BOZEMAN BLITZZ FC BOARD MEETING

June 28, 2006

7:00pm First Interstate Bank

 

Present:  Bill Locke, Chris Beausoleil, Jen Gummer, Kerry Hatcher, Diana Cooksey, Andy Hansen, Dawn Sturman, Bill Robinson, Terri Murphy, Ann Stefani, Britt Bodtker

 

  1. CALL TO ORDER at 7:05pm.

 

  1. PRESIDENT’S REPORT –
    1. Happy with teams results this spring.  Question brought up regarding U-11/U-12 tournament in Butte and ranking of teams according to sportsmanship – was confusing to the players.  Bill Locke welcomes any feedback on the tournament for him to report at the MYSA meeting in Helena in July.
    2. Discussion of regionals.  Not all teams that qualify attend, sometimes for financial reasons.  Idea proposed that there could be a state fund available to help all qualified teams attend.  Going to regionals should be considered an honor and the best teams in the state should go.
    3. Each committee needs to write up their Standard Operating Procedure.

 

  1. HEAD COACH REPORT --
    1. Happy with season and things look good for next year.
    2. Summer Elite program: should be able to field teams for girls-15 and boys-17.  Format:  train and attend tournaments.  Need 20-25 players per team for training.  Will roster it outside of MYSA through a national organization.  Chris will write up info for elite team that Diana will publish on the Website.  Will send out email to everyone to check web page.
    3. ODP – Club supports ODP, however in Montana it is hard to field a team because of geographical distances between cities.  Main benefit of ODP is the summer regional camp in Oregon, which has an extremely high level of coaching.
    4. Coach assessments:  Managers should refer parents to the Website.  Bill Robinson will write a paragraph for Diana to publish on the front page of the Website. 
    5. Board has very positive feedback regarding Chris Beausoleil as head coach.  One of his main improvements has been developing relationships between the coaches and the club, which should help alleviate the past problem of turnover.
    6. Chris feels communication between club and team, coaches, players, parents, etc. needs to be improved.  Ideas proposed include putting out a weekly newsletter and compiling email lists.  Jen will request team managers to forward her all email addresses, which she will forward to Kerry, who will organize the email lists.
    7. As a club, Chris feels we need more emphasis on “attacking” soccer.  Need to train the forwards, and get the ball forward.
    8. Regarding U-12/U-13, Chris wishes he moved up more U-12 players.  This was done because the U-12 boys wanted to play at a higher level.  U-13 performance was disappointing, and he is looking into why they did not compete better.  Perhaps they were not challenged enough in U-12.

 

  1. APRIL AND MAY MINUTES UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED

 

  1. FACILITIES & EQUIPMENT COMMITTEE --
    1. Left 2 sets of goals at both Babcock and Bronken.  Portapotties cancelled except one at Babcock.  Garbage pickup has been cancelled.
    2. 3 ½ sets of goals outside building, two of which will be removed by Kerry Hatcher.  MSU intramurals can use them.

  

  1. COACHING COMMITTEE –
    1. We need to make sure that the board is supporting the head coach.  Chris should let us know if needs more help.
    2. Fall Program – emphasis on training not competing.  Babcock is available to use.  Program runs 8/14 – 10/9.  Bill Robinson took forms to every team and they have been reminded to check the Website.  We expect 90 kids on average and have 4 coaches lined up.  Regarding the tournaments, those who go will have to pay an extra fee for the team to be rostered through US Club soccer.
    3. Board evaluation of Head Coach – Bill will distribute forms and then collect and collate them and present results to Chris.  Bill would like to meet with Chris prior to evaluation to compare time commitments in order to prepare 2nd year contract.  This will help the board determine compensation.  Contract will need board approval in the coming month.  Chris noted that he took on head coach position with a minimum commitment of three years, so we could consider a multi year contract.
    4. Puma contract – Bill will email copy to Chris.  We need to meet with JD this summer.  Coaches’ gear came in and was distributed at State tournament at the end of May.  Note: tournament balls were not officially in contract.
    5. Need to address and update wording of team coach contracts with Chris at the next coaches’ committee meeting.
    6. There is a coach that wants to go to a C level clinic in New Mexico and would appreciate financial assistance.  In the past the club has paid half of the clinic fees with a verbal commitment from the coach to stay and coach with the club for several years. Motioned and passed unanimously to pay ½ fees for coaching clinics levels C and up.

