MYSA Council Meeting Tupelo Park and Rec, MS May 3, 2002 Meeting called to order: 1:05 Council Members Present: Brent Clements, President, Jeanne Soboul, Secretary, Pat Rich, Southern District Director, Nigel Bolton, State Director of Coaching, State Select Program Administrator, Don Lewis, Northern District Director, Shirley Griffin, KidSafe, Dawn Wright, Registrar, Tim Clements, State Youth Referee, David Dodd, Central District Director, Ray Holloway, TopSoccer, George Hoff, State Referee Administrator, Tony Bombich, Recreational Vice President Members Absent: Pat Hoban-Moore, 2nd VP-Select, Gene Phillips, Treasurer, 1 st VP, Cindy Johnson, Western District Director, Chuck Tate, State Director of Referee Instruction Members Late: Chris Dahlman, Disciplinary and Appeals, Kenyatta Scott, 3 rd VP- Amateurs Guests: Alex Farned, Northern District, Kevin Remy, Meridian President, Brent Clements, called the meeting to order. President's Report Brent reported that there are several discipline issues that have been brought to the attention of MYSA and he is handling them as they come in. There was an incident at a tournament in Clinton where matters caused for the coach to step down, players were arrested, a court case has been brought forth and further lawsuits are pending. The JFC U13 boys will not be at the Snicker s Cup. They were found to be playing a player in SW Jackson in a tournament and league games. No further tournament play for the year. They were using bogus player passes. Brent introduced Kevin Remy, father of Blake Remy. This is the player who plays on a Meridian U19 boy s team and was assaulted on the field during a tournament in Clinton where they played NW Rankin on February 24, 2002. Kevin Remy read the facts in the case from various sources such as referee statements, police reports, his son s statement, etc. Mr. Remy s son was 16 years old and the other player, Kevin Eskew, was 18 years old. Mr. Remy filed charges of assault that same night. His son was hit in the nose and
required 18 stitches in his nose, both of his nasal bones were broken and his septum was shattered. His medical bills so far are around $6000. There were words exchanged during this game between Blake and Kevin as Blake is a forward and Kevin is the keeper. It seems that Kevin threatened Blake during the game. As they were shaking hands after the match, Kevin kept holding Blake s hand and told him that he was going to make good on his threats while he hit Blake in the nose. As Blake was on the ground, Kevin was standing over him in an excited manner saying more. No help came from the assistant coach on NW Rankin s team who happens to be a doctor. Actually, he has called and offered to smooth this matter over. 5 days later Kevin Eskew turned himself over to the police and also filed charges against Blake Remy for kicking him during the soccer match. There was a hearing in Youth Court on March 29 th. After hearing testimony, the Intake Officer told Blake that he was free to go. Kevin Eskew also received a yellow card later in this same game for another violation. Blake was later subpoenaed for simple assault for a hearing on 4-10-02 at 5:00 in Clinton. There were only 3 witnesses subpoenaed for this hearing. These people were: Kevin Remy, who was dismissed as a witness, Blake Remy, and Andrew Culpepper. Mr. Remy doesn t understand why these were the only witnesses subpoenaed. Eskew had 4 witnesses. The judge ruled that Kevin Remy crossed the line. He was found guilty of simple assault. He was fined $300 plus court costs and ordered to serve 10 days in jail but that time was suspended. Kevin Eskew has appealed his conviction according to members of the council. The coach told the referee that this was going to happen and the referee didn t do anything. Russell Cox was the Field Marshall. The parents were flipped off along the sidelines during the game. Kevin Remy filed a complaint with Cindy Johnson against # 36, Chris Bryan. Nothing happened. The coach was out of hand. Jim Bryan does not need to be allowed to coach. The behavior has happened before and had been reported. It was handled locally and Mr. Bryan was suspended for 3 games. Dr. Crenshaw was listed as the coach but Jim Bryan coached on the sidelines. Kevin Ramy feels that something must be done. The coaches in this game did absolutely nothing to restrain their players. Brent says that MYSA needs to resolve a Zero tolerance for this behavior. MYSA can sanction further if the punishment imposed on the local level does not seem sufficient. Tim Clements ask, Why didn t the referees attend to all of this better? If there were players/coaches who were saying things inappropriately and using their hands as bullhorns, why wasn t anything done to stop it? Brent said that the referees need to be spoken to about the Zero tolerance for language. This must be stressed to the referees. Motion: The MYSA Council will issue a Zero tolerance statement as well as to announce that any violations will be handled in the harshest manner. Maker: Tony Bombich Second: Chris Dahlman Discussion: Nigel This matter needs to be addressed in Referee Training. The coach is the problem as well. Parental education has also failed in these types of situations.
