21 October 2003

US Youth Soccer Region IV Fall Planning Workshop
Denver, Colorado
October 16 - 19, 2003

Bruce C. Cuppett
Director of Development
Utah Youth Soccer

Wednesday - October 15, 2003

Departed Salt Lake City to Denver to attend the workshops meeting as a proxy for Paul Burke, President of Utah Youth. My normal role is Director of Development and I usually attend meetings dealing with Recreation soccer, TOPSoccer and Soccer start so this was an area that was new to me and I was looking forward to the challenge.

Thursday - October 16, 2003

Started the morning off with introductions around the council table. All 14 state associations were representative at the meeting. Each state president over the next two days was asked to make a presentation during the meeting. This was called *SAS - share a success which gave each state an opportunity to highlight a special program or activity that happens during the year.

National and Region IV chairpersons and staff also made presentations during the next two days. We started off with Rick Freehan who presented a review of the prior year marketing initiatives, as well as highlight upcoming activities. Special emphasis was placed on sponsor compliance.

Ray Welch - TOPSoccer covered the program quite well and again made the pitch that Utah must have this program. We are hosting the Nationals workshop in 2005 and it is a requirement to have this program up and running.

David Johnson - Soccer Start just talked about the in's and out's of the program.

Les McPherson the president of Colorado Youth Soccer gave a great presentation on the Five Dysfunctions of a team and the role of a leader. It was based around what he has done with his State BOD and how he holds them accountable for their actions and responsibilities. Everyone could learn from what he presented today. Les also gave his *SAS and his success story were based on what Colorado Youth Soccer started 6 years ago. They raised their player's fees by $3.00 per player and fenced the money for field and state complex development. The association raised $653,900.00 for field grants in the last six years and have completed or improved 92 soccer fields in the last six years. What a successful venture this was for that state.

David Messersmith, President of US Youth Soccer updated the presidents on USYSA and the Federation matters to the council. He also informed us of the legal counsel and the grievance that will be filed against the Federation. Each State association will be parties to the proceedings.

US Youth Soccer, Region IV and a number of states have a good read on "Conflict of Interest "policy letters. I have requested that they fax these to me so I can share them with our state BOD. This should aid us in having a good policy in place that will allow us to continue to work with our current state BOD.

The meeting was adjourned for the day followed by a dinner hosted by Region IV for the state presidents.

Friday - October 17, 2003

Started the day off with a few *SAS reports and had an excellent report submitted by Scott Keopuhiwa, President Hawaii Youth Soccer on Far West Regional Championships. His report was in great detail and should be used as an example for all.

Tom Mendoth and Jay Johnson gave a report on Far West National League and Director's Cup. Region IV will be split in to four sections for play. Play dates are March, April, and May or June. Dates will be worked around State Cup play and each section will need volunteers to work fields, referees, schedules……etc. Our area will be Salt Lake City or Grand Junction, CO for play. It was suggested that the winner of Far West National League (FWL) be given the Wild Card for State cup in each age group that receives a wild card. The problem being that you can use a 25 man roster for FWL and then take it down to the 18 man roster for state cup. We, (the presidents feel that this will take away from play at State Cup. It was voted down in counsel on Sunday 19 October 2005).

Darl Rose the director for Region IV made a proposal to increase ODP camp fees by $25.00. This money would be split two ways. $15.00 would go to cover the increased costs to ODP camp; the other $10.00 would be used to fund a new full time position for Region IV. This position is called a program administrator to provide assistance to the girls and boys ODP program. The first job description that was given to us was full of holes. The presidents wanted to know who the person would support, whom they would work for…..etc. We had a follow up meeting with Darl Rose on Saturday, were provided a new job description. It was later noted that the person would work for (on the payroll) the national office (for pay, insurance…etc) and be based at the Region IV office. The ODP fee increase was voted on and approved on Sunday 19 October 2003.

The presidents continue to present their *SAS with the rest of the states. Utah covered the Five for our Kids, Rocky's Utah Soccer month, Greg Maas third year JDA program (we are in our third year this fall and most states do not have this program) and the fact we were the only state in Region IV to pull off hosting the National Youth Course in July 2003.

Evelyn Gill the Vice President of US youth Soccer discussed grant issues from US Youth and the Federation. Small States (less than 23,000 players) have a $4,000 grant with cash reserves less than $100,000. TOPSoccer and Soccer Start have no cash grants. Nike Field Turf has 5 grants at a max of $100,000 available. Dead line on all grants is 1 December 2003.

