Minutes of the NASL General Membership Meeting
Rec Field Recreational Building (Brahan Springs)
7:30pm on Wednesday October 10th, 2001

      NASL board members in attendance were: Christie Clark, David Ghoja, Craig Hardwick, Belton MacCary, and Ken Gamble.

CALL TO ORDER:
       Christie called the meeting to order.  The first order of business concerned the game schedule.  Christie and Craig asked that we notify NASL teams and managers via the e-mail list that they are responsible for looking at the NASL schedule day to day to confirm game times and locations and possible changes. 

Note: A copy of that e-mail that was sent out on Thursday, October 11th is included here:
 

Coaches and Team Managers:

        Please check the NASL schedule which is updated several times daily at  http://www.nasl.com.  Games may be moved when circumstances require it.  We try to contact coaches and managers to let you know well in advance but often that is difficult. The NASL website schedule is the best way to confirm your game's date, time and location.
       An example of a game that had to be moved - last week we had five games set at one field outside Huntsville at 10am, 12 noon, 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm.  Two of those games were cancelled early. With 48 hours left, two of the three remaining games were cancelled leaving just one game at that field for the day.  It made sense to move that game to a field located in Huntsville where two other games were already scheduled.  This allowed a referee crew to do the three games in succession.  The other choice was to try to convince a three man referee crew to drive many miles for one game. While most referees work because they love the game they don't like to lose
money in order to referee and in most cases a single game means a crew will lose money because of the travel expenses.  With the extreme shortage of referees we try to accommodate them in order to stretch our supply as much as possible. This may include moving game times so that we can end up with two or three games in succession, say 12pm, 2pm and 4pm rather than one game at 8am, one at 2pm and one at 6pm.
      Again, we try to notify everyone in advance where possible but since we allow cancellations up to 24 hours it can mean late changes are necessary.  Please designate someone on your team to check the NASL website and to confirm your game times, dates and locations. When you are playing a game against a non-NASL team that person should also confirm any changes with the out of town team's manager or coach.
      On the subject of referees NASOA will provide two USSF referee re-certification clinics in the coming weeks. Referee Re-Certification Clinics have been set for the 16th of October 2001, and 3rd of November 2001.  The Re-Certification Clinic on the 16th of October will be held at the Ramada Inn in Madison at 5:30 p.m.  The clinic will last for 4 hours. The place and time for the 3rd of November clinic has not been established.
      This provides one weeknight clinic and one weekend clinic.  You will only need to attend one of these sessions, if you are a returning referee. If you were newly certified at the end of August, you do not need to attend a re-certification.

      Thanks for your help.

Ken Gamble
dsports@hiwaay.net
http://www.nasl.com

REC FIELD CONDITION:
     Craig Hardwick discussed Rec Field at Brahan Springs Park.  He stated that approximately 60% of the NASL games in the past were played at Rec Field and that the field was in terrible shape.  The field will be closed soon to have work done to bring it back up to a playable condition.  Craig said that there would be a work day soon at which NASL volunteers would be requested to help work on the field. 

     Craig stated that both Ron Evans and Ralph Stone had been very good to work with  NASL on field management.

NEXT AYSA MEETING:
      A recurring theme at our past few board meetings has been the absence of information from AYSA.  The responsibility of providing that information rests with Marty Eaton, our district commissioner. Marty has not been present at the last two NASL board meetings. This lack of communication from the state has been a prime source of problems for NASL this season.  When questioned about several of this season’s changes instituted by AYSA, those in charge at AYSA have said time and time again that our district commissioner should have told us about the changes as they had been decided upon by the state board some time ago. 
      It was decided that we should find out the date of the next AYSA meeting so that we could have someone attend to bring back the information discussed at the meeting. 

