Coastal Bend Youth Soccer Association

COASTAL BEND YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION Minutes for the Board of Directors Meeting, January 27, 2011 7:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Emerald Beach Minutes Available at www.CBYSASoccer.org

A special Open meeting was called for discussion about some possible changes that might be happening in the Corpus Christi area.

Call to order: Chair of the meeting Pat Kasperitis at 7:01 . Roll Call: 1. Express – 1 (DeeLynn Torres) 2. Gregory-Portland – 4 (Sherry Roberson, Manuel Alvarado, Jesse Martinez, Johnny Pereida) 3. Great Western – 1 (Russell Wyatt) 4. Gulf Coast – 1 (Alex K) 5. Padre Soccer – 3 (Amy Burford, Bret Burford, Ruben ) 6. Port Aransas – 0 7. San Patricio – 0 8. Santa Fe – 1 (Ken Consolli) 9. Tri-City – 0

Roll Call: A quorum must be present to conduct business. A majority of the voting power of the Board of Director’s members which are in good standing (as defined in Paragraph 1.9 of the CBYSA Constitution) shall constitute a quorum at all meetings of the Board of Directors. In order to conduct business, one more than half the voting Leagues must be present constituting a quorum.

Board Members in Attendance: Pat Kasperitis, President – present Lee Garza, 1st VP – absent Holly Houghton, 2nd VP – absent Brian Branch, 3rd VP – absent Cherilyn Sperling, Registrar –present Treasurer – Trina Daniel - present) Secretary – vacant Monica Hatton, Executive Administrator – present Adrian Salinas, Referee Development Director – present Linda Miller, D&P Committee – present

President’s Report: Pat Kasperitis Pat suggested we gather together to discuss the new changes to the Spring Cup play. He is concerned about the way that CBYSA and associations south of San Antonio are being treated. It is extremely unfair and in the past couple of years it has become increasing so. In a brief history, he discussed that WDDOA and Austin/San Antonio teams do not want to travel south of San Antonio. In any fair configuration, Corpus Christi teams would have to travel 4 or 5 times in a 9 week season. The last couple of years, the travel policy has evolved so that we often have no home games, all would be in San Antonio or Austin. When this occurs, the kids and parents will quickly burn out if they have to be out of town every weekend.

The previous Western District VP as well as the current WDVP have supported us, but they are outvoted on the STYSA EC. We have been repeatedly appealing these unfair decisions and have repeatedly won our appeals. However, it always goes back to those teams not coming to Corpus because they will simply forfeit the games that are scheduled in Corpus. In 2009, we appealed and won and the Appeals Panel said that the scheduling had to be fair to all the teams in the competition. However, this decision was made too late in the season, so we did not get to reap the benefits of that appeal. In 2010, they were supposed to implement the decision that was reached in 2009, however, this did not happen. For the 2011 season the system of play that was announced in December required that the southern teams would have true home and away games (maybe not in your home field, but in your same city). However, responding to renewed pressure from WDDOA, CAYSA and now even AAYSA, the STYSA EC reversed course over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of January 2011. To be fair, AAYSA (San Antonio area) are sharply divided. But when push came to shove, their vote was to change the travel policy in a way that would require us to travel for virtually every single game.

Adding insult to injury, several of the members from association from the Austin/San Antonio area were bad mouthing the teams from the South by saying such things as the southern teams are “cheaters” and “liars”. One San Antonio club president – Bryan Brown of the Lonestars SA -- went so far as to declare that “not a single team in Corpus is worth playing at all, let alone traveling down there to play them.” Apparently, the STYSA EC agrees that the revision to the travel policy is not fair to us, but is afraid of losing the revenue generated by the San Antonio/Austin area membership.

Every time the southern region wins an appeal, the Executive Committee is given a choice to honor the appeal or to give into the San Antonio/Austin teams’ threats to leave STYSA unless they don’t have to travel as much. In the Coastal Bend, we have found that it is nearly impossible to keep the kids together and excited about playing soccer when they have to travel almost every weekend. We understand reality: Even in a fair system our teams will travel more than the San Antonio/Austin teams. The system has become extremely unfair to the children here in this area by requiring us to travel virtually every weekend and yet, we are paying the same dues and membership as the other kids in the San Antonio/Austin area.

This past Fall, due to the latest decision that denied us an equitable travel schedule, the South Texas Alliance was formed. Due to these revised cup regulations, we have decided to expand the Alliance so that the teams in this area have an alternative. If CBYSA teams choose to play in the Alliance, there will be regional playoffs, however, we will not be included in the State Championships. Further, CBYSA is not going to join in the South Texas Cup competition, therefore we will not have any allocations. However, for the Division II teams and Division III and IV recreational teams, we will still have a local competition. In this local competition, playoffs will be held with the other associations/clubs who are in the Alliance. Playoffs for this will be in the Laredo, Harlingen, and Corpus Christi area.

