NOGSL Meeting Minutes

Monday, January 28, 2008

Concordia

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:36 pm.  Roll call was taken.  Missing communities were Brooklyn, Middleburg Heights, and Sandusky.

 

Al Soper

There are a lot of new reps in attendance.  If your club has issues or special requests that need to be addressed, please contact any board member by phone or email.  A new contact list will be emailed out and also will appear on the website.  Al’s cell phone number is 216-299-0555.

 

Old Business

            Fall season ran pretty smoothly.  It appears that most communities have been able to standardize on two goal sizes and complaints in general were down.

            The plans to update our documents continue.  The Coaches Code of Conduct is being revised to address issues that come up over and over.  A new version of the by-laws is also being compiled based on our history and current practices.

As announced in the Fall, we will no longer offer 11v11 brackets for U12 teams in Fall 2008.  If clubs have trouble finding slots for players, please contact a board member so we can help you with options that will keep the girls in the game.

 

New Business

One of our areas of responsibility is training – for players and coaches.  Members of the board will be meeting with staff at PSA to discuss areas and activities that might be mutually beneficial. 

NOGSL is a non-profit organization that has grown to encompass more than 380 teams.  Our Constitution needs to be updated to reflect this growth and changes in the way things are done.  Individuals on the board cannot be paid for their service.  Our Registrar is presently listed as a board member, but is also paid.  We need to make a change to the Constitution to make the Registrar a paid position reporting to the Board of Directors.  We will introduce our proposed change at the next meeting and review it at subsequent meetings before taking a vote on the proposal in the Spring.

Spring season brings up the issue of Middle School soccer players participating in our League games.  The Ohio school league rules place restrictions on how players are rostered.  Only 5 players from any school team may play on the same NOGSL team in the Spring.  If your club has more than 5 girls from a team planning to play, please contact us so we can help you find slots for all the players.  Neighboring districts may want to swap players if they don’t have multiple teams in an age group.  Let us know if we can help the girls play this Spring.

Team fees for Fall 2008 will be increased to $100 for U9-U11 and $125 for U12-U14.  Referee payments will be increased as well.  Those rates will be announced next summer.

 

When players and coaches register to play soccer in our League, part of their individual registration fee is used to purchase secondary medical and liability insurance for incidents that arise while they are playing soccer.  This insurance is managed by Ohio North.  OYSAN has now decided to extend this secondary coverage to indoor team participation in member League sanctioned activities. NOGSL supports indoor soccer activities for its members and will sanction them through OYSAN.  In order to take advantage of this secondary coverage, member clubs need to go online and register their intent to participate in indoor practice and/or games.  Instructions for this procedure will be emailed to all reps.


Jan Marsh

            For new reps:  please be aware that Fall registration fees for players and coaches cover the whole year.  There is no need to pay individual fees for people who signed up in the Fall.  Fees are due for new players/coaches who are starting this Spring.  Some teams will have players who move or don’t want to play soccer this Spring.  You can leave them on your roster if you don’t need their slot for someone else.  This will save some effort for everyone.  If you do need to drop them, a parent must sign the drop form and it should be sent with the laminated player pass to Jan when you add the replacement player.  If you cannot get a signature because the family has moved, etc. you need to document that you made three attempts to contact them.  This documentation (email, returned letter, etc) must be sent to Jan in place of the drop form.  Players may not be dropped against their will.

            The deadline to submit paperwork for new players, coaches or teams who want to play in the first game of Spring Season is March 10th.  The final deadline to participate this season is April 23rd.  This gives Jan time to process and return everything by the May 1st OYSAN deadline.

            All new coaches must register with Jan and enroll in the Risk Management database at Ohio North.  There is a $5 fee for these new registrations.  NOGSL will cover this $5 if you enter a numeric passcode.  Contact Jan by email if you need that code number.  The confirmation number that is generated from this registration must appear on the new coach application that you submit to Jan.

 

Bob Bandsuch

            Balance sheets for 2005 – 2007 are available.  Clubs should submit team commitment payments now and then wait to be invoiced for coach/player fees, fines, late additions, etc. The club/community treasurer should review the invoice sheets and contact Bob if there are any questions.  His cell phone is 440-829-1322.  Our new system will be to send out invoices in May with a $0 balance expected by the end of June each year.

 

Carl Pavlovich

            The March indoor tournament at the Soccer Sportsplex in N. Olmsted is sanctioned by NOGSL and covered by OYSAN.  Only players/coaches rostered in NOGSL by the start of the tournament may participate.  The dates are March 14-16.  U9 players will get participation awards and all other brackets will have trophies.  There is a three game guarantee.  If you register by Feb. 14th there is a $50 discount:  $225 for U9s and $250 for all other age groups.  If you have older teams with full rosters you can divide them in half and register as two teams to get the girls more playing time.  Last year each team received a free goalie shirt, paid for by fine money.

            The Coaches Code of Conduct document on the website will be revised to address issues that have arisen in the last few years.  The new draft will be available at the next meeting.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm.

Next meeting:  Monday, February 11 @ 7:30 pm at Concordia.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Killoran

NOGSL Secretary