The November board meeting for Region 337 was held on Thursday, November 9, 2006 at Faith United Methodist Church. Board members attending were: George Burgess, Russ Wise, Tyina Barnes, Bill Mize, Chris Mott, Melissa Range, Laura Walters, Terry Wilshire, Liesl Harrison, Rich Guy, Vickie Easterday, Becky Burt, Kerry Patterson, Mike Moody, Angela Lister, Mike Horner, Becky Kaman and Teresa Guy.

Cat Seagle, the Registrar was unable to be at the meeting, but left a reminder that spring registration is scheduled for January 20, 2007 at Central High School from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Russ Wise said we are good to go for registration.
Russ Wise reported on behalf of Sharon Wise, Treasurer that we presently $31,610.00 balance in the bank account.
CVPA (Tyina Barnes) stated that all Volunteer forms have been sent to National, although they have not been recorded as received. George pointed out that we are doing better in this regard than some regions. Some regions have not submitted any or very few volunteers, even with the season being over.
Chris Mott, Field Manager reported that he has already picked up fertilizer for the fields, but that we are in need of a new lawn mower. Mike Horner explained that he had been mowing next to the fields, when he stepped off the mower to move a branch that was in the way. The mower burst into flames. Chris found a mower carried at Ace Hardware with a scoop that might be suitable. He also recommended that we get a full set of goals for the U-10 fields. He agreed to get prices on the mower and goals and report to the board. He relayed that we are currently paying 250.00 per week to Stan Peavy for mowing the fields. Since we don’t know the County’s intentions toward helping with maintenance of the fields in the future, it is difficult to plan, but we anticipate that within two or three years, the greenways will be mowed by the County. The fields are currently closed and the goals have been flipped.
Angela Lister reported that we plan to phase out the jerseys that all look alike. She doesn’t know how many we need, but will look into it. We plan to phase in the solid blue and solid white ones. We have several of the old reversible jerseys being stored. A suggestion was made to donate the old jerseys to Upward Soccer programs. George Burgess made the motion. Angela Lister seconded the motion, and the motion carried.
We were reminded that the Section 5 games (those hosted by Spartanburg, S.C. for the last several years) will be in held in Area 5B, and specifically, Knoxville for 2007. The tournament will be based at Ball Camp. Region 337 had no say in the location of the tournament, as four planning meetings had taken place before anyone in Region 337 was aware of them. Rich Guy called Lee Stewart to voice his concerns, and Lee stated that Eddie Neely was in charge of getting the word out and had tried to contact Rich without success. Rich found out about the meetings by running into an acquaintance at one of the Lady Vols Soccer games. Rich attended the next meeting and Tyina Barnes had planned to attend as well. Rich asked for a copy of the minutes from the previous meetings, and was told there were none. The games will be at Ball Camp, U.S. Cellular, and Pellisippi State, with Watt Road as a back up. Rich will recommend that U.S. Cellular not be used, because if it rains, the games will be cancelled and no one will be allowed to play. Rich informed everyone that the next Section 5B Planning meeting would be November 19, 2006 at the Tusculum Pellissippi campus. Tyina Barnes stated that she will be working with Leslie Fox on Marketing and PR for the tournament, but will be unable to attend the upcoming meeting, as she will be out of town. George Burgess informed us that at least one thing about the tournament will be familiar to Region 337. The Committee requested that Gail Henson run the concession stand for the Pellissippi fields.

