BETHEL PARK SOCCER ASSOCIATION

Parents/Coaches Meeting – May 13, 2003

The monthly meeting of the Bethel Park Soccer Association (BPSA) was called to order at 8:30pm in the Council Room of the Bethel Park Municipal Building. Present were Terry Bove, Mark Bowman, Richard Chongaway, Bill Harvey, Dave Porco, Stan Sbei, Tom Vater, Mark Vescovi, Theresa Vescovi.

Secretary’s Report: The April meeting minutes were approved and submitted to the website.

Treasurer’s Report: Jack Kun emailed his treasurer report to the Board. The account balance is now $9,974.40. The Association has still not received a check for registration fees from the Recreation Department. Both the flight and travel registrars have resolved any/all registration conflicts before the start of the spring season. Tom Vater will inquire of the Rec. Dept. as to the delay of our receiving the registration income due us.

President’s Report: Terry will talk to Jack Kun to develop a proposed 6-month budget (July to December). This will need to be looked at and voted upon during the June meeting.

Coach/Player Development: Stan Sbei advised that he is coaching a goalie training session each Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00 at Ben Franklin Field. Any interested boy or girl is welcome to attend these weekly sessions. The technical training is intended for the U-10, U-11 and U-12 age groups.

Stan also discussed a training method he has begun to use which is called “1,000 soccer touches”. This method requires players to repeat a move 50 times with each leg before continuing. This allows for player comfort with the ball. If anyone is interested in learning more about this training technique, please contact Stan Sbei.

Summer Soccer Camps: The following day camps are available in our area this summer:

MLS – July 28-August 2 at Village Green (contact Stan Sbei for more information). Any coaches who would like to schedule a team camp, please contact James Mearer from MLS for available dates and prices.

Registration: Fall registration forms are now available online and at the Rec. Department. We will hand out registration forms on May 31^st during flights. May 28^th is table registration at the municipal building. We will urge the Flight 4 coaches to emphasize early registration for potential travel players.

PR/Fundraising: Thursday, July 25^th is Bethel Park Day at the Riverhounds game. Russ will distribute flyers and more information on the last day of flights. Tickets for the game can be obtained by calling the Riverhounds at 412-381-4625. Join us for a night of soccer fun! Russ will coordinate the pre-game and half-time soccer teams.

Website: Mark updated the meeting minutes and changed the registration information. As of last week, the crossover from bethelparksoccer.org was eliminated. New website registrations dropped for the first time this month; which was expected as most members have already registered. Mark will place information about the table registration date on the front page. (May 28^th) Mark again asked for feedback on the website. Anyone with ideas or suggestions, please contact Mark at mvescovi@adelphia.net.

Equipment: Brett from MLS brought samples of their proposed travel jerseys. After discussion of pro’s and cons, the Board agreed on the MLS jersey, pending an actual example of the requested design in black and orange. Terry will request this mock-up from MLS for the next meeting. The Board will need to place an order by July in order to have the jerseys for fall play. Decision will need to be made at the next meeting concerning how many jerseys to purchase.

Flights: Bill Harvey discussed the fact that due to early morning rains, Flight 3 has lost three weeks of playing. Flights 1, 4 and 5 have lost one each. Bill advised that it would be up to the individual age commissioners to decide how much longer to extend the season to make up for these play losses. The fact that June 7^th is the day after Bethel Park Kennywood Day also affects the decision.

The Memorial Day Tournament plans are in the works. Due to a Memorial Day Riverhounds game, we will not be able to use the high school field on Monday. Most flight tournaments will be at their regular times and fields on Monday, May 26^th. Jack Kun has received the trophies and will contact the flight commissioners to make arrangement for distribution.

Travel: Mark Vescovi and Tom Vater distributed the printed time frame for development of next year’s Boys U-10 teams. Tryouts are scheduled for May 31^st at 8:30 a.m. at Millennium Field (during the practice portion of flights). Makeup date is June 3^rd from 6:00 to 7:30 at Village Green. No information was available at the meeting for girls U-10 tryouts. Mark Vescovi was appointed as the U-10 age group commissioner. Mark and Tom will develop the teams from the tryouts and submit the tentative rosters for approval at the next Board meeting.

Discussion was held on the changes from PAWest concerning roster sizes next year. PAWest has yet to state what the roster limit will be next year for U-10 and U-11 teams. The change in team size may affect how many teams Bethel Park will field this year.

Mark Bowman will request more PAWest travel cards for new travel players to fill out. These need to be completed and delivered to Mark by the beginning of August.

Fields: Discussion was held on the condition of the Park Avenue field. There have been no soccer games or practices on Park Avenue all season, however the field is completely torn up from other sports.

Richard Chongaway asked how to go about requesting a garbage can for the Neil Armstrong field. Many people are throwing their plastic bottles and cans on the ground. Tom Vater advised that he would ask Carol Vater to bring it up at the next PTO/PTA council meeting. Because it is a school field, the district is responsible for placing garbage containers in the appropriate places.

Monthly Meeting: The next Bethel Park Soccer Association meeting will be held at 8:00 PM on June 10, 2003, at the Municipal Building. EVERYONE IS WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND THE MEETINGS. It is always great to see new faces.