  

  1. FINANCE –
    1. According to the budget for 2006 State Soccer Cup, we have a $7,000 profit, which doesn’t include another $5,000 we expect to be reimbursed from the state.
    2. MYSA team registration:  last year we paid $11,500 but this year only $5,000.  Did we overpay last year, or does the larger amount include Micro’s payment? 
    3. $100 checks for volunteer hours:  still waiting to hear from team managers.
    4. We still have $12,000 outstanding in registration fees, which is unacceptable.  Need to discuss how to enforce payment with registration.
    5. The board thanked Terri for all her hard work organizing the budget.
    6. Terri expressed that she is not comfortable getting reimbursement requests that aren’t accompanied by receipts.  There is a danger of reimbursing people twice once the receipt comes in.

 

  1. TOURNAMENT COMMITTEE --
    1. Ready to finalize report to the state regarding the state tournament.  We have gotten great feedback on what went well and what needs to be improved.  125 thank yous were sent out and a newspaper ad was run (for which we will be billed $600).
    2. Location of next year’s state tournament has yet to be decided, with a July 10 deadline.
    3. Kerry proposed that Blitzz should put together an International Tournament in Bozeman akin to the “tour trips” over in Europe.  Will hopefully include the state champion teams.  Kerry will look into other successful models, likelihood of interest, and a budget.
    4. How should we spend the profit, which probably will exceed $10,000?  $1500 donation to Bozeman High, perhaps earmarked for the soccer club, or a donation for their fields such as lights.  Should find out what they need.  Also, should we use some of this profit to donate to the Bagley family, whose son was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident?  The Bagleys were an integral part of the club before they moved to Oregon 3 years ago.  Bill Robinson voiced that he feels it hard to give money as a club if the board members don’t also donate personally.  Other board members agreed with this sentiment.  We should find out if there is a great need for money to be donated.  We will put a link on the Website with info re: donating to the Bagley family.  Another and perhaps more appropriate way for the club to donate would be to use the matching funds from 1st Interstate.  Other uses for the profit include:  new portable goals, field work, reduce registration fees, put $ in general fund.  Club President will put together a statement regarding the success of the tournament and how the board proposes to spend the profit.

  

  1. MICRO --
    1. Sue wants to redo the shed and Jen will arrange to have a kid who needs to do 20 hours of community service do the work.
    2. Parents complained about quality and price of uniforms this year.
    3. Also complaints of too many kids on teams for effective practices.
    4. Some parents feel that Micro should not support the competitive program.
    5. Need to brainstorm changes for better program next year.  Should there be a designated Micro board member on the Blitzz board?

 

  1. POLICY –
    1. See handout from Andy Hansen.  Andy will set up a meeting in the next two weeks to finalize and discuss list of topics.  Policy should be finalized and passed by annual meeting on September 14.  Need to add to the list recognition of high school policy changes and adhere to them.  Also, need to discuss disciplinary action:  at what point will we let go of individual players for the good of the club?

 

  1. GOOD OF THE GAME –
    1. We need a club archivist/historian to document history of club.  Any recommendations for this position appreciated.
    2. Big thank you to Diana Cooksey for all her work with the Website.  Consider making it a paid position.  Diana suggested we might also need a publicity person.  Also brought up was the need for a communications specialist, which was tabled for the next meeting.
    3. Ann Stefani had a question about players that are injured and won’t be able to tryout in the fall.  Would they be eligible to play in the spring?  All players who want to play should register and attend tryouts even if they can’t “physically” tryout.  At this point we can’t say if they would make the spring team because we don’t know the number of players that will be trying out.  We will do our best to accommodate all who register, and ask input from coaches who have had those players on their teams previously.

 

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 9:40 PM