General Membership Meeting
Meeting called to order at
Officers Reports
President's Report (
-No report
Vice-President's Report (Perry Woodford)
-Discussion on the three attached documents. Lots
of discussion on what is right and wrong with what the state is doing
and what can we do to influence change.
The state structure will change next year and take a couple of years to
implement.
Secretary's Report (Kirsten Nelson)
-No report
Treasurer's Report (Darlin' Boudreau)
-Handed
out budget versus actual spread sheets.
Directors Reports
Director of Coaching (Rob Walker)
-The poker night was approved for the Reign 93 Purple. Discussion
ensued about gambling being promoted by a youth organization as a fund raiser.
Director of Competition (
-Absent
Boy's Registrar (Katherine Hinkle)
-Absent
Girl's Registrar (Novella Fraser)
-Absent
Storm Coordinator (
-No report
Reign Coordinator (
-No report
Boy's Coordinator (Kevin Wilburn)
-Absent
Girl's Coordinator (Sharon Woodford)
-Absent
Equipment Coordinator (
-Spirit gear will not be organized in time for Christmas orders.
-DJ Imprints is pricing out non-Adidas gear.
-Soccer West pricing out Adidas
gear. They are willing to keep the logo gear on display and keep track of
the sales records.
-Still waiting to hear about the roughneck scarf fundraiser.
-Would like to have year-round Adidas logo gear available and
bi-yearly non-Adidas logo gear.
-Goals are ready for pick-up.
Field's Coordinator (
-Absent
Committee Reports
-None
Corry Zimmer (97' Reign White)
-Discussion
about various fundraisers. Knows of several businesses
that are willing to donate money through postings on our web site.
It was suggested that he make a proposal for the next meeting.
Next Meeting
First Draft Proposed Future
District Commissioner Roles and
Responsibilities in
New System
(No sooner than April 2009 AGM)
Primary Role
(As of November 8, intent is unchanged from current role): District
Commissioners
(DCs) play a critical role in conveying information
and decisions within the flow of communications between National, State,
District, Association and Club levels. As per Strategic Change Plan Objective
5, a key element of this communications role is consistency and clarity of the
message
Additional
roles under proposed new governance structure, following April 2009 AGM: District Commissioners would either vote on,
or provide guidance to, the Executive Director (ED) on the following matters:
1. Rules: With respect to the rules of soccer play
within the state, the DCs and ED collectively appoint
members to the rules committee. ED appoints staff to staff the committee. Rules
committee decisions are implemented by the ED.
2. Program equity among districts: With respect to the programs
and services that Washington Youth Soccer provides, DCs
provide guidance to the ED and the ED retains decision making authority on
issues in which there is, or seems to be, a disparity between the districts as
to how these programs and services are delivered.
3. Strategic
Change Plan Objectives as follows:
_ Develop a Seamless Soccer
_ Increase support for districts, associations and clubs
_ Develop an organizational culture and systems that provides
adequate data
for decision making, program monitoring and evaluation For
Strategic Change Plan Objectives above, whether the matter calls for a vote or
providing guidance to the ED is to be determined as follows:
_For any issue where there is an opportunity for an override by the
governing board, specifically on oversight of the strategic direction and/or
budget, then the DCs (plus the ED with a vote) can as
a group vote on the matter.
_ If an issue is purely operational, i.e. not going back up to the
governing board, then DCs provide advice to the ED and the ED retains the
decision making authority On matters where District Commissioners vote,
individual commissioner voting records shall be recorded and made available for
members to see.
As the
transition to the new governance system progresses, these roles may shift as
staff grows, and committee functioning changes and improves. The proposed roles
and responsibilities contained herein shall be reviewed for changes in 2 years.
The Executive Director will gather input from DCs in
order to frame such “significant” programmatic decisions as listed above. Input
on such matters is expected to be gathered via email, phone calls, and periodic
meetings of all DCs. Such significant programmatic
decisions are to be distinguished from daily operational matters such as
scheduling, education, staffing and program implementation, which are the
purview of the ED and staff. DCs shall not address
matters being handled by standing committees.
The DCs will provide the Board of Directors with input as to
the Executive Director’s performance. The DCs will
provide a written quarterly report of the activities of their district to the
Board of Directors and the Executive Director.
