GOLDEN GATE WOMEN’S SOCCER LEAGUE
Minutes of the
Annual General Meeting of the Board of Directors
Held on February 2, 2009
At Milano’s
1330 9th Ave., SF
I Lindsay Kauffman, President, opened the meeting at 7:20 p.m.
II Roll Call
Teams Present: Adelante, Atletico San Pancho, Bay City United, Blackthorn FC, Bo and the Deelites, Celtic Ramblers, Chicas FC, Cramps, Crux, Daruma, EB United, Finnegans Wake, Follies, Forte, Heat, High Tide, Ireland's 32, Killer Tomatoes, Kismet United, Las Brujas, Mad Dog, Marin Flash, Mavens, Mna, Nighthawks, Oakland FC, Orange Crush, Phoenix, Pirates, Pumas, Rip Tide, S.F. Eagles, S.F. Fuego, S.F. Vikings, SF Angels, SF Cosmos, SF Force, Shamrock Rovers, Sirens, Spitfire, Sublime, The Edge, Talking Feet, Trouble United, Underdawgs, Underdogs FC, Urban Legends, VooDoo Dolls, Wasabi, Zephyr, Zia FC
Teams Absent: Naomh Padraig II, Ninjas, Olympic Club, Wakiza, Wild Girls
III The minutes from the January 5, 2009 Annual General Meeting were accepted.
IV
Introduction of
Ilisa Kessler, General Manager - FC Gold Pride
A. Lindsay Kaufman introduced Ilisa Kessler, general manager of FC Gold Pride, the new Bay Area Women’s Professional Soccer (“WPS”) team. Lindsay explained that Ilisa was instrumental in the GGWSL and with tournaments.
B. Ilisa mentioned that she previously played for the Spikes in the GGWSL.
C. For the new women’s professional league, they want GGWSL players to buy tickets and attend games; she encouraged people to take ownership of FC Gold Pride and attend multiple games.
· For example, teams could buy 2 sets of season tickets and split them among the team.
· Employers can buy season tickets.
· Craig Settles and Lindsay have Ilisa’s contact information if people want more information.
· The GGWSL website will have a lot of information about FC Gold Pride.
· Natalie Spilger, a former GGWSL player, will be playing on the Chicago WPS team.
· Fans can follow them on Facebook, the team’s website, and their newsletter.
D. Details on games:
· Getting to games is easy as Caltrain is ˝ block from the stadium
· Most games are Sunday afternoons or evenings; there will be two weeknight games during the summer
· Season tickets for sidelines are $150
· Family 4 pack of tickets is $400
· April 5 is opening day
E.
Her e-mail is ikessler@fcgoldpride.com
V Election – Treasurer
A. Kathryn Reisinger was appointed by the Executive Committee to fill the vacant Treasurer position.
· Lindsay Kauffman moved to have the appointment approved by the Board. Seconded by Alex Lemus. VOTE and Kathryn’s appointment is approved by an overwhelming majority.
VI Committee Reports
A. President – Lindsay Kauffman
· February 21 tournament: the schedule has been sent out; teams should update their contact information; teams should be involved in the tournament – Lindsay needs 3 or 4 people to help her who need to be there by 8:30 a.m.
· Committees: There will be a few committees set up to handle some projects that are too big for the Executive Committee. These would include committees for the Hall of Fame committee (2-3 people would be inducted into the Hall of Fame every year), Tournaments, Marketing, Merchandise, Sponsorship, Fundraising, and Recruiting.
o Barbara Elliott (Forte): Do we need a fields committee?
o Lindsay: Yes, perhaps also an East Bay Committee.
o Craig Settles: We already have people who are in charge of the fields.
o Lindsay: For now the way we are doing it is okay, and that’s how it works for the East Bay, but for San Francisco we just submit and take what we are given.
· Lindsay said she was also thinking about sub-Board meetings, so that the full Board only needs to meet perhaps two times per year; perhaps only one rep per division will need to appear at the other meetings.
· CSAN will be holding free referee training if we can get 15 women to sign up. We have a dearth of referees, especially women referees.
o Corinne Moya: The referee program is a lot of fun; you can make $20 to referee little kids, $65 for GGWSL games.
o Lindsay: More new referees there are overall, the more it pushes up the talent that referees our games.
· We have a new referee assignor for San Francisco and the South Bay, Rich Fern.
· For future Board meetings, Ian will be the parliamentarian.
· This summer 2 people in our League will conduct a strength and conditioning clinic alongside Toby Rappolt’s skill’s clinic.
B. Vice President - Discipline – Linda Colfax
· No report.
C. Vice President – Scheduling, Fields and Referees – Ian Clarke
· Absent.