Evelyn then covered two more areas. First what are the Strength and Weakness of US Youth Soccer? She wants a list e-mailed to her….so have at it guys. Second what should the financial model look like for US Youth and what about a fee increase? What do we the States feel would be fair? Don't forget during all this we have learned that more and more sponsorship is falling off. There will be a player fee increase in the near future.

Ended the day on that note, everyone was tired of meetings. Region IV staff had a dinner meeting to attend. Utah Staff was on the way in at this time. The group showed up around 9 PM, signed in at the Marriott and attended the social and went thru workshop check in. The event was hosted by CSYSA and they had everything under control.

Saturday - October 18, 2003

Started the morning off with the Adidas Continental breakfast follow up with opening remarks by Region IV. We then had workshop meetings from 8:30 - 3:30 on the following areas:

State & Regional Cup
ODP Girls Administrators
Boy ODP Administrators
Recreation Soccer
Referee Administrators
Registrar Administrators
Rules/Appeals
Risk Management
Directors of coaching (state)
TOP Soccer
Soccer Start
Region League/Directors Cup

Reports from the Utah staff that attended these meetings will follow on the web site, next BOD meeting and copy to Paul Burke.

Most of my day was spent in meetings with the other presidents, Darl Rose and the Region IV staff. The reason for these off line meetings is that Utah is going to host the Adidas Fall Planning Workshop October 2004 in Salt Lake City. This will be followed with hosting the US Youth Soccer Adidas Workshop and Coaches Convention February 2005 in Salt Lake City. We have a huge task for the state to handle and as point person for both events I felt it was time well spent to pick as many minds as possible.

The Utah staff had a wrap up session from 3:15 to 4:45 that afternoon. Each person went over their workshops with the group. We discussed what was needed to take forward by myself to the counsel on Sunday morning. We also covered who was going to work on the October 2004 Region IV Workshop and the February 2005 USYSA National convention. Listed below are the committee group who has agreed to serve on both future workshop and convention:

Bruce Cuppett - chair person
Teresa Ortiz - committee chair
Jodi Wells - committee chair
Jodene Smith - committee chair
Gail Ellison - committee chair
Greg Maas - committee chair
Richard Yoder committee chair
Tina Patterson - committee chair

That night the Colorado Youth Soccer hosted a dinner buffet and a fun - filled show at Heritage Square Famous Musical and Comedy Revue. It was a great evening with a bus ride to Heritage Square with a nice dinner followed by some excellent entertainment. This was a perfect end to a long action packed day.

Sunday 19 October, 2003

Morning started off early with the Utah Staff departing from the Marriott at 7am for their trip back to Utah. I bid them good - bye and prepared myself for the counsel meeting that followed at 8:30 am that morning.

We had a call to order with the opening ceremonies. The roll call was made and the voting strength of 60 votes was set. Next the minutes from last meeting in Chicago (08/03) was read and approved. This was followed by a report of the officers and the treasurer's report. Then a report of standing committees followed by unfinished business. Next up was new business with a Budget approval, ratification of committee appointments and program reports on Far West Regionals and both Boys and Girls ODP reports.

Some of the high - lights were Boise will be the site for Far West Regionals in 2005. ODP camp fee increase of $25.00 was approved. Coach of the year was submitted by 12 states UTAH DID NOT SUBMIT A COACH OF THE YEAR. Wild card for Far West League in State Cup was defeated. Far West Regionals in Wash for 2004 will be on the WSYSA web site. Far West League play will be listed on Region IV web in about one week. ODP Committee selection will be listed on Region IV web site in about a week.

Good of the game was next with all states reporting. Utah covered the Five for the Kids, up coming Region Workshop October 2004 and the USYSA National convention 2005.

Adjournment was next with all the good - byes, see you soon.

I would like to end this report with a few words. First I would like to thank the leadership for sending me to this workshop. I have attended many in the past, but this is the first as acting president for our state. My knowledge base and my eyes were opened during this meeting. To listen to the many states, to hear their concerns and their problems. To see the direction they are headed in and to hear people that really care about the game and the kids was very refreshing to me. I have sat in many meetings present and past and wondered, what the president was doing or why we had to conform to this issue. I have a better idea now after attending this meeting just what pressures and issues a president of the state soccer association has to deal with on a daily bases.