Learn. Participate. Belong.


BACKGROUND
I was fortunate enough to attend my eighth consecutive NSCAA Convention January 14-18 in Philadelphia, PA and I thought this year's event was one of the best in recent memory. I encourage anyone reading this to try and attend in Baltimore next year because it really gives you great exposure to the game of soccer and all of the realms it covers. As I have become more involved at the Regional and National levels most of my time at the Convention was spent in meetings (High School Rankings, High School All-American, Scholar All-American, Boys & Girls Coach of the Year, State Presidents, NFHS Rules, High School Awards Breakfast, NCHSSCA State Meeting, etc.) Now, then, we all make sure we have a good time while attending the Convention, but there is a lot of work that goes on Thursday through Saturday. For many of us this is the only face-to-face time we have with our respective committees during the calendar year.

INTERESTING READS
• NSCAA Convention: Through the Eyes of a First Timer
• 2015 NSCAA Convention Touted by Many as Best One to Date

SITES
In one of my meetings the host cities were discussed and not to my surprise was the fact that the Convention held in St. Louis a few years ago was one of the poorest attended in the past 20 years. Other cities that have struggled as hosts were Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA, though there are talks with the Peach State getting back into the fold since their soccer landscape has improved so much since the mid-1990s. The reason the Convention was held in the "City of Brotherly Love", was because originally the NSCAA had planned on Minneapolis, MN serving as the host. However, due to the size of the Convention and the need for indoor playing surface space, that destination had to be scrapped - not to mention the week's temperatures of hovering around zero in the upper midwest. Despite it being held in Philadelphia for the second straight year, the NSCAA Convention registration numbers were higher than 2014. Future cities hosting the January event are:
• 2016: Baltimore, MD
• 2017: Los Angeles, CA
• 2018: Indianapolis, IN
• 2019: Kansas City, MO

POCKET SCHEDULE
Another big topic for those in attendance was the absence of the Closed Meetings schedule being included in the pocket schedule and hopefully that will return in 2016. That being said, the NSCAA cut its printing costs nearly $35,000 this year by providing an online app that proved beneficial albeit a little slow with so many people trying to access it daily.

NSCAA CONTACTS
Andrew McGinnis (amcginnis@nscaa.com) is the contact for clubs and Aresa Grace (agrace@nscaa.com) is the new Director of Membership. Pat Madden informed us of the new NSCAA facilities they relocated to this past year at Union Station in Kansas City and they look forward to hosting another NSCAA Convention in the near future. Aaron Weatherford (aweatherford@nscaa.com) is in charge of IT and the NSCAA made great strides in that area this past year.

ADVOCACY COUNCIL
The NSCAA had a major reorganization in 2014 that disbanded the old hierarchy of leadership. A couple of the positions eliminated was a “high school voice” that was anchored by long time prep soccer coaches and advocates, Kevin Denson (VA) and Kevin Sims (NC). However, with no seat on the Board now, those two individuals will head up an Advocacy Council at the national level while relying on regional representatives from around the United States. Denson will be the “voice” from the Youth ranks, Sims from the girls’ high school group, and Greg Winkler (FL) will lead the boys troops. Each coordinator will have eight regional representatives. This type of organization puts the high school folks more in line with other Advocacy groups such as the Black Soccer Coaches; Native American Soccer Coaches; Latin American Soccer Coaches; Portuguese American Soccer Coaches; LGBTQ Soccer Coaches; Men’s & Women’s Pro Coaches; Women’s Advocacy Group; Men’s College Soccer Coaches; Women’s College Soccer Coaches; Boys Youth Soccer Coaches; Girls Youth Soccer Coaches; etc.). Another award that is gaining traction is recognition of a “Coach of Positive Significance” – those individuals who have done things the right way without perhaps having the most talent at their disposal.

HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN
Another well attended meeting. Pat Madden (KS) chaired this Committee meeting and John Mayer (FL) coordinates during the year. South Carolina has two prep All-Americans based on our NSCAA membership numbers. In comparison, Ohio has seven boys and girls recognized because of their numbers. One of the proposals is to double all state representation and that is something the Advocacy Council will work on diligently in 2015.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Very well attended meeting headed up by John Mayer, Pat Madden, and Bunky Colvin (GA). Our system is working well and will only continue to improve as the NSCAA website becomes more ingrained with the prep rankings.

ALL-STATE CERTIFICATES
The SCHSSCA was one of just a few states that took advantage of the NSCAA All-State Certificates in 2014 – the first year offered and we will do so again this spring. Steve Veal of the NSCAA recognized our state for participating in this program.

