Urbana Soccer Association Monthly Meeting Thursday October 21, 2004 Ijamsville Methodist Church Attendees:  Al Selwyn, David Ward, Stephanie Downs, Brian Downs, Andy Keen USA President Al Selwyn called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm.  Minutes:  The September meeting minutes were approved by Andy Keen and seconded by David Ward. Registrar’s Report:  (Karen Selwyn) Absent. Treasurers Report:  (David Ward) The Field Fund has $5,745.45 and the Operating Budget has $9,492.37 in the treasury.  The following expenses need to be paid: Sponsor Gifts, Office Supplies, U8 Tournament Fees, Field Maintenance (Seed and Fertilizer), Fire Hall Donation and the Shooting Wall.  Vice President’s Report: (Andy Keen) Field Requests for Spring 2005 will be completed before Christmas.  Parks and Rec requests are to be turned in the first Tuesday in December.  Secretary’s Report: (Stephanie Downs) Nothing to report.  Coaches Education:  (Al Selwyn) No courses are currently being offered in nearby areas.  Urbana Soccer may consider hosting License courses in the Spring. Graham Ramsay-Field Training:  (David Ward) There will be a Coaches Training Session given by Graham Ramsay on Sunday, October 24th at 4:00 at either the Upper Field (U8 and part of the U14 fields) or on the Lower U12 Field.  Several U12 Urbana Players will be participating and Urbana Coaches have been asked to attend.  A good attendance will help in getting Graham to come out in the Spring for more Coaching sessions. Youth Nights @ Urbana High (Al Selwyn) There were 71 Urbana soccer players at the Girl’s High School game and 26 players at the Boy’s game.  Al will try to schedule the Youth Nights for earlier in the season next Fall. My Team One Call (David Ward) This is a service which allows a coach to send in the team phone list and call in a message that is disbursed by the Service to the team (example: “Practice is cancelled”).  The service could be used per season (the entire association) or by number of calls.  David will find out more details for the Spring Season. Field Maintenance:  (Rod McNiff) Absent.  The U14 Field was cut, seeded and sections roped off by Rod McNiff and Al Selwyn.  Oakdale Middle School was maintained by LUYAA.  Shooting Wall (David Ward) Rovena Harris (Roma General Contractors) will install the Shooting Wall.  Permits have been requested and an approval is pending from Parks and Rec.  The Shooting Wall will be installed near the Lower U10/U12 Field and the placement allows both sides to be used.  One small tree will need to be moved.  The Shooting Wall should be installed in November. Pictures:  (Barbara Shuman) Absent.   No Information has been provided on when pictures will be in.   We are hoping to receive them by next weekend.    Participation Awards:  (Brenda Rayno) Brenda has sent out an e-mail and called several coaches to arrange the pick-up of trophies this weekend.  Merchandise (Harry Hurst) Absent. Sponsors (Harry Hurst) Absent.  There are three sponsors that need to send in sponsor fees.  Juggling Patches (David Ward) David introduced using patches as incentives for players to practice juggling.  Other ideas for patches were discussed such as passing or dribbling moves. David will look into getting some samples. New Business:  (All) FC Frederick is interested in starting a U8 League that utilizes 4v4 games with Ballenger Creek and Urbana.  The games would be real 4V4 games played on smaller fields against Ballenger Creek or FC Frederick.  This would allow more ball touches and involvement in the game.  The pros and cons of this type of play were discussed.  Another possibility mentioned was 5v5 (to include a goalie).  No concrete decisions were made to change the U8 program. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 pm.