What Pat is recommending is that we all sign our local teams for the Alliance and not give STYSA the satisfaction of having our money. Not one “red cent” is the goal. Once again, this is our Board’s RECOMMENDATION. Your teams are still welcome to join Directors’ Cup or President’s Cup, and there will be no penalties to your team by CBYSA or the Alliance. However, Pat has advised that if your teams do join the STYSA Cup system, CBYSA will have very limited ability to provide you any administrative support in scheduling, rostering or resolving playoff allocation issues. Just like teams that choose to play in WDDOA, you will be “on your own.”

We are hoping that between CBYSA, Victoria, Rio Valley, Laredo, Kingsville, Alice, and any others who would like to joins us, that STYSA will become aware that we are serious about this. Even though they amended the ruling to appease those Austin/San Antonio teams, some of those clubs have already decided that they will not be playing in the Cup play regardless. They have made their own Spring Cup. In Austin, there is now a Texas Cup, which is for Super II and Division II teams.

The South Texas Alliance is making its registration deadlines after the STYSA deadlines for the Directors Cup and Presidents’ Cup Championships. The fee for the Alliance will be $75 per team. This fee will include all fees for playoffs.

Our intentions are further to petition USYS for the formation of a 3rd State Association within Texas. As of now, you have two, the North Texas State Soccer Association (which is the Dallas area) and STYSA (which is divided into Eastern and Western District). Pat doesn’t believe that the National Council will vote to allow a third association in Texas because of the way the votes are calculated within Region III of USYS. Basically if USYS allows a 3rd Texas Association everyone else in the Region would see their voting strength diluted. So this appears to be a long shot. However, we may be able to force USYS to intervene and to broker a settlement that creates a Southern District within STYSA or some other solution that allows the teams in the south some ability to compete on an equitable basis. USYS intervened back when El Paso was experiencing a similar problem and imposed the solution that is in place today.

The purpose of the Alliance system is to be as flexible as possible. If it so happens that your age bracket doesn’t have very many teams, then there will most likely be an attempt to hold some friendly competitions. Alternatively we can combine age groups to ensure that there are enough games to play.

One other thing that Pat intends to do is to group with the southern associations at the GBM and turn in their votes. There are not any rules up for vote that apply directly to us. Therefore this would be a symbolic gesture. However, it may allow us to raise awareness of the issues we face. These issues are truly a matter of survival for our Clubs’ competitive programs. The Floor was then opened to questions and questions were asked. Such as: would the Alliance be willing to allow a late payment if a team is waiting on recovering some of the money that they had put out for Directors or Presidents Cup. Once again, Pat emphasized that the Alliance would be as flexible “as humanly possible.” Another question that was posed regarding hypothetical bracket formation: what if there were 4 clubs in this area in your age bracket, and 2 of them decided to play in either Directors or Presidents Cup, that only leaves 2 teams in your age bracket. The CBYSA EC responded that this always happens in the Spring due to various reasons, such as some of the teams moving up to Director’s Cup, or children playing other sports. This was when it was announced that the friendly games might come into play to have more games available for the teams. Other questions arose regarding the logistics of playing in the Alliance system and there was prolonged discussion regarding the economics of continuing in the STYSA or USYS system in any capacity. One of the most important questions involved securing refunds for teams that had already signed up for the STYSA Cups. We know that STYSA will refund teams that withdraw before the Feb. 1 registration deadline. However, we believe that they will refuse to do so after that time. CBYSA will support its teams in the grievance/appeal process in this instance. However, there is no guarantee that we would prevail. The teams must consider this before giving their money over.

In summary, the recommendation of the CBYSA Board is for teams to join the Alliance, and to not give any of our money to STYSA. We receive no benefit for the funds we expend, so perhaps we should simply keep the money at home. CBYSA is abstaining from the South Texas Cup, and teams will be registered in an equivalent competition run by the Alliance. We are also canceling the Kohl’s Cup presently scheduled for April, which we can replace with our own recreational tournament. Ultimately we may have to decide if we must explore the option of leaving USYS altogether in favor of US Club Soccer or some other sanctioning body. We don’t have to cross that bridge yet, but it is coming up quickly. We have to be prepared for that debate when it happens.

The meeting adjourned at 8:41. CBYSA Fees for Fall and Spring 2010-11

DI / SII / DII (all ages) - $35 per player DIII Rec. (U11 & older) - $22 per player D IV Rec. (U7 thru U10) - $12 per player D IV Rec. (U5/U6) - $10 per player

Voting Strength = for April 2010 through March 2011 Express – 1 (139+ 43 = 182) Port A – 1 (119 + 0 = 119) Great Western – 3 (282 + 80 = 362) Santa Fe – 3 (345 + 93 = 438) Gregory-Portland – 4 (432 + 132 = 564) Tri-City – 3 (222 + 109 = 331) Gulf Coast – 3 (291 + 91 = 382) San Pat – 2 (252 + 0 = 252) Padre – 5 (579 + 144 = 723)

Next CBYSA Meeting: Thursday, February 10 at the Holiday Inn Emerald Beach.

Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 8:41.