Tim The motion should state that the referee and the coaching group have Zero tolerance and how to deal with the people and the situation. Tony Recreation soccer is to have fun. We should be teaching citizenship, respect, and sportsmanship. We should make a statement to the coaches to do more than just teach soccer. Tony Withdrew his motion Chris Withdrew her 2 nd Brent will take care of this matter. Pat Hoben-Moore is not here as she is working in New Orleans. Kay Breland and Brent are handling the Snicker s Cup. Dawn Wright Registrar Several people made mention of the fine job that Dawn is doing. Dawn says that a registrar s seminar desperately needs to be held for the new and old alike. She intends to have a full-day seminar to offer to local organizations on August 3, 2002 in Jackson. All district directors need to require that at least whoever will be serving as registrar for each local organization attend and where possible, local organizations should send more than one delegate. There are several problem areas that have arisen: Deadlines, Team Formation Procedures, Single-season Registrations, Team Classification (Division II and Division III) / Team Numbers, Releases/ Transfers/ Drops, Division Exception Request (s), Roster Size Exceptions, Software Issues Dawn is even willing to go to different districts to conduct these seminars. Division I managers will also have a meeting on August 3. This will be Team Management of Dummies. Shirley Griffin has an excellent program that she received from N. Texas that she will share with Dawn. The In Touch manual is online or can be purchased on CD. Jeanne Soboul Secretary Nothing to report at this time. Don Lewis Northern District Director We played a tournament. The winners are here. David Dodd Central District Director He also stated that they played a tournament and the winners are here. The medals for the Tide Cup are here. Brent wants to order the medals for next year right away. The design for the patches has already been selected so those should be ordered as well. The District Directors will get back with Brent this weekend with their numbers to order. Cindy Johnson Western District Director ABSENT Pat Rich Southern District Director
The tournament in Hattiesburg went great. He spoke of his leaving this position and wanted to let it be known that working with Dawn Wright has been a pleasure. Gene Phillips Treasurer s Report Gene was not present due to a new job, but he sent his report to the meeting. Coach: A new van was purchased. The payments are about the same $440. The van was upside down around $2,000. Insurance savings are around $600 annually. Salary rose from $32K to $36K. State office: Rent has been reduced from $900 to $500 as we have given up the meeting room. Storage costs will run $150 monthly. Misc. labor to maintain the office has exceeded the budget. District tournaments: District directors will be sent a statement as soon as the billings for the medals are in. Brent spoke Put funds in each district s funds. We are doing this because 1 or 2 districts has had problems with money. The District Directors will receive a credit card. This will bring the funds back to the general ledger. The District Directors themselves will approve everything. This will also help with the 1099 s. This will ensure that clinics, referees, etc are getting paid right away. Please wrap up your expenses by July 30 so the credit cards can be passed out. There will be a $1,000 cap put on the cards. Cash management will be much better and we can get better rates with the bank as well. The District Directors or the Executive Council are the only way to pay off something. Nigel Boulton - State Director of Coaching, State Select Program Administrator, ODP Nigel spoke about the ODP program. Is it mandatory to attend both tryout sessions for ODP? No. The 1 st freeze date will be an open tryout. The 2 nd freeze out will be for the last year s teams in July. He will take recommendations from coaches. Division I players will be recommended to come to the 2 nd weekend. All players trying out the first weekend will get invited to the 2 nd tryout. The rest of the people trying out and not making it will get a letter. The 2 nd freeze date will only have the best players. 1989 and 1990 will not have any exceptions so they will all be there for both days. Quality instead of Quantity is better. The freeze dates are great. They will train through the winter. Next year have less freeze days on ODP for the spring season. Wait until the Snicker s Cup is over. Get local coaches to be more involved to get their best players out there. May have a big name person there and charge the coach to attend as well as have a Division I meeting. All of this is to improve ODP. George Hoff - State Referee Administrator The referee general meeting is the last weekend in July. It is on Hwy 80 at the Ramada Inn in Jackson. It is a 1-day event on July 27. Have had 784 forms for referees this year. Have 60 + assignors. Some or most of these do not assign.
Tim Clements - State Youth Referee Bring a fee proposal to the next council meeting and a policy to be used statewide for standard price for travel, fees, etc. The referee committee needs to make the recommendation. Division I play is better than last year. Still having some problems though. 3 sites are used; need to split it up to 2 weekends. Division I play is done in tournament format only. Not to follow the glamour of a tournament though. We need to have an advanced assignor clinic. Regionals Close to assigning those going to regionals. ODP camp These referees going to camp will be assigned in 2 weeks We need to publicize our web address more. We should have the address on everything that we use and even on the side of the van. Questions about this Tide Cup tournament were brought up. Examples: U10 modified rules, 8 a side, do goalkeepers have to switch each quarter? Do U10 play with quarters? If the weather gets bad, will the games be shortened? Who will make that call? How will they relay the information? Shirley Griffin Kidsafe Shirley passed out her report. She stated that some Kidsafe forms for the coaches are still missing. She did say that it is getting better though. Ray Holloway Top Soccer North Mississippi just completed their program last Monday. This went very well. We need to dedicate 1 day a week to go recruit for Top Soccer. Ray applied for a Chevy grant in the amount of $1000. He will find out May 15 th if MYSA is to receive it. Soccer Start Cecil went to Dallas but Brent hasn t heard back from him. We are down about 300 players, mostly inner city or rural. Chris Dahlman - Disciplinary and Appeals We are improving on compliance and accuracy of reports. Statistics will be reported in August. Disciplinary clinic will have a meeting themselves and more information will follow. Need a disciplinary compliance form for Amateurs for problems with U19 players moving up. President - Brent Clements The website is very slow at this time. Kaz has been bought out. Soccer online is not really committed. Brent is looking into other site places. We can then sell our own website advertisement. The MYSA office can now accept credit cards. We accept MasterCard, Visa, American Express and possibly Discovery. We will be redistricting. The Southern District is adding 2 more programs. We will keep the districts at 4 rather than 5 or 6. Think about what you see happening on this redistricting and get back with Brent over the weekend. We will discuss this at the next council meeting.
Kenyatta Scott - 3 rd VP-Amateurs Membership is down. Amateur Memorial Weekend. Kenyatta is leaving for San Francisco. Tony Bombich will meet with Don Lewis and others to discuss the Tide Cup. Motion: To adjourn the meeting at 4:00 pm Maker: Pat Rich Second: Kenyatta Scott Motion Carried