HIGH SCHOOL AWARDS BREAKFAST
Jeff van Dusen and Kevin Denson coordinate this event and they had planned for 125 to attend and as of Thursday afternoon had sold just 75 tickets despite the cost being lowered from $25 to $15 – this will be revisited for 2016. I had the privilege of listening to the man himself, Robby Robinson, speak to this group for the very award that is named in his honor - http://www.nscaa.com/awards/more/robert-robinson-award .InspireSport, NIKESoccer, Continental Tire, and MaxPreps staged this event. S.C., will still be recognized at the Summer Symposium July 30-August 1 in Orlando, FL. Anna Merriman of Academic Magnet (Small School) and Ernie Suozzi of Hilton Head Island (Large School) were S.C. Award winners and Merriman was also honored as the Atlantic Region COY. http://www.nscaa.com/awards/high-school

NFHS RULES CHANGES & UPDATES
David Hicks(NC) coordinated this session. It is always a pleasure to attend this “meeting” because it is usually high in emotion and this year’s event did not disappoint. Bill Johnson (MA) of the NSCAA Soccer Rules Committee and Mark Koski (IN) of the NFHS do an excellent job enlightening the room of prep soccer coaches about their findings from national surveys of coaches and offficials. Johnson, in particular, has a good perspective as he is an official and a high school and club coach. This session dealt mainly with player safety and, of course, the uniform discussion which will be revisited in 2015 by this committee. NFHS makes most of its budget based on the sale of Rule Books and last year more than 200,000 were sold just for soccer. Prep soccer is the fifth most popular sport for boys from the participation perspective with 417,419 playing in 2014 – an addition of 6,437 boys and 92 varsity teams. For girls it is the fourth most popular sport with representation of 374,564 and an increase of 3,032 girls and three varsity teams. Soccer is considered a “young sport” by the NFHS as football, basketball, and baseball were legislated in the 1920s, but soccer not until 1970. Annual survey is conducted in November and S.C. had 27 high school coaches (2,954) and three referees (4,435) complete the survey or 0.42% of the national survey – this is posted at SCSoccer.com every year, but if you are not receiving this from your Athletic Director then please inform them to be on notice of this each Fall.

STATE HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENTS MEETING
This was lightly attended due to several coaching demonstrations going on and the timing will need to be adjusted in the future. Along with myself at the meeting was chaired by Kevin Denson with Russ Plummer (Hendersonville, TN), Greg Mauch (Fort Wayne, IN), and Greg Davidson (Fishers, IN) in attendance.

N.C. COACHES MEETING
NCHSSCA President Doug Kidd (Swansboro) invited me to attend to give a report on the Clash of the Carolinas and I invited their contingent of coaches to join us in Charleston this summer. The Tar Heels will select their boys’ team tomorrow in Raleigh – they play in the Fall and have their awards banquet today. The girls’ squad will be chosen in April. There was a good bit of discussion for their private schools to be able to participate, but it is the same scenario in S.C., with the SCISA teams. I emphasized the need to sell program ads. BN Sports will again provide the NIKE kits in 2015. We plan on having a coaches’ social either on Daniel Island or in Charleston during the weekend. Upon their invitation I attended the NCHSSCA Social on Saturday in which they had around 25 prep coaches in attendance – this may be something we incorporate at future NSCAA Conventions. There is a good synergy amongst our two associations and definitely are two of the more organized groups nationally.

PELE
It is not everyday that you run into soccer royalty, but that was the case in Philadelphia as Pelé, Sir Alex Ferguson, Landon Donovan, etc., were all on hand at one time or another. Throw in the likes of Don Garber, Sunil Gulati, Eric Wynalda, John Harkes, Claudio Reyna, Tony Meola, René Meulensteen, etc., and it was a "who's who" of international soccer.

SANDLAPPERS
Listed below are some of the folks with Palmetto State ties I ran into last week (sorry if I missed anyone):
• Doug Allison, Furman men's coach
• Craig Appleby, Johns Hopkins University men's coach & former Irmo HS standout
• Mark Berson, South Carolina men's coach
• Matt Brophy, Irmo HS boys coach & SC United FC
• Will Chassereau, Berkeley HS girls coach
• Dave Easley, Congaree Rapid FC, SCSoccer.com, & USC Soccer Public Address Announcer
• Kara Farnsworth, Columbia International University women’s coach
• Jamie Guyan, Charleston men's assistant coach
• Chris Hooker, Gray Collegiate girls coach & Congaree Rapid FC/West Metro SA
• Tomasz Kluszczynski, SC United FC
• Spencer Lewis, South Carolina men's assistant coach
• Carl Little, Lloyd's Soccer - Greenville
• Hope Lloyd, Lloyd's Soccer - Mount Pleasant
• Ralph Lundy, Charleston men's coach
• Drew McNeely, West Ashley HS girls coach
• Mike Mauldin, Dutch Fork HS girls coach
• Warren Mersereau, Soccer Solutions Vice President
• Patrick Olalere, James Island Youth Soccer Club & former Charleston Battery standout
• Ralph Polson, Wofford men's coach
• Andrew Richardson, Heathwood Hall HS boys coach & Congaree Rapid FC
• Brent Roberts, Christ Church HS boys JV coach
• Mitch Robertson, Lloyd’s Soccer – Alpharetta, GA
• Phil Savitz, River Bluff HS boys coach & SC United FC
• Robby Setzler, Brookland-Cayce HS boys assistant coach & Congaree Rapid FC
• Rob Sloan, Wilson HS girls coach
• Haze Weinspach, Cardinal Newman HS boys assistant coach & Congaree Rapid FC
• Keith Wiggins, Charleston men's assistant coach
• David Wilcox, Christ Church HS boys coach

I look forward to others that attended this event contributing to this thread with your thoughts and comments.

Last edited by Kyle Heise; 01/24/15 07:22 PM.