STATE CUP PREPARATIONS:
    The next matter on the agenda was preparations to host State Cup.  Christie noted that on Friday night, November 30th, there would be a party at the Jaycee Building at the Fairgrounds near the Hunt fields.  Two bands will be provided.  The responsibility for providing those bands rests with the Huntsville Sports Commission not NASL.  NASL will be responsible for providing food for the party.  This party will be for an estimated 100 players.  Suggested food was pizza, chicken fingers, chicken wings, or sub sandwiches and soft drinks.  We will also be responsible for hospitality for referees during and between games.  Christie suggested that we request food donations from local businesses in exchange for publicity at the tournament.  It was noted that in order to put a restaurant’s name on a banner at the fields they would have to make a minimum donation. 
 

TEE SHIRTS for STATE CUP:
     NASL revenue for the purchase of food and beverages will come from tee-shirt sales.  A tee-shirt design is needed.  Christie had a recommended screen design artist she had prior dealings with that we agreed to use.  Gray shirts instead of white were recommended.  It was thought that we might find a vendor such as a local soccer shop willing to fund the tee shirts in exchange for their name on the shirts.  Umbro and Snickers are principle sponsors for the tournament and their logos must be included on the shirts.  Christie is handling the design and procurement of tee shirts at this time.
  

DIRECTORY for STATE CUP:
      There will be a directory for the State Cup but it was unsure whose responsibility the directory would be.  Christie will find out whose responsibility it is.

CHANGE IN THE NUMBER OF TEAMS TO BE AT STATE CUP:
       There was some concern about unexpected changes instituted by AYSA that will decrease the number of teams that attend State Cup.
       NASL had expected 40 teams to be present for the semifinal games on Saturday and 20 teams to be present for finals on Sunday.  Obviously many, if not most, of those 40 teams would spend the night in Huntsville on Friday night to be rested for Saturday games.  The exception would be local teams who would probably stay at home.  All forty teams could be expected to attend the party on Friday night and to purchase tee shirts.   Some of those twenty teams eliminated in the semifinals could reasonably be expected to stay in Huntsville to watch the finals.
       AYSA changed the State Cup structure in some age/sex brackets so that there are now only finals (no semi-finals) for groups in which only three, four or five teams are entered into the State Cup.  That meant 450 players (based on 15 per team) instead of the 600 we had anticipated.  In addition the entourages that usually follow teams to State Cup, including coaches, parents, siblings, other club members, friends, relatives, etc., would be significantly reduced.  It was agreed that Ken would write a short letter to Kenny White and Deter Walker about the concerns and ask if some of the changes might be rescinded.  A copy was e-mailed to David Ghoja, (at Ghola@bellsouth.net) on Thursday.  David, in turn, was to present it to Kenny White at the USSF C Coaching Clinic that weekend in Montgomery and get back to us with Kenny’s response.  

Note: A copy of that e-mail that was sent out on Thursday, October 11th is included here:


North Alabama Soccer League

     Thursday, October 11, 2001

Alabama Youth Soccer Association
Attn: Kenny White
19220 Highway 280 West
Birmingham, Alabama 35242

Kenny,
        We had a North Alabama Soccer League board meeting last night and voted to request that AYSA reconsider the change made in State Cup structure in which there are now only finals (no semi-finals) for groups in which only four or five teams are entered into the State Cup.
        There are two brackets that only have three total teams – the U17 and U18 Girls.  We agree that those two brackets should only have finals at State Cup since there is no way to have three teams play two games and determine a champion.  However, we would like for the brackets that have four and five team fields - U14 Girls, U16 Girls and the U16 Boys - to have four teams attend State Cup and play both semi-finals and finals.
       We fully understand AYSA’s reasoning behind having just finals in those groups since teams can compete in State Cup just by entering a team and paying a fee. But, we (NASL) went into this project with our understanding that there would be ten brackets of four teams each.  This meant that approximately 600 players and their coaches and families would attend State Cup.  With the restructuring there will be approximately 150 less players and families attending the tournament on both Saturday and Sunday.  That means we sell less concessions, tee-shirts, etc.
      This is compounded by the fact that another ten teams will attend only Sunday’s State Cup Finals.  That is an additional 150 players, coaches and families who probably will not attend Friday night’s festivities or Saturday games.  They will not stay in Huntsville hotels or spend their money
locally.   Four of these teams may be Huntsville area teams so that effect cannot be calculated exactly. But without getting overly complicated, our main concern is that with fewer teams the local economic impact is exponentially lessened.
        Thanks for your consideration.

