Members Present: Ron Walton, Paige Lewis, Derrick Vannice, Mike Kobylinski, Mike Wilson, Cathy Baird, Joan Wingo, Adam Jenkins, Lance Olson
Members Absent: Rick Hazlewood, Cathy Moe
Guests Present: Stu Meacham
Ron Walton called the meeting to order at 8:02 p.m.
Nomination Process:
Stu Meacham, the chair of the 2006 nominating committee, gave a review of the nomination process. An attempt to contact each member of the club was made – in 2 different ways. An email was sent to everyone in the club. Another message was sent to each Parent Representative to disseminate to each team and the families. The purpose of the contact was to solicit potential candidates for the board.
At the conclusion of the nominating process, the nominating committee has provided the board with the following slate of candidates:
President:
John Flodstrom
Secretary:
Dale Johnston
Amy Hall
Treasurer:
Cathy Baird
Director – Club Events
Mike Wilson
Directors at Large:
Jeff Woods
Derek Vannice
Paige Lewis
Lance Olson
Mike Wingo
A motion to approve the slate was made by Cathy Baird and seconded by Adam Jenkins. The board unanimously approved the slate of candidates.
Board Election:
The nominating committee will mail the ballots to every member of the club, using a list provided by Cathy Baird. The ballots will be mailed out by January 2 nd. The plan is for the nominating committee to count the votes on January 20 th.
A joint board meeting with both the old and new boards will tentatively occur on February 3 rd.
Approval of Minutes:
A motion to approve the amended minutes from the Nov. 8 board meeting was made by Derrick, seconded by Joan. The motion was approved unanimously.
Officers Reports:
Ron Walton, President:
Mr. Walton is very pleased with the accomplishments of the board and club in the last several years. The accounting system is structurally sound. The board has developed a more business like approach to managing club affairs but has also kept and enhanced the “family” atmosphere of the club. Ron is excited for the future of the club and feels it will be left in solid hands as we go through the transition process with the incoming board. He stressed that the club must be willing to adapt to changing circumstances and be flexible in managing the future affairs of the club. In his upcoming position as the United Soccer Federation President, Ron will continue to be an advocate for LISC. Ron also commended Mike Kobylinski for his job as Director of Coaching.
Cathy Baird, Treasurer:
Cathy is working on a 5-year financial plan to provide a way for the club to project future financial considerations. That report should be done by the end of January. The dues payment plan is progressing very well. Most of the Fall Cup receivables have come in, but we are still waiting on two payments. Fall Cup revenue is expected to be about $8,000. We gave about $20,000 in scholarship monies during the fall season. Cathy is proposing writing off the mats ($6,750) that are being stored at Lifelines, unless we sell them back to the company that bought them.
Mike Wilson, Secretary:
There was no Secretary report, but Mike will verify that we are up to date with our Not-for-Profit status with the State of Illinois.
Director of Coaching Report:
Mike Kobylinski provided the board with a written report of fall activities. (attached)
He also mentioned that the CIYSL has decided on 5 game dates for league games. Each team will play on 4 of those days. “Tournament Weekends” are also possible.
March 14 will be the date we start outdoor training. Mike is planning a clinic and college coach’s symposium on that day.
Committee Reports:
Lance is getting ready to send a letter to businesses to solicit donations for the club.
Club organization and duty restructuring:
The board of directors has approved a new club organizational chart (via unanimous email vote). Mike Kobylinski has also assumed the duties of “Executive Director” of the club.
On February 3, we are planning a board retreat which will include current board members and newly elected board members. The purpose of the retreat will be to facilitate a smooth transition between the out-going board on in-coming board.
Next Meeting Date:
The February 3rd board retreat is the next scheduled meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:26.
Fall Season The fall season has completed this past weekend. Many of our teams experienced team success over the course of the season. Here is a list of teams that placed 1 st or 2 nd in the CIYSL: U10 GIRLS, U11 BOYS, U12 BOYS PREMIER, U12 GIRLS, U14 BOYS, U16 GIRLS PREMIER We also had these various teams place 1 st or 2 nd at Tournaments: Naperville Gold Cup-U16 Girls Premier Orange and Blue Fall Cup-U10 Boys Blue, U12 Girls, U13 Boys, U14 Boys, U16 Girls Premier and Classic Fishers Halloween Classic-U12 Girls VIT Invitational-U16 Girls Premier More importantly we have offered a chance for kids to compete at many various age groups. For the first time we offered a team at the U9 and U11 girls level. We currently have 22 teams (including the U8 developmental team) and around 315 participants involved with LISC. Also, please visit the our website to check out all the HS boys players that have garnered post season accolades.
Coaches Meetings/Parent Rep. Meeting I have met with every coach and have concluded the end of the year meetings. We now have information such as lesson plans, attendance reports, player evaluations, and post game analysis on file at the LISC office. The coaches and I have discussed better ways to improve the club and will hopefully implement their ideas in the near future. In the next two months all of our coaches will be obtaining their USSF E certificates or USSF D licenses. We will have all of the coaches back for the upcoming spring season. We truly have a great group of coaches! Joan, Cathy, and I finished our parent rep. meeting a few weeks ago. Joan did a fantastic job of getting information together and we now have a solid parent rep. manual for our parent reps. to follow.
Clinics /Curriculum/ Academy We recently completed our Lee Taft Sports Speed Clinic at the Savoy Rec. Center and had 16 coaches in attendance! It was a huge success and gave the coaches valuable knowledge leading up to the winter program. I am in the progress of developing an Academy outline for our coaching staff as well as a more developed club curriculum. We will be helping out Villa Grove Rec. Soccer by holding a clinic tentatively set for Feb. 25 th as well as holding an LISC Club Clinic at the Savoy Rec. Center on Jan. 6-7 th. Our LISC Coaching Staffwill be involved in the Savoy Rec. Center’s Kid Kicks Soccer Program that runs from Jan. 13-Feb.10 th. In the spring, we will be offering the LISC Soccer Academy for ages 4-8 boys and girls beginning in April and lasting for 6 weeks.
Winter Training The winter schedule is out and available on our website at www.liscsoccer.com Coaches have been encouraged to accept players that have serious conflicts with their assigned teams with the hopes of getting those players ball touches and fitness. The program will last for 10 weeks from Jan.2 nd-March 11 th. It will be held at the Urbana Armory and the Savoy Recreational Center like last year. In the event that a coach can’t make a winter session then they will find another coach/parent to fill in. We need to be flexible as we ask a lot out of our coaching staff and they are all taking part of the winter program.
Upcoming Ideas/Events I will be meeting with Soccer Country to go over our new uniforms that the club must purchase for Fall ’07. I would like to keep the costs down but will be going over options. I am also excited to be exploring new avenues with Soccer Country and possible opportunities for our club to get more exposure with more advertising/products, etc. I would also like to develop an LISC Newsletter to be distributed every 3 months to our members. I would also like to offer an LISC Summer Soccer Camp but will have to explore the best time to do that and make sure to sort out the schedule with CPD. Lastly, I have given our coaches/parent reps. access to explore Sports Logic Tech which is a tool that opens the line of communication and offers online registration, etc. We have a free trial for the winter and upcoming spring. We also have the opportunity to get sponsorships to help pay for this program if we decide to use it after our free trial.