Lincoln Youth Soccer Minutes from Board Meeting June 8, 2015 Location

Lincoln Youth Soccer

Minutes from Board Meeting

June 8, 2015

Location: Mallory Safety and Supply, 2135 NW 21st Ave, Portland, OR 97209
Attendees: Craig Rusch, Rob Fenty, Ulysses Sherman, Tim Loy, Alison Hardin, Vista Representative, Skyline Representative, Roger Thomas (Phone), Helen Lee (Phone), John Hanna (prospective coach mentor)
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM by Craig Rusch.
Formation of New Board: The current state of WSSC was discussed. The former Board of WSSC nominated and approved a new slate of Board Members: Craig Rusch, Rob Fenty, and Ulysses Sherman. Those new Board Members accepted those positions and were formally installed.
The Board elected the following officers to serve the remainder of the existing terms:
President Rob Fenty

Secretary Craig Rusch

Treasurer Ulysses Sherman
Adoption of New Business Name: The Board discussed the costs and benefits of renaming the organization the Lincoln Youth Soccer Club and unanimously agreed that the new name would better reflect the expanded purpose of the organization and provide an opportunity to rebrand the organization. Rather than forming a new corporation, the Board agreed to file an Assumed Business Name with the State of Oregon, and to refer to the club hereafter as the Lincoln Youth Soccer Club.
Ulysses Sherman will file all documents necessary with the State of Oregon to adopt this Assumed Business Name.
Review of Bylaws: The Board discussed the inadequacy of the existing Bylaws and agreed that a thorough review and revision of the Bylaws is required. A committee to draft and propose revised Bylaws, led by Ulysses Sherman, will be created in the fall.
Board of Director Participation: Prior to the Meeting, Craig Rusch sent several emails to the LYS community inviting people to serve on the LYS Board and received little response. The Board also discussed options for including the LYS member clubs (Hillside,Vista, Skyline, Forest Heights) in LYS Board discussions and decisions. The Board decided to review these issues during the review of the Bylaws scheduled for the fall.
Coach Mentor: John Hanna (guest and prospective Coach Mentor) presented to the Board his background and qualifications to be a Coach Mentor for LYS. John is currently engaged with Bridlemile Soccer Club (BSC). LYS would contract John through BSC. John Hanna was then excused from the Meeting.
The Board then discussed other options for a Coach Mentor for the fall, including Challenger Sports, BSC (John Hanna et al.), and potential options with FC Portland or in cooperation with the Lincoln High coaching staff.
Tim Loy will continue to investigate options through Bridlemile Soccer, Challenger and Lincoln and will present a recommended path around a Coach mentor at our July Board Meeting.
Fields: The Board discussed options for home fields for our Competitive teams in the Fall. Roger Thomas offered the Forest Park Elementary Field on Sundays to serve as the home field for U11-U12 competitive teams. For U13-U14 teams, we will seek the use of Lincoln High as our home field.
Craig Rusch and Alison Hardin will engage the Lincoln High Athletic Director and Coaching staff to obtain use of the Lincoln High field on Sundays to serve as home field.
PYSA will organize game fields for all of the LYS Rec teams. LYS will utilize West Sylvan Middle School as its primary practice location for U12-U14 teams.
Rob Fenty will secure permits for the West Sylvan Middle School fields and will work with Lincoln Youth Football to finalize an agreement in terms of days/times that each will use the fields.
LYS will lose use of East Sylvan as a practice field this fall. East Sylvan will no longer be used by Portland Public Schools as middle school for 6^th graders. The field is also not functional as a practice field. LYS has 2 sets of goals (6’x18’) that currently sit on the East Sylvan field.
Rob Fenty will work with Tim Loy to move one set of goals to West Sylvan and one set of goals to Forest Park.
LYS will also need to secure one additional practice location primarily for its U12 teams. The Board discussed the option of working with its neighborhood clubs (Vista, Forest Heights, Hillside) to secure additional practice slots once registration for all clubs is complete and we have an accurate picture of field requirements. Potential fields raised as options are: Steve Brand, Wallace Park, Hillside Park, Washington Park, Portland Heights, Robert Gray.
Lincoln High Cooperation: The Board discussed its interest in having a collaborative relationship with Lincoln High School, including LYS nights at Lincoln High School soccer games, to get access to the Lincoln High field as both a practice and game venue, to have mentorship opportunities with Lincoln coaches and players, etc.
Craig Rusch and Alison Hardin will engage the Lincoln Athletic Director to establish a relationship, to secure field access for our competitive teams and to set up LYS nights at the Lincoln games in the fall.
Registrar Update: Nitika Agarwal, LYS Registrar, provided an update on Registration progress to date. As of June 8, we have 9 competitive teams registered (5 boys; 4 girls). In our first year, coaches of competitive teams will have the option of using their local club uniforms or utilizing the LYS uniforms.
Coaches need to confirm by June 30 with Rob Fenty whether they will be using the LYS uniform kits so that proper numbers can be ordered.
The Board also discussed the deadline and process for team formations. The OYSA and PYSA registration deadlines are both 8/3/15. The Board agreed to a deadline of 7/20 for all LYS team formations.
LYS Member clubs must submit all team formations to the LYS Registrar by July 20. Competitive coaches will submit rosters to the LYS Registrar (Nitika) by June 30 to ensure that rosters are complete and ready for registration with OYSA.
The Board also discussed whether we should offer discounted options for competitive guest players, i.e. rec players that serve as guest players in a few competitive team matches during the season. The Board agreed to offer a 2 game option and a 4 game-1/2 season option.
Coaches will inform Nitika of players in that situation. Nitika will establish discount codes and distribute the codes to the competitive coaches so that players can register accordingly.
Uniform and Equipment Update: Rob Fenty provided an update on uniform kits for the Fall Recreational and Competitive teams. All uniforms will be purchased directly by parents through Far Post Soccer Supply. The LYS Rec teams will wear Red as primary jersey color with black shorts and black socks. The LYS Competitive teams will have 2 jerseys (White and Red), 2 socks (Black and Red), and Black shorts.
Uniforms will be ordered in early July to ensure that they are ready for purchase by early-mid August. For Competitive teams playing in summer tournaments, uniforms will be ordered immediately to ensure that they can wear them during the summer.
Rob also provided an update on the existing inventory of equipment held by current coaches and provided a recommendation on a standard equipment kit that each coach will have for the fall (e.g. balls, pinnies, goalie gear, etc.). Equipment will be ordered through Far Post in early July. It will be distributed to coaches in mid-August.


Next Meeting: The Board agreed that the next meeting should be on July 20^th and should be schedule immediately before the coaches meeting at which practice fields and schedules will be discussed.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM