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Soccermom & The Hammer, I respect your decision not to air any criticisms, you are obviously a better person than I.

This is for you go go goooooal ...

Did you know that the SCYSA Board voted to get rid of the Director of Coaching from the Board? Yes, Van Taylor is now a part time employee that does not attend Board meetings and does not get to vote. So the most important soccer voice in this State is nullified.

Fred Bieber on behalf of SCYSA paid for the treasurer and other board members to attend teh USYSA convention in LA but did not feel it was necessary to send our Director of Coaching. SC was the only state who did not send a DOC to the convention.

Did you know that SC is one of the few states in the country that does not have a full time director of coaching. (Despite having $400 000 in the bank!)

The Board is made up of three married couples. Ethics?

There are no term limits.

The majority (90%) of the Board does not have any kids playing youth soccer. They are unaware of the trials and tribulations a soccer family experiences in one month - never mind a season. Their kids played when soccer was free, league games were played on the local park and the only tournament they attended was the end of season jamboree. (Does'nt sound too bad does it!)

SCYSA is actually declining in membership!

Did you know the SCYSA has voted on increasing the fee's for the 2003/4 season? No, you probably did not, but then not many do, despite the fact that this decision was made in January. As a club Director I would like to know these things as despite being a small club we actually do have an annual budget. Unlike SCYSA my Club does not have $400 000 sitting in the bank! (By the way it is earning a measly 2%!!) I challenge you to get a copy of an SCYSA budget -they dont have one! At the AGM all you get is a copy of SCYSA's tax return.

At this past AGM John Freed ran against Fred Bieber for President. When Club Presidents registered to vote they were received by Board Members wearing Vote Fred Bieber stickers. Gee, as a dad who just got elected President of his organization what would you do? (So much for remaining neutral).

Somebody mentioned that the Directors elect the other Board Members, this true and obviously self serving! However, that is only half the story. At the AGM discussed above each Board member gets one vote - that one vote carries the same vote as a club with 450 members! Put teh above two facts together and you get .... an SCYSA Board that has been unchanged in 8 years!

Gong back to the meeting in January, the calendar for the 2003/2004 was finalized. I have yet to see it. Once again as a director I plan NOW for the Fall & Spring. Don't you think those dates would be handy?

You mention the success of the ODP. That is due to the Club progrmas not SCYSA. The negative comments about ODP are about administration! SCYSA is in charge of administration not developing players! Why do some of the better players / teams not support ODP?

Take a look at the SCYSA web site. Someone in the upstate offered to design and maintain a professional web site free of charge for SCYSA. No surprises as to what happened to that! Fred Bieber is the SCYSA web master and would NEVER relinquish control!

The current league and state cup format was actually proposed 4 years ago!!

Terry Gordon was relieved of her duties as Recreational Director because she had the audacity to try and promote the game. Needless to say that Terry was replaced by a trusty good ol' boy! He has been in his position since August and we have yet to see or hear anything promoting the recreational game from him or the state!

Try and attend a Board Meeting. Better yet, check the SCYSA web site to see if you can access the minutes - you may be lucky and get those from 2001! (If the hover buttons work!) What are they trying to hide!

Times up! Let me know if you want to know more, and when I get a spare 5 minutes, I will be happy to enlighten you!

Thank you to all those volunteers that do such a fantastic job for the sport of soccer!

Justin

Justin,
You sound like a disgruntled ex-ODP coach. Contrary to your ravings, I believe that soccer in SC is continuing its rapid growth with much success. One would think that if the state administration was so poor, that the sport of soccer and participation throughout the state would be declining. Your own club was not even in existence a few short years ago. There are scholarship programs to assist new referees, coaching scholarships available to its members. And based on your own information, the association definitely isn't close to being broke!! Be a team player and support your own state soccer organization.
Play-On!

Hold on, go go gooal - you are singing to another tune now!

You ask Soccermom to provide you with some specifics ... we provide you with some and you throw some useless propoganda around to deflect the issue at hand!

You might want to read my message again because you will see that I stated the number of players in SC IS declining! Also, I did not mention or imply that they (SCYSA) were broke I was actually disgusted that they have over $400 000 in the bank that is not being invested properly, there is no annual budget, and there is absolutely no long term financial planning!

I challenge you to refute any statement, that is in my previous message. And if you want to be taken seriously - dont hide behind go go gooooal

Justin

PS: Van Taylor has in the last 3 months asked me to work with the ODP - I kindly declined!