EARLY WORKING DRAFT: IN PROGRESS
Strategic Change Plan
To foster the
physical, mental and emotional growth and development of the State of
Vision
Washington
Youth Soccer strives to:
_ Be the model
organization for youth sports in
_ Be the ultimate
resource for youth soccer in
_ Provide a seamless
range of soccer opportunities for youth in
_ Be financially
sound, with one year’s operating reserves and an asset management
plan that protects
and builds Washington Youth Soccer assets
Values
_ Promotes a positive,
healthy and safe playing environment
_ Builds
character through a focus on FIFA “Fair Play and Good Sportsmanship”
_ Promotes
integrity and high ethical standards
_ Encourages
teamwork, leadership, respect and family values through the sport of soccer
_ Is dependable,
accountable and responsive towards its members
_ Is well managed
and fiscally responsible
_ Is forward
thinking, creative and innovative
Goal
1: Develop a Seamless Soccer
Objectives
_ Developmentally correct playing
opportunities for all players (regardless of potential or obsolete
administrative barriers)
o More leagues,
cups and programs (or should this be seamless access to, or movement among?)
_ Increased
flexibility to provide more user-friendly experience (both players and parents)
and reduce conflicts
_ Expanded
opportunities for like vs. like competition with less travel and reduced
administrative burden
Strategy
1A: Seamless Player Opportunities and Player Development:
Develop and
implement a plan and/or policies and/or principles to address/accommodate
differences in player skills, geography, age, population density, interests,
etc in order to give players a seamless opportunity to play.
Tactic 1: Flexibility:
o More
flexibility especially for U-11 and under
o Explore/expand
player pass concept to allow more flexibility in terms of
player movement
across geographical boundaries and skill level as appropriate
o Address
changes to Oct 31 deadline (for….)
o Explore
concept of player “free agency” after season
o Explore
concept of allowing club members flexibility within a league wide
player pool
Tactic 2: Expanded
Coaching and Coaching Standards (or continuous improvement):
o Offer
additional coaching clinics to develop more qualified coaches toteach youth modules
o Provide
standard coaching evaluation and feedback processes and templates
Tactic 3: Address
geography: Develop the game and intentionally offer more opportunities
statewide, especially in non-affiliated and rural areas of the state.
Explore and if
feasible, allow play across state borders and Canadian border.
Strategy
1B: Seamless Administration and League System: Develop and implement a plan
and/or policies and/or principles to eliminate gaps and inconsistencies within
current Washington Youth Soccer, 7 District and 42 Association league
administration., including
a)
integration/linkages of existing leagues and
b) anticipate future
local attempts to establish new leagues, levels of play, etc, and integrate
them into the state system seamlessly.
Tactic 1: Multiple
levels of leagues under the 3 main categories that are clearly defined. As each
league is created (existing leagues must do this as well) they must declare
what league type they are serving. We can then replace the specific league
names in our rules with league types. This will also allow our rules to be more
flexible as new leagues are created in the future.
Tactic 2: Movement
within associations: Register players at the association level and
allow flexibility within clubs and teams within the association, without
fostering additional recruitment.
Tactic 3: Flexibility
in rules: Analyze and establish which rules for which age ranges can be
flexed and which are bound by USYSA National Cup rules
Potential
Tactic 4: Analyze cost and revenue sharing options and, if feasible, pilot
state administration of current district-administered (non-recreational)
leagues
_ Existing
leagues
_ New leagues that
correspond to district, inter-district, or inter-state geography, in order to
tie together leagues, and not take them over.
Tactic 5: Reassess
role of state versus local organizations and adjust if/as
necessary to place roles at most useful level
Strategy
1C: Develop and continuously strengthen separate but connected tracks for
recreational and competitive play
Tactic 1: Enhance
recreational player experience. What is lost with current/past imbalanced
administrative emphasis on competitive players and issues? Develop and offer
youth modules for all recreational clubs and coaches. Make it fun, make it flexible.
Maintain plenty of playing options close to home, in neighborhood, avoid
travel. Allow play for a part of the year.
Tactic 2: Elevate
competitive play by embracing some PDL and other Premier play concepts: Better
training content, develop and standardize performance standards for coaches,
increase training resources, provide fuller coach training Curriculum.
Strategy
1D: Streamline Player Registration/Identification
Utilize
membership cards for identification on field to clarify player age and team affiliation
Goal
2: Develop a Best Practice Board of Directors and
Governance
System
Strategy 2A. Establish Best Practices Board Structure
Tactic
2.A.1. Insure that board members have the skills and experience to
fulfill governance functions by changing the bylaws so that:
a) the board
will be responsible for proposing a slate of board nominees with skills and
experience in all governance functions including financial management, audit,
fundraising, strategic planning, selection and support of the Executive
Director, and evaluation of the board, the ED, and program effectiveness.
Proposed board members must meet criteria that ensure soccer passion and
connection. Board must include geographical and ethnic diversity.
b) the members will vote to elect the board members, with one
position each year elected by the board.
c) the board will elect the officers.
d) The CEO
function shifts from Board President to Executive Director
Tactic
2.A.2. Establish a standing strategic planning committee designated in
the
Bylaws and
reporting to the Board of Directors, with representation from
Commissioners,
Board and Staff to ensure long range and annual planning reflects knowledge of
how to deliver soccer programs.
Tactic
2.A.3. Establish standing governance, audit, financial management and
fundraising committees
and place board members with appropriate experience on committees to meet
strategic plan objectives.
Strategy 2B. Implement a realistic transition plan. From 2008
through 2011, as governance and staff capacity grow to allow a best practice
governance system, implement a transition by incrementally making changes as
capacity allows.
Tactic
2B1. Separate policy and operational matters, and, as capacity allows,
make policy matters the purview of the board and operational matters the
purview of the
Executive
Director, District commissioners, staff and committees.
Tactic
2B2. Eliminate VPs of Recreation, Competition, Development, and
Administration
in 2009
Strategy 2C. Develop an annual audit process and
committee
Goal
3: Develop & Continuously Improve the WYS Staff
and
Operational Capacity
Strategy
3A: Build a staff, commensurate with the budget, to implement the
totality of this plan
_ Add 2 senior
staff in calendar year 2009, including a high-level position for District communications
_ Staff will
gather input from Commissioners and Operating Committees in order to frame
soccer policy issues and propose policy and program solutions for
Commissioners. Staff will be responsible for implementing programs.
_ Equitable
services, support and resource allocation across all districts
_ Cross train
staff so multiple staff are available to cover all functions, provide more
consistent support for members, and provide evening and weekend support for
members
_ Staff
development; professional development, feedback and evaluation, including
360-degree evaluations for all staff
_ Staff
positions
Strategy
3B: Develop & strengthen District Commissioners’ capacity for the following
responsibilities
_ Soccer
policies, in conjunction with the Executive Director
_
Insuring
equitable services, support and resource allocation across all districts. However, the
ED will retain decision making authority on issues in which there seems to be a
disparity between the districts as to how these programs and services are
delivered.
_
For
District Commissioners and the ED to collectively appoint members to the rules
committee.
_ To oversee the
following Strategic Change Plan Objectives:
_ Develop a
Seamless Soccer
_ Increase
support for districts, associations and clubs
_ Develop an
organizational culture and systems that provides adequate data for decision
making, program monitoring and evaluation
_ Provide staff
support to Districts as stated under goals 5 & 6
Strategy
3C: Develop and support relevant Operating Committees
Build
volunteer, operating committees that are designed to provide high-level and
comprehensive input and guidance for staff in framing & developing soccer
policies and programs, as follows:
_ Disciplinary
_ Ethics
_ Appeals
_ Rules
o Revised rules
committee will develop more policy and philosophically driven rules by 2009
_ Recreation
_ Competition
_ TopSoccer
_ Soccer Start
o Tactic =
Employ consultant with experience setting up similar programs
_ Mediation –
use volunteers for occasional need for mediation
_ League
Development/ Seamless Soccer Task Force
_ Community
soccer committee for event participation in the communities
Goal
4: Develop an organizational culture and systems for regular data gathering,
program monitoring and evaluation
Objective:
Board and Executive Director decisions are based on
sound data gathered from a representative sample of the membership
Strategy
4A: Governance committee of board of directors will develop and oversee an
evaluation process of the board of directors, the Executive
Director
and Committees
Tactic:
Governance committee will implement an annual self-evaluation according to the
broad principles outlined by BoardSource
Tactic:
Governance committee will implement an annual 360-degree evaluation of the
Executive Director, including input form staff, committees, and association
Members
Tactic: Governance committee will implement an annual evaluation of each
committee’s effectiveness
Strategy
4B: Staff will perform an annual membership survey and other market research as
necessary
to ascertain factors affecting Washington Youth Soccer membership level,
perception of services, suggestions for service improvements, etc
Strategy
4C: Strategic Planning Committee will continuously monitor and suggest
improvements to programs, systems
Tactic:
Executive Director will provide monthly reports to the Board of Directors
regarding operations and program delivery.
Tactic:
Strategic planning committee will coordinate with executive director to guide
implementation of needed data gathering and program monitoring
Goal
5: Improve
Objective
Communications
with members that are internally consistent, more transparent, and provide
faster information on latest issues and responses to questions
Strategy
5A: Improve specific communications with members
_ Provide
advance notification of press releases and other communications to District
Commissioners
_ Provide
enhanced communications followup with members following
press releases and other outreach efforts
_ Address
potential of better use of email
_ Staff work with each District and Association to migrate everyone
to the same data system for communication purposes
_
Accommodate
people who don’t have email. One option is to provide venues that will
allow that to happen
_ Provide video
conferencing hardware for Board Members & District Commissioners to
streamline communications and avoid travel time and expense
_ Send out
Executive Summaries of Board meeting minutes and Commissioner meeting minutes
to each District and Association
Strategy
5B: Upgrade and broadly apply technology
_ Continuously improve Bonzi and provide staff support to allow user friendlyapplication at local level. Improve functions such
as import-export, matchups, etc.
