BETHEL PARK SOCCER ASSOCIATION

Parents/Coaches Meeting – November 12, 2002

Terry Bove, President of the Bethel Park Soccer Association (BPSA) called the meeting to order at 7:00pm in the Council Caucus Room of the Bethel Park Municipal Building. Also present were Mark Bowman, Rich Chongaway, Bill Harvey, Jack Kun, Rick Paglia, Stan Sbei, Russ Spicuzza, Scott Talbott, Tom Vater, Brian Wassel, and Eric Young. A representative from MLS also joined the meeting later.

Secretary’s Report: The October meeting minutes were approved and submitted to the website, with the correction of the meeting time in November as 7:00 pm instead of 8:00pm.

Treasurer’s Report: Jack Kun stated that we have $13,308 in the bank. He was waiting for a check from the BP Recreation Department for the balance from the fall registration. Several fall travel players have not paid their registration fees yet. The only outstanding bill was for nameplates/trophies in conjunction with the indoor tournament that had been scheduled at the beginning of November. Also, no start-up fees have been paid for the new website.

Jack gave a budget update. Currently, our revenues are $2300 lower than expected, due to about 32 less flight players and 20 less travel players. Expenses were adjusted to reflect the lower registrations, and are right on target. Expenses for the spring session will be evaluated at the December or January meeting.

President’s Report: Terry Bove announced that January was “Pro-Active Month.” Our goal is to look ahead at what needed to be done in all aspects of the soccer association for the spring session. He encouraged everyone to start preparing now and in December, and to especially think about membership, registration, and coaches for the spring session. With our new registration procedures, everyone’s cooperation is needed to get the teams signed up and ready to play. He especially would like all coaches and commissioner to call players to make sure they are registered on time.

Terry also mentioned several soccer tournaments in the area that are planned for the next several months. They include Penn Hills Autumn Ambush Tournament the last weekend in November and the Kickout Cancer Tournament at Duquesne University in February 2003.

Terry was also waiting to hear from Tim McCoy from PA West concerning our $750 grant for videos for the library. Rich Chongaway also shared comments and names of other foundations that donate funds for community video libraries.

Referees: There was discussion on the topic of referees and scheduling. Several games occurred this fall without all the referees showing up, even though they had been scheduled adequately in advance. There were several questions about if we had any written guideline for confirming referees with the home coaches, and payment of referees when less than three showed up for the game. There was also discussion about reimbursing referees for their license, recruiting new referees (since many of our current referees are also players), and referee recertification deadline of December 31, 2002 for next year. Terry will contact Bethany Bowman and Steve Butterworth for an evaluation of this past fall season, and possible recommendations for improvements.

There is also a new course for 1st time referees (9th grade students) that will only be eligible for in house refereeing and doing lines at U-12/14 games. The fee is not determined at this time.

Grade 8 students course will be eligible to do lines at any PA West game (travel games), a 6-7 week course, the fee is $70.00.

Registrations: Mark Bowman passed around a copy of the registration form that will appear in the December Bethel Park Chronicle for the spring season. He pointed out that the deadline for both flights and travel will be March 7, 2002. He thanked everyone in advance for their cooperation in upholding this deadline, since there will be no exceptions. There will be a registration table in the municipal building on January 22, 2002. Those who miss registration that night can still register in the Recreation office.

Tom Vater passed around a copy of an article that will be in the December issue of the Recreation News. It will be distributed to all school students. He expects to put another article in the February issue announcing the different flight times.

There was also discussion about using the registration forms to get more information about the players, especially home address, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses.

PR/Fundraising: Russ Spicuzza stated that he is waiting for a check soon from Uniroyal from the Bruce Brother tire sale. He is also waiting for a check from the photographer.

Terry asked Russ to look into using the bulletin board outside the recreation department to promote soccer during January. Russ will also look into using Channel 7 to announce registration dates and deadlines.

Website: The new site is up and running. Mark met with COBWEB this past month, and will have more to report next meeting. Eric Young mentioned that we still have time on our monthly allotment from September and October if we want to use them. Several questions were asked about retaining the rights to our old web address, and a possible link between the old site and the new site. There was also a question as to where the database of e-mail addresses that the new site is collecting is stored.

Tournaments: Scott Talbott reported that he cancelled the indoor tournament. The competition from the organized indoor leagues at Southpointe and Sewickley limited interest. He had received 1 entry, and had two other commitments, and felt that we could organize successfully an indoor tournament in the future. He also verified that insurance for an event like this would be covered by the facility, which was a question at the last meeting.

Fields: Brian Wassel stated that the fall could be summed up with one word: WET. The weather was rough on the fields, especially Park Ave, since it is shared with lacrosse and football. He thought that Park Ave. might be unavailable in the spring due to turf repair.

The borough did work on Millennium, including aerating, spreading manure, and seeding. Unfortunately, no topsoil was added. He also stated that we might need to purchase some additional nets in the spring.

Equipment: Eric Young reported that we didn’t purchase any new sets of team uniforms yet. He agreed with several that a standard uniform for all the Bethel Park teams is in order, and that the money budgeted for the uniforms this year was a good start. He will get some samples for a future meeting.

We have 7 sets of complete uniforms available in good shape, in addition to the uniforms that are currently being worn this year by the travel teams. He had purchased several new jerseys to complete the current uniforms.

Anyone with corner flags at their home should return them to the shed at Village Green. There are about 5 sets outstanding at this time. He will also be taking an inventory of nets in the near future.

Flights: Several weekends were lost to the weather. There was discussion concerning adjusting several flight times, including moving Flight 4 up to 8am on Saturday morning.

Bill Harvey is sending a survey out to the coaches of Flight 1, to get some feedback. He suggested that instead of focusing our January meeting on commissioners and coaches of flight, we should invite them to a separate meeting sooner (possibly December). He felt that our monthly meeting hit many different topics beside flights, and might not give enough time to focus on them. He and Terry would discuss the idea later.

It was suggested that in lieu of sending home a newsletter about Bethel Soccer, that we distribute a newsletter at the beginning of flights in the spring. That would also be a good time to get information about our players, including phone numbers, emergency phone numbers, personnel info such as allergies, and e-mail address. Another wrap-up flyer could be passed out at the end of the spring session.

Elections: Terry opened the discussions by talking about distributing nomination forms and ballots. It was decided to use the new website. The election form would be a link on the website that could be printed and returned before the next meeting. Board members should check the website over the next few weeks to see when the form is posted. They can then help in the distribution by e-mailing other families and team members about using the form to vote. Please suggest that they add their e-mail address to the data.

Also, Stan was going to obtain the fall registration forms and add those available e-mail addresses to the database for additional distribution.

Terry appointed Scott Talbott as Nominations Chairman. Several people were nominated for the board, and several other names were suggested. Scott will talk to these people, and possibly others, and submit a list of nominees for election. He will talk to Mark Vescovi about creating the nomination page on the website and distribution.

New Business: Stan Sbei announced that the Over 40 Rhinos won the Pittsburgh Master Soccer League, beating Beadling along the way. Congrats guys!!

Monthly Meeting: Next meeting will be at 7:00pm on December 10, 2002, at the Municipal Building. EVERYONE IS WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND THE MEETINGS.