RDYSL Club Presidents Meeting

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Board Members Present: Gary Levine, Neil Fisher, Mark VanDellon, Lou Boyon, Jacky VanDellon

Clubs Present: Brighton Soccer Club, Brockport Soccer Club, Canandaigua Area Soccer League, Churchville Soccer Club, Fairport Soccer Club, Genesee Valley Bronze Bears Soccer Club, Greece Eclipse Soccer Club, Hilton-Parma Soccer Club, Honeoye Falls Blaze Travel Soccer Club, Irondequoit Soccer Club, Penfield Soccer Club, Pittsford Mustangs Soccer Club, Rush-Henrietta Soccer Club, Victor/Farmington Soccer Club, Wayne Wings Soccer Club, and Webster Soccer Association.

• The question was asked, “What do you think of presidents meeting?” No definite answer from the audience.

• Important dates you should note: NYSW AGM, November 13, 2005, Sunday (check nyswysa.org for updates on date and time) RDYSL AGM, November 17, 2005, Thursday 7-9, Monroe Community College, Empire Room.

• Announced that two DC’s were needed for GU10 and GU19. Summarized job and time commitment, talked about need to attend meetings. West side representation would be desired; Mary Arter stepped forward to be the new GU19 coordinator.

• Positive reception from most in the soccer community for the 7-team division format. Dave Hynes, Webster Soccer Association, commented the league should use mandatory relegation, first two finishers are promoted into the next higher division and last two finishers are demoted to the lower division. Gary Levine stated this is the general rule but common sense and numbers of teams still need to be considered to make balanced divisions. The league will continue to strive for seven team divisions for 2006. George Hebert, Penfield Soccer Club, requested that the DC contact the president of the club for placement of younger teams, stating the coaches are mostly new to travel soccer and therefore not knowledgeable to the competition. Eric Schaff, from Fairport, agreed. Suggested U-12 and down. This is an item that will be brought back to the board for discussion.

• Small-sided games U12: Discussion on small-sided games with the clubs, pros and cons. The conclusion is not whether this is a right or wrong approach to teaching soccer but is this the correct decision for Rochester soccer. Discussion ensued on the direction the clubs would like to take this issue. The board has decided to take the NO position on the small-sided games for U-12 and has voiced our disapproval to NYSW. The board encouraged the clubs to make sure that NYSW knew how its membership viewed this change.

• Club presidents were told that club passes for the U-17 and U-19 age group were being investigated for practical use in the league.

• Soccer fields are a scarce resource. Gary Levine requested all clubs match the correct size field to the age. Please make sure the goals are held down in the second half of the season. All clubs do wonderful job to start the season but observations have been made that in the second half of the season stakes/sand bags are not stabilizing the goals. Our rules call for teams and spectators to be on the opposite side of the fields but two stadium fields in town keep parents/fans on the same side. Please place fans on opposite sides of the bleachers with space in between. Mike Triassi echoed the sentiment that common sense should apply where a field requires this type of placements of their spectators.

• Gary Levine stated the changing environment of the Premier league. One representative club from each major area will be allowed in the League: Rochester (Jr. Rhinos), Syracuse (unknown), Buffalo (we think Buffalo United Soccer Club), and Binghamton (unknown). If there is enough interest, we could try to make a premier league under our umbrella but we think there is not enough interest. Greece Eclipse rep says their club suggests their exceptional teams play in higher-level tournaments. The question was raised “Why did NYSW not want to run the premier league”? Reasons not clear-cut but depth of work needed…time frame…conflict of interest…. may all have been contributing factors.

• Rule changes: Please consider changing rule 414 1a. Teams will be contacted 3 days prior on directions and team colors, this request comes from Fairport soccer club. The request is made due to the rule being obsolete with the website, directions and colors. The request for the rule change will be brought back to the board.

• The question was put on the floor “Should we consider the expansion of rosters to 22 players for U12?” Eric Schaff asked the board to make the number of players consistent with 11v11 play, 22 players. Others agreed the clubs could then use their discretion whether they utilize the expansion or not. The question was asked, “What happens with tournaments?” Tournaments can decide on what rules for roster size they want to apply to their matches. The request for the rule change for U12’s to have a roster size of 22 will be brought back to the board.

• 2/3’s of the games with some sort of data on refs. 92.4% of games evaluated the refs at 7 or better, out of a 10 rating. Referee unit and RDYSL are working at getting the good refs more help and bad refs more help. RDYSL is talking to the referee unit about a mentoring program for the refs that are young and need instruction or been around and need some objective information for the refs. Steve Randall, Churchville Soccer Club, said we should all encourage more of the kids (teens of appropriate age) to take the course and stay. Point made from the floor that tournaments on the weekend, which are physically taxing, are giving us refs during mid-week who are tired, and cranky. A suggestion was made by George Hebert, Penfield Soccer, that the refs input into the RDYSL system when they are having trouble with a coach. We will bring this topic back to the board, and discuss with our DC’s how we can do a better job of communicating a pattern of behavior back to the clubs in a timely manner. The BU-19 and BU-17 will stay with the 3-man system. RDYSL has heard from several clubs the Girls would like to have GU19 and GU17 have the three-man system. The refs are a scarce resource and RDYSL will discuss with the ref unit the distribution and what we can do to help. Look into mini-ref course for U8 and U9 coaches.

• Mike Triassi, Rush-Henrietta, suggested a redistribution of games to spread the games out to relieve the stress on the ref unit. RDYSL will discuss with the ref unit our priority if decision needs to be made U-8’s will be first to go without refs. After discussion, many agreed if the girls and boys played on same night field usage could possibly be better because double headers could be arranged. Most representatives said they were comfortable with days assigned to age groups.

• Player fees for RDYSL will to stay the same for 2006, $2.50 per player. We had $4000 less in fines than we anticipated. To balance the budget RDYSL will draw from savings.

• Empire Cup coming to Rochester for 2006. The travel soccer community should be aware of dates for planning, lack of refs, traffic and players should have the ability to see the games.

• Field information will not be entered on team registration form for 2006. Every club will input field information with the field change form.

• Proposal that the winning coach enters the scores for the game in the RDYSL database; this would mean mandatory, but also a fine if this was not done. Mark VanDellon questioned whether this would impact the number of referee evaluations received. Proposal that both coaches still do the game for another year. Both proposals will be brought back to the board for further discussion.