_ Upgrade
website based on member feedback
_ Make
information available on Bonzi for districts in cases
where it avoids duplication and saves time and effort, such as player
registration information for players within that district
_ Synchronize
state website and district websites
_ Explore single
source database for emails
Strategy
5C: Develop Communications Policy – Needs clarification of whatsorts
of policy issues this refers to
_ Marketing
message: “The game for all kids!”
Goal
6: Increase support for districts, associations and clubs to most effectively
deliver services that benefit
players
Objective
Clearly
delineate responsibilities between
Strategy
6A: Increase staff support
_ Add 2 senior
staff in calendar year 2009, including a high-level position for District
communications
_ State staff provide assistance for District leadership and staff
on issues as
requested, including
face time at both Washington Youth Soccer and District
offices _ Have
Washington Youth Soccer staff available after hours to provide member support,
including use of Bonzi
Strategy
6B: Make state staff and resources more accessible; utilize local
resources most efficiently
_ Identify and
provide hardware tools required at district level
_ Although face to face
meetings are preferred, provide technology support to
supplement and increase
communications
_ Review state
and district responsibilities to determine which matters can be handled most
efficiently by districts vs state organization. For
example, should districts approve travel in certain circumstances?
Strategy
6C: Complete best practices manual and maintain as current, regarding both
administrative and soccer matters
Goal
7: Streamline Rules for ease of use and understanding
Objectives
& Targets
_ Reduce
number of appeals, grievances etc. due to lack of clarity by X% by 2012
_ Increase
member satisfaction with system
Strategy
7A: Develop and maintain policy- and principle-based rules (insert roles
language from new rules task force)
Strategy
7B: Expand function of rules committee to include development and
maintenance of policies and principle-based rules. District Commissioners
select rules committee members, which will report to the Executive Director
Goal
8: Increase and Diversify
Objectives
_ Revenue
stability
_ $1M in
annual new revenues by 2013
_ Reduced pressure
on player fees
Strategy
8A: Develop board and staff with capacity for major and corporate donor
development
Tactic: Build
a board of directors with significant experience in partner and donor
development and major and corporate donor fundraising
Tactic: Retain
an Executive Director with significant experience in partner and donor
development and fundraising
Tactic: Hire
an experienced Development Director by 2010
Strategy
8B: Develop Relationships with Foundation and Corporate Partners:
Expand and develop
existing and new relationships with natural partners such as
Sounders FC,
national and regional soccer and athletic federations, US Soccer
Foundation,
Foundations including educational foundations, corporations and corporate
foundations, especially those with products and/or an interest in youth sports
and youth development.
Strategy
8C: Develop major (individual) donor giving campaign
Tactic: 100%
of board members make an annual gift
Tactic:
Development director to work with fundraising committee to develop and
implement a major donor campaign by 2010 or 2011
Tactic:
Develop plan for major fundraising event
Goal
9: Manage resources wisely
Strategy
9A: Improve Asset Management for the benefit of members
_ Acquire
ownership and/or access to additional playfields for Washington Youth
Soccer
and/or members.
o Provide
low-interest loans to facilitate building and improving fields
_ Invest net
revenues in money market funds and CDs to maximize security of assets
_ Have new board
reevaluate use of assets beginning when seated in 2009
Strategy
9B: Manage budget for the benefit of membership by keeping overhead down,
investing in services and programs that benefit districts &
associations
_
Acquire
ownership and/or access to additional playfields for Washington Youth Soccer
and/or members.
o Provide
low-interest loans to members to facilitate building and improving fields
_ Increase
support for districts, associations and clubs to most effectively deliver
services that benefit players
_ Improve
communications across and within all levels of Washington Youth Soccer
Strategy
9C: Develop and provide relevant, user-friendly and transparent
budget & financial reports
_ Post budget on
web site
_ Simplify
budget format by defining approximately five lines of business for all 13+
existing programs into (i.e. player development, recreational soccer,
competitive soccer, communications & education, and soccer supports)
_ Add
explanatory notes
_ Make entire
accounting system format consistent across all documents and reports
Strategy
9D: Manage Risk
_ Maintain risk
management program, including Bonzi, to maintain
best-practice within USYSA
_ Maintain
secondary health insurance for members from on-field injury
o Strive for
100% player and club registration to allow insurance coverage
Strategy
9E: Maintain financial stability by retaining a minimum of 5 months operating
reserves; gradually growing reserves in the future
_ Membership
dues and fees are all reinvested in programs that benefit members
_ Any growth in
reserves to come from excess of private contributions
_ New board will
reevaluate financial management policies