Chris Mott reported that no teams would be allowed to practice on the AYSO fields until games begin. He will look into teams being able to use the Gresham fields again. George Burgess informed us that we do now have a copy of the contract between AYSO and the County regarding the fields. All teams using the fields must sign a field use form to be kept on file, releasing AYSO and the County from any liability. The Region has a policy that will be in force for any non-AYSO group.
The Northside YMCA is selling their indoor soccer facility on E-bay. The new 180 Sports Fitness Complex has opened and is charging $650.00 per team.
George Burgess suggested a new policy for the Spring Season: The team playing the first game would be responsible for putting the corner flags out and the team playing the last scheduled game would be responsible for putting them back up.
Amy Waller was unable to attend, but we were reminded that the board member appreciation dinner will be December 10 at 6:00 p.m. at Ryan’s on Cedar Lane. We need a head count as soon as possible. The room only holds 75 people. Please email George or Amy if you plan on attending. George has been approached by a group wanting to provide inexpensive entertainment, a quartet from Powell. Board members didn’t want to pursuit this.
It was pointed out that there is no stated board meeting for December and that the next stated board meeting is scheduled for January 11th, just before Spring Registration. A possibility of trying to have a board meeting after the dinner was discussed and a board meeting will be held December 14th.
Bill Mize motioned that the Region not send anyone to the Section 5 meeting this year. Terry Wilshire seconded this motion, and the motion carried. The Section 5 meeting is being held in Dallas, Texas. That is just too far to send a group. Plus we are setting aside some money for the new fields, goals and other expenses.
George passed around the year to date attendance record for board meetings and asked everyone to verify its accuracy, noting that it may be necessary for members who are not actively participating in Region 337 to step down. Recommendations were made by the nominating committee to George to fill positions on the board- For the U8 Division Coordinators; Drew and Becky Burt were nominated. For U10 Division Coordinators, Michelle and David Rogers were nominated. For the U14/16 division Rich Guy was nominated. For AYSO Camp Coordinator, Amy Waller was nominated. Mike Thress is stepping down as Assistant Coach Administrator. Melissa Range will become the Administrative Assistant for Coaches. Bill Mize and Jason DeRosa will swap positions. Jason will become the Regional Referee Administrator and Bill Mize will be the Assistant Regional Referee Administrator.
Tyina Barnes wanted to know what process was used for nominating individuals, and if we were pulling from a pool of all candidates that would express interest in the positions. She suggested that we table the vote on the new board positions and take more time to find more candidates. Russ Wise stated that he supports appointing the Rogers in the position as they have had some experience. George stated that anyone could send a name to the nominating committee. Russ had sent a name for U10 division coordinator. George said he would like to fill the Division Coordinator positions as quickly as possible when there is a vacancy, so the newly appointed ones can work with those exiting, as long as possible before the season starts. Bill Mize motioned that we accept the list of nominees. Terry Wilshire seconded the motion and the motion carried. Chris Mott won’t be able to line the fields next spring. Chris suggested that the Division Coordinators assign people to line fields. The bottom line is that the work needs to be dispersed among more people. Chris said that if the middle schools teams are using the fields for games, then they need to line the fields and empty the trashcans. Field lining assignments can be posted at the fields. Thursdays and Fridays are the best days to line the fields, because of mowing and rain. Chris stated that no one can be on the fields until March. We may be rotating the fields to improve them as well.

Soccerfest was brought up and we need to decide if we want to continue our primary fundraising event this year, as we don’t have anyone to spearhead it this year. David and Angela Lister have offered to take over. It was mentioned that some teams prefer to have a chance to play different teams than the ones they typically play against in the season. We may try different ideas to attract more interest, such as a 3V3 tournament for the U14, U16, and U19s, playing on a U6 field. This different format would be fast paced and fun, but would take a lot more teams to make similar money to what we have raised in the past. Reasons to continue Soccerfest are for the kids to have fun, first, and to raise money, second. A suggestion was made to schedule Soccerfest in early June, allowing three guest players, to help teams who have regular members traveling. This would give teams a chance to practice before the section games and might be well received. The board agreed to have Soccerfest and approved David and Angela Lister as Soccerfest Coordinators. By the next meeting, we can decide the format, and George can begin promoting this year’s Soccerfest at the Area meeting in February. Bill Mize noted that game coins for referees hadn’t been decided on. At Morristown’s tournament, all players and referees were given patches and had game coins. Forty referees came out of the regional referee class. After centering, they were given referee shirts, but about a 1/3 of the referee shirts are gone. There are only 8 keys to the building. We need a better system of keeping an eye on the inventory when building is open. A suggestion was made to get a wall locker to keep the referee gear in. Only the Referee Staff would have access. Bill will look at some options.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:45p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Teresa Guy
Assistant Regional Secretary