D. Vice President - New Players and New Teams – Craig Settles
· Communications:
o Of the e-mails sent to team representatives, not a lot seem to get through the rest of the players in the League.
o The League has a Facebook page and team representatives should get all their players on there. The League will be able to use that as a contact method.
· Clinics:
o Toby Rappolt will have a series of clinics. Try to get lots of beginning and returning players into the clinics so we can funnel them into the League.
o FC Gold Pride will have clinics on February 28 and March 1, location TBD.
§ It will be just for beginning/intermediate players, no advanced clinic.
§ In the summer, there will be clinics for advanced, intermediate, and beginners.
· If you get players who try out for your team who are not skilled enough for your team, send them to Craig.
· Sponsors
o There is a link on the League website for tips from players in the League to help find more sponsors like Safeway and Kaiser
o The League has gotten sponsorships in the past from employees; Team representatives should get the word out to their players because there’s no way for the Board to know if players work at a company that is a good sponsorship opportunity
o If a team passes a company that becomes a sponsor to Craig, you get $300.
o Sponsorships help the League decrease fees even as our expenses increase
· Craig and Lindsay met with the new referee coordinator, who stated that he will take our comments about referees seriously. Our comments will be passed on to the referees. He will also recruit more referees. Teams should complete the comments after each game.
· Teams should also keep the referee coordinator phone numbers handy because the Executive Committee cannot help if the referee does not show.
o Barbara Elliott (Forte): The phone numbers are on the League website.
E. Treasurer Report – Kathryn Reisinger
· Kathryn introduced herself. She stated that she will send an e-mail with her address so that teams that need to pay their League fees can mail her checks.
F. Secretary
· Teams should send Cecilia GGWSL Waiver and Release of Liability forms need to be signed by players who are new to your team. Teams should not send copies of the CSAN Waiver and Release of Liability forms, but the original of the GGWSL form, which has the secretary’s address on it.
G. Member at Large, CSAN Representative – Corinne Moya
· No report.
H. Player Insurance – Barbara Elliott
· Team representatives need to tell Barbara by March 31 which of the insurance plans listed on the League website their teams want.
· The League has three options, which provide more choices for medical coverage.
o The League can only choose one option.
§ Plan 1 - $5,000 Medical and AD&D Limit
· $10.50 per person per year with $400 deductible
· This is what we presently pay. Player passes would remain at $21.
§ Plan 2 - $10,000 Medical and AD&D Limit
· $15.50 per person per year with $400 deductible
· Player passes would cost $26.
§ Plan 3 - $25,000 Medical and $120,000 AD&D Limited
· $15.50 per person per year with $400 deductible
· Player passes would cost $31.
§ Each League can choose only one option.
· The insurance is secondary if a player already has insurance, primary if not. Barbara is not sure how many players are uninsured, but our League submits very few claims.
· Jill Lounsbury (Nighthawks): Her team had a player last year who submitted a claim. She had a torn liver and was able to be hospitalized for three days at no cost.
· Barbara: The process for submitting a claim is that you take the blue line-up card to the ref, who makes a note regarding the player. The team takes back the card and submits it along with the claim form to CSAN. You have to call CSAN to get the claim form.
· Lindsay: Barbara will circulate the information to the League in an e-mail. Each team has to vote because the League can only have one plan.
I. Committee Report
· February 21 Tournament:
o No additional report.
· No report.
VII New Business
A. Barbara Elliott: Lindsay explained that Barbara Elliott had long been a champion for women’s soccer. To express the League’s gratitude, Lindsay gave Barbara a card and a GGWSL jacket.
· Barbara gave a great speech about how things had changed since she started playing soccer. She discussed how there were very few opportunities for women to play soccer when she was growing up. Her twin sister was a great athlete and played too. When Barbara joined the GGWSL in 1984, there were sixteen teams. She suggested that she will take up the task of writing the history of the League for the website. She also mentioned that she was glad to get the over-35s division started, which took 22 years, and now there are ten teams.
B. Jill Lounsbury (Nighthawks): pitchinsf.org website. Sports don’t have a voice with regard to what happens with fields in San Francisco. When the recreation and park department doubled fees and changed practice times to only allow 1 hour increment reservations, teams weren’t consulted. The pitchinsf.org website offers ways to help. People should sign the petition and should identify open spaces.
C. Last day of the season: Linda Colfax made a motion to set the last day of the season as June 7. Craig seconded the motion. Vote and the motion carries overwhelmingly.
VI. Set the date for the next meeting.
· Lindsay makes a motion to set the next meeting on May 4, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., at Milano’s. Craig seconds the motion. Vote and the motion carries overwhelmingly.
VII. Adjournment
· There being no further business to come before the Board of Directors, Lindsay made a motion to adjourn, which was seconded by Sylvia Pacheco (Mna), and the meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.