wing with the PRO administration. Mark gives great feedback and his instruction is unquestionable. Mark has requested to be a National Coach for the last two years. Rick said that Mark will have to go to Development Academy Events in order to become a National Referee Coach. Cliff states that Mark Kadlecik has been attending multiple DA Events, he will need to attend the National Camp as a National Referee Coach candidate.
Cliff Clement The AAI clinic was fantastic because all Assignor, Assessors, and Instructors could hear all of the same material in one location. The material that was provided was very beneficial. Jude Carr did a fantastic job as the instructor. Assignors are not experienced referees and instructing Assignors to teach their referees could be a difficult task. Jude was able to get Assignors on a gym court at the UNCG Student Rec Center. The training session lasted for four hours. With this training, NCYSA will benefit with this on-field training session. Cliff hopes that the Assignors will take this information back to their areas of the state and begin training their referees. Jude Carr challenged the Assignors that if each Assignor could have three different training sessions with fifteen or more referees, these events would cover half of North Carolina s referees. Currently, only one new assignor is requested by an NC club for the 2018 fall season. Cliff would like to schedule a New Assignor Clinic in late August. Cliff would like to have an email sent out to ensure that everyone is covered. Cliff says NC is in good standing with Assignors. Keith asks if NCYSA can assist with these on-field training sessions to promote these events? Cliff stated that clubs need to see their assignors administering these on-field training sessions. Cliff made it very clear to each Assignor, that this is an important aspect of their position when it comes to referee training. Cliff would like to know what or what is not occurring in their area across the state so that it can be addressed directly. Paul suggests that NCYSA send an email to their clubs requesting compliance by their assignor. These training sessions require some assistance with players. Youth clubs can get youth players out there at these sites to help with the sessions. Ernie suggests that every club should provide two fields with scrimmages. Scheduled referee training dates will be beneficial for all, especially the Entry-Level Referees. Keith says that he would like to speak with Cliff and Paul to gather information about these training sessions so that the information can be sent to each association. He would like to speak about the need/support from each association. Paul would like to discuss this topic at the next board meeting and Keith agrees. Old Business New Business Alex mentions that one on-field training has already occurred in Hendersonville, NC. Paul states that NCSRA will be paying for Instructors at the instructional rates. Ernie asks if it would be approved through Abbas, and Paul agrees. Paul includes that it instructional staff can include referees that are assisting with instruction at the training session. Ken does not want to open the door with on-field referee training. He states that the door was closed recently with the Weekend Assessment Program. With these new training sessions, NCSRA needs to create a process to ensure that training sessions are accounted for. NCSRA should not be overwhelmed with training session invoices. Ken asks Abbas Piran to create a process for the future training sessions. Paul states that NCSRA needs a guideline for the training sessions. How many instructors are going to be used, rates used, the amount of time for each session, and how many staff are needed per each participant. Training sessions should be held for large numbers of participants, not multiple smaller groups. Abbas states that a process and guideline should be created so that they can be posted online for everyone to see. Abbas says that he will create a draft that can be sent out for everyone s view and approval. Scott would like to discuss the Carolina s Cup and the Save the Ta Ta s events. He would like the adult program to be considered as important as the youth program. He hopes that everyone could work together due to youth players moving to the adult level. These events are upcoming and he would like to ensure that the top referees are attending the Carolina s
Cup. Ken says that the Youth State Cup and Youth Regionals have a selection process. The referees that are chosen are selected for each competition. As for the Adult State Cup (Carolina s Cup), it has been utilized as an opportunity for Referees to get assessments. Ken and Ernie have made themselves available for this upcoming event which will entice referees to attend. He says the State Referee program can suggest participation in tournaments, but they do not have the authority to force anyone to go to any particular tournament. Ken agrees that marketing for this event should be increased. Paul includes that recruitment for this tournament is the issue. The Carolina s Cup competes with other high-level tournaments in addition to US Soccer s priority of assignment structure when events coincide. The pay scale is also a factor as tournaments such as the National League have high pay rates. Paul would like to further discuss the conversation after the online meeting. Ken suggests that conversation between Paul and Scott ends and this topic is further discussed after the SRC meeting concludes. Keith would like to discuss hits on the background check. Paul says that each time it is run, a hit will display on his profile, but Marianne has noted that he has been previously cleared. Paul and Keith would like to review the background each time there is a hit, just in case something new on the record shows. The NCSRA office will continue to keep notes so that his record will be streamlined as previously marked as passed. Open Discussion Determination of next State Referee Committee Meeting October 25, 2018, 8:30 PM Online Meeting Adjournment Motion made by Paul James, Cliff seconded the motion. The motion is carried and the meeting and adjourned.