I am sorry if I said anything to shut up your soccermom, Justin. I guess you are her spokesperson now. My comments relative to the $400,000 were meant to depict that the state association must be doing something right and must be well managed. And there is no way on this green grass that the number of soccer players in SC is DECLINING!!! Look at your own organization.... hasn't it grown tremendously in the last few years.... and the number of teams increased? And every rec and classic league I know of in this state is bursting at the seams...crying for more fields.

JUSTIN,
WELL SPOKEN AND TO THE POINT!!!!!

JC, thanks for your honesty, frankness and rationale! Seems to me that go go goooaaalll has a personal and vested interest in the current Board, regardless of what he says. Something reaks of NECSA here. Simply put, the people in charge are doing a poor job and changes should be made!

Wow Gogogoal - I didn't do anything to you to deserve such a venomous reply, nor did anyone else for that matter.

Thanks to those who have taken the time to respond and provide good info - I sense mostly frustration.

I agree everyone is a volunteer and certainly appreciate everything that you/we/they all do to develop our players, be sure they have fun and offer them as many opportunities as we can. The intent of my post was to gather information just to understand the soccer community's perception of SCYSA. I have no doubt that at one time SCYSA did their jobs not for self satisfaction but purely for their love of the game and the kids that play it. I just feel that somewhere they have lost sight of this. I was privy to a conversation between a couple of people and a board member - what they were asking was not something that could be done - and they conceded, however, they were blasted and called foolish for even bringing the subject up. The response was something to the effect of, "I've been doing this way too long to fall for that garbage"....I'm sorry, but this was very disrepectful and nasty and should not be tolerated from a board member. The coach is a good guy and has his kids best interests at heart - the coach will no longer try to make suggestions or try to promote change in the state - why? Because he was made to feel unwelcome and basically called an idiot. Why would he waste his time? This is why things remain the way they are.

I don't pretend to think that some personalities don't mesh, however, when you have a prominent position in a very visable organization, it is your job to remain professional and treat everyone with respect. There are people I come into contact with in my job that I don't care for, however, they would never know it because we all have a job to do and I treat them all with the utmost respect.

I am going to go do some reading - and educate myself on SCYSA's bylaws etc. One thing I do well is my homework

This is been very eye opening,
Soccermom (no relation to any of the folks here as go go goal insinuated).

Soccermom,
I am glad to hear that Justin, of all people, is not your spokesperson. Just to clear up a point that Cola Fan made, there is no NECSA love here! I have seen and am disgusted at all the egos among most of the club directors in SC, especially NECSA. Those egos will always keep this state from producing the best soccer teams that can be put together. Yet, I further believe that rather than tear down an association which appears to be functioning quite well (given that it is long and hard VOLUNTARY WORK), that we should look for the good in the association and give it some credit for helping soccer succeed in SC, as it has done. I know I would not have the voluntary time and effort that has been contributed freely over the years by the association. Soccermom, thanx for stirring me up and for creating genuine discussion about the game we love. If we didn't care, we would not be so involved in our discussion!

Go go goooooal I agree with you that coaches / DOC's have ego's but how are they any different to the ego's of your hallowed SCYSA board?

Your obvious dislike for DOC's blinds you from the fact they are responsible for the growth and development of their respective clubs / teams / players - not SCYSA. In your haste to throw darts at me you even complimented me on achieving the above within my own organization! Thanks for the compliment & thanks for proving my point!

I would be interested to see what Roban Benich (SCYSA State Registrar) would say about your remarks about the number of players in SC!

I see that you are still hiding behind go go gooooal.

Justin

PS: Just out of curiosity have you ever scored a goal? LOL

Go Go Goooooal
Are you a present or past board member? Sounds like it. Why do the best players not participate in the $$$ODP Politcal program (I ment ODP)??
ODP is expensive - $250 per child to play in a tournament in Jekyll Island or Atlanta. $650 for regional camp. Where does the money go? I can understand the $650 for camp, but $250 per child for a tournament.

Justin - you may know some of the answers to these questions. I certainly do agree with you and think you are right in what you have presented about the SCYSA board.
We are not the wealthiest family, we were told that ODP offered financial assistance. We inquired about this prior to one of the $$$Tournaments. We nicely were told to ask again prior to the next tournament and maybe something could be done then.
My son loves the game of soccer and would like to continue playing in college. Why do college coaches look at ODP participation?
Justin - I think you are an excellent coach and represent the soccer community well. You coached my son on the 88 ODP team.