South Plainfield Soccer Association Meeting Minutes

Date of Meeting: December 16, 2004

Meeting Type: December 2004 General Meeting

Minutes filed on: December 19, 2004

Attendees: Patrick Flanagan U-9 Rockets, Bill Butrico U-8 Storm, Gary Herbster, Pete Kelly, Margaret Pezzolla U-9 Thunder, Paul Seyffart U-10 Hotspurs, Ed Collins U-14 Blast, Carlos Gonzalez U-14 Blast, Bob Bichler U-11 Bullets, Millie K. Hunt U-12 Sonics, Bruce Hunt U-12 Sonics, Al Vill U-11 Bullets, Paul Billich U-12 Spirit, Richard Paez U-12 Spirit, Franco Mitrano, Glenn Gross, Pete Kelly U-19 Alliance/U-19 Lightning, Tom Lanza U-12 Sonics, Sam Pauls U-12 Power, Tony Statnings U-12 Spirit

Meeting Minutes were reviewed individually and approved.

Financials

A spread sheet was distributed detailing the clubs financial status. Treasurer Millie Hunt explained that the club does not have the actual money that the balance sheet shows. This is due to the fact that the club will have to pay out 50.00 for each player whose meets the work bond requirement. The actual projected balance is $11,141.61 (after bond payments are deducted). Millie noted this projected balance was unusually low.

The South Plainfield Soccer Association filed the "Long Form Renewal Registration Statement CRI-300R" to the State of New Jersey and the Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax the IRS on time (November 30, 2004).

Candy Sale money is still outstanding. Please turn it in ASAP. Do not hold on to checks. It makes the club look like we don’t need the money.

Field Status

President Al Vill stated the need for someone to step up and perform the field management that was formerly performed by Tom Hardy. Al noted that all of the work that Tom routinely performed in the past, has been reassigned to several other people with the exception of field management.

Al also stated the field maintenance was the largest expenditure in the clubs budget and the club was looking to save money by switching sprinkler system vendors.

United Soccer Academy (USA) Training

All of the teams this coming spring will be using USA with the exception of the 3 teams that have expressed unfavorable experiences with USA. Those 3 teams have their trainers lined up and will get the same amount of financial support for training as the rest of the clubs Those 3 teams will also participate in the training fund raiser this coming spring.

The new teams this spring will also receive USA training.

Spring Teams

There will not be a U-13 girls team this spring. There were 2 tryouts that did not yield enough players to create a team.

Flight Requests

All coaches should let Al Vill know what flight you would like your team to be in this spring. The dead line for flight requests is approaching fast and we need to know what you want.

You can go to the Mid New Jersey Youth Soccer Web site and view the flight requests that are already posted.

Snack Stand

A diagram was passed around for all to view and provide any comments. It was noted that the foot print and rest room size is not negotiable. The size of the Kitchen and storage room are up to us.

The general feeling was to keep the kitchen the same size as what is proposed and enhance the storage room with some lights and outlets so that it could be used for an office during tryouts and other events at the fields.

By-Law Amendment

An amendment to Article II section 2 was proposed as per Article VIII section 1. The proposed amendment has 7 sub sections. A copy of the proposed amendment was distributed and reviewed.

A discussion followed the review which lasted for the rest of the meeting. Many topics were brought forward. Several teams feel they want to not hold tryouts for their teams and carry them forward into the fall.

Subsection D (The Grandfather Clause) was discussed for quite some time Pete Kelly suggested that a phrase be added to state a younger player playing Up must place in the top 3 or 4 position (on the older team) in order to be permitted to play up.

There was also general concern that B teams would loose players that tried out and played with enough skill to play on the A team. Also there are some teams that have younger players rounding out their roster and if Section E is complied with the younger players may be forces to play on the younger age appropriate team.

No vote was taken on this amendment but January it will be put to a vote. Anyone with an amendment to the By-Laws can propose one and have it voted but it must be done in accordance with Article VIII section 1 of the By-Laws.

Meeting concluded approximately 9:45pm