North Alabama Soccer League Board of Directors

Christi Clark, President
David Ghoja, Vice-President
Belton MacCary, Recreational Youth Soccer - Liaison
Craig Hardwick, Scheduling Director
Kari Elliott, Treasurer
Ken Gamble, Secretary/Communications Director
Cyndi Lindblom, Registrar

• A Note from Ken:
  I did hear back immediately by e-mail from Deter Walker who was in Olympia, Washington.  I have always found Deter to be prompt and easy to work with.  She said that she would not be back in the office until October 22^nd.  Deter mentioned that they (Dan Mikos, herself, Jeanette, Mickey and Donna Holmes) along with Lee Sims would meet with the media in Huntsville on October 25^th.   She also noted that these are not decisions that she makes, as the executive director.  Rather, she implements whatever the committee decides upon.  She said that Rob Walker would respond to our letter the following morning.  I have not heard from Rob but I assume he would not have responded to me but rather to Christie Clark or our district commissioner, Marty Eaton.

SCHOLARSHIP:
         Christie recommended that NASL consider providing a college scholarship of $500 to a boy and a girl each year.  This money would go to a high school senior who was registered with a NASL team.  Ken asked if we had the money to do this on an on-going basis and Christie thought we did, but would confirm that.  Several criteria such as being well-rounded, good grades, soccer player, coach nomination, needs based, service work, personal interview, etc. were bandied around.  Based on that rough premise it was agreed that we should come up with exact criteria for the scholarships.  Craig Hardwick and Ken Gamble are to put together information used by other scholarship programs.  A final decision will be made at a future board meeting after State Cup is completed.

RECREATIONAL LEAGUES:
      Christie asked that we consider taking the USYS based Huntsville recreational soccer leagues under the NASL umbrella.  The synergy of combining the leagues and the fact that the city would only have to deal with one entity rather than many separate leagues was a strong consideration.  Also considered was the coaching and leadership ability NASL could provide the local leagues. Belton MacCary noted there would still be a coordinator for each park (Patriot, National, Continental, etc.).  This would also include the current Rec-Plus league. There was some discussion about the Boys and Girls Clubs soccer programs and whether we could include them under the NASL umbrella. The feasibility was discussed and it was unanimously agreed that we proceed.

PAYMENT OF NASL FEES:
      Craig stated that all teams have not yet paid their NASL league fees.  The board agreed that Craig should no longer schedule those teams for games on any NASL fields until such time as they paid their fees.  That includes all State Cup games. 
 

INTERSTATE LEAGUE FOR FALL 2002:
      Craig proposed that for next fall’s season we provide fields on the third weekend of each month to host teams in an Interstate League.  We would bring in a team in every age group from a club (Brentwood, TNFC, Jets, Tuscaloosa, Hoover, etc.) and we would provide a host team to play them.  The local teams would be allowed to bid on which team they wanted to play and would be matched up with teams of similar abilities.  The games could take place on Saturday or Sunday or both days in which case two local teams could be involved.  An alternative would be to bring in a club from the Birmingham area and a club from the Nashville area for the weekend to play round robin games.  Ken asked the feasibility of working this arrangement in with the current AYSA State League (Divisions I and II) and whether this might hurt the drawing power of our two local tournaments.  Craig felt neither would be a problem. Based on his suggestion we agreed it would be a good idea to follow up on this and see what the interest among clubs was.
 

BOARD MEMBERSHIP:
        Christie recommended that we consider adding the Recreational Youth Soccer Liaison position as a permanent NASL Board member position. Due to the expanded role NASL hopes to take with youth recreational soccer, the Board agreed this was a good move and voted unanimously to create the permanent board position and voted Belton MacCary as the Board member.  There was some concern about whether the NASL Board could vote in a new board member at a general board meeting.  Christy agreed to see if that was legal according to our by-laws.   
 

ADJOURNMENT:
       We had been run out of the Rec Center because it was being closed for the night so Christie adjourned the meeting.