[Link, Northside Soccer Club, Letter from President]A Letter From the President
Greetings Northside Members,
As you are aware Northside has been working through some challenges in preparing for the 2005 - 2006 season. Every year there have been challenges we have had to face, but this year has been especially difficult due to the fact that members and friends have had to make tough decisions regarding their affiliation with this club. Even though this is not an unusual event in the life of most clubs, it is something we wanted to avoid. One thing we have in common is a love for the game and a desire to see kids learn to love the game as we do and to play it better than we did.
So where do we go from here? That has been the question the leadership of Northside has been dealing with over the last several weeks. As we evaluated where Northside has come from in a little over 4 years it was obvious that many things had been done well to have grown from 4 teams to 20 teams. We have gone from no tournament championships to over 12 this year, from no impact on the state level to having a State Championship team and several quarter and semi-finalists. There is no doubt in my mind that Northside has contributed to the current success of the Fort Mill and Northwestern high school soccer programs when you consider that 6 Northside coaches are involved and a large number of the players are Northside "kids". The Tega Cay recreational program has had 2 Northside coaches, the Steele Creek recreational program had Northside coaches, and coaches have been available to other local rec programs. This success was in no small part due to the hard and often thankless work of many who have served as coaches, board members, and team managers.
On the other side, with growth comes growing pains, and in the process of trying to handle this rapid growth organizationally we had to focus on growing coaching staff and operational staff. In the process we made mistakes and we lost some focus. We stopped seeing the trees for the forest. In other words, in focusing on handling the growth of the club we in some ways neglected our customers and coaches. We allowed decisions and practices that did not fit with our mission and in the process created some confusion and frustration.
As a result the board has made decisions that will impact how we will operate as a club going forward. In brief summary here are some of the decisions.
1) John Agnew was elected in by the Board with Bill Tooley's resignation in April. It was John and the Board's understanding that he would not only finish Bill's term but continue with the new term in June. Due to personal reasons, as stated in his e-mail he has decided not to start the new term. He will instead work with the club in helping with our budgeting and finances, areas in which he is talented and has already contributed greatly.
2) With the opening of the President's position I was asked to step in. In April I had already let the board know that I was not going to seek another term as VP. Four years was long enough. In light of that Efrain Tirado was elected in April to be the VP starting June 1. After prayerful consideration, discussion with board members and a few Northside parents I have accepted the role of President. This was not something I had anticipated and this is a challenging task at this point in the life of the club. However, I believe in the mission of this club and firmly believe Northside was, is and can continue to be a positive influence not only to soccer in this area but, in the lives of hundreds of kids. I have had a child play on Charlotte Eagles, Charlotte United, Discoveries and Northside, and I am confident that Northside Soccer Club has offered the best value in the area. No club overall has had better coaches and trainers than Northside.
3) Refocus. One of my first statements to the board was that we had to refocus to gain back those things that we lost. You will hear more about this in the weeks and months to come but I will summarize the main points:
a) Focus on our vision and mission and assure that all club and coaching level decisions are consistent with our mission.
b) Focus on our customers - the parents. Refocus on the "trees in the forest" by;
§ Communicating our vision/mission and the resulting practices and procedures
§ Understand our families needs and expectations and work hard to consistently meet and exceed them
§ Seek and solicit input from parents on what we are doing well and what we need to do better at
§ Gain a wider base of parental involvement in the club
§ Work closely with our team managers to solicit feedback and to use them as the conduit for club information, mission, and policies
c) Our coaches are "our face" to our customers; therefore, we will work diligently to find good coaches, to communicate with them, seek their input, and treat them with equity. We will work to constructively assist them in becoming better at coaching and being examples of our club's values.
I could go on, but if you are still reading you are probably a minority. So where do we go from here? Well… here is where I need your help if you believe this club has something to offer.
1) Leadership Involvement: We need people who are willing to invest significant and critical time by being on the Board. These positions are critical and provide opportunity for you to be at the forefront of guiding this club. Due to terms expiring we have the following openings - Treasurer, Secretary, and Registrar.
2) Task Involvement: I need people who will step-up in other critical positions in the club such as Team Manager, Fund raising for scholarships, Newsletter editor and team results writer, uniform and club apparel coordinator, and field coordinator.
3) Feedback: On our website
www.northsidesoccer.net under Forms is a "Parental Feedback" form. If you would take the time to fill this out it would be extremely helpful to the leadership team.
4) Tryouts: Our ability to fill teams will be very much dependant on getting your kids and your friends kids to tryouts during the week of May 23rd. See our
www.northsidesoccer.net for particulars. Please register online before tryouts. Look under "Forms" for "Online Registration". Also equally important, we need volunteers to assist at the tryouts with welcoming, bringing your laptop to help register players, set-up and take-down, etc… We will need the same type of help for the team meetings the following week.
5) Coaches: Lou is working hard at lining up good coaches and so far it is looking very promising. We will let you know more as contracts are signed.
6) Fields: Probably one of our biggest challenges is practice fields in Fort Mill area. We have a couple options we are looking at but nothing has been locked up yet. We will have several fields in Rock Hill to use for practice and games.
That is enough for now. If you have any questions, feel free to email me a president@northsidesoccer.net. I am looking forward with great anticipation as we take this next chapter in the life of NSC. Your involvement and input would be greatly appreciated.
See you at the fields,
Bob Blaschke