HOUSTON WOMEN’S SOCCER ASSOCIATION MINUTES OF MEETING

October 4, 2000

The meeting was called to order by Jen Cooper, President, at Saengerbund Hall at 7:30 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Womens Teams Absent: PriceWaterHouse, Texas Heat

 

Coed Teams Absent: Chaos, Eclipse, Outback, SCV Thunder, Synergy, Voyagers

 

Board members absent: Mary DeBauche, Pam Gutierrez, Bill Link, Tom Warzywak

 

MINUTES:

Minutes were approved as submitted.

 

OFFICERS REPORTS

President:

1.       HWSA has an agreement with Saengerbund Hall to use the facilities without charge.  Saengerbund had expected to have revenues come in by selling beverages during the meetings.  Purchases of beer and sodas have fallen below what Saengerbund had expected.  In order to keep using Saengerbund without charge team reps are encouraged to purchase and consume beverages at the meetings.

2.       Thanks to all of the players who came out to help teach Channel 2’s Chuck George how to play soccer.  It gave HWSA a lot of good exposure.

3.       Elections will take place at the November meeting.  A new secretary is needed as well as help with membership.  President, senior commissioner and field coordinator are also up for re-election.  If you're interested in running with any of these positions, please contact George Barnes at GeorgeBarnes@msn.com. 

4.       Volunteers are needed for the Ocktoberfest Tournament.  Each team needs to provide one volunteer for one hour.

 

Vice president:

No report.

 

Secretary:

No report.

 

Registrar:

Anything received by Wednesday will be sent out by the following Thursday.

 

Treasurer:

Patty has invoices for the fields for all of the women’s teams using Bear Creek, Alief or World Soccer Center.

 

Senior commissioner:

St. Thomas and Challengers participated in the National Coed Cup held in League City.

 

Women’s Commissioner:

No report.

 

Coed Commissioner:

1.       Schedule corrections are available from Shelly West.

2.       Make sure to let Shelly West know if your team will not be able to make a game so that she can cancel the referee.  As much notification as possible is needed so that referee fees won’t be incurred.

3.       Coed State Cup will be in Houston March 31 – April 1.

 

Field Coordinator:

HWSA is still looking for more fields closer to town.  If you know of some, please let Stephen Jump know.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Membership:

Vicky Jackson is stepping down as Membership Coordinator.  Mike Strawn will take over for Coed and Marisa Gutierrez for Women.

 

Public Relations:

No report.

 

Tournament:

1.       Thirty teams registered for the Octoberfest Tournament. 

2.       There will be a party afterwards at Whiskey Dick’s to help celebrate HWSA’s 25 years.

 

OLD BUSINESS

Rules changes are being tabled to the November meeting.

 

NEW BUSINESS

1.       Elections will be held at the November meeting for President, Secretary, Senior Commissioner and Field Coordinator.

2.       The Alief Soccer Club board is discussing HWSA’s proposal to help light one more field at Alief (2 poles on each side).  HWSA has proposed giving Alief Soccer Club $15,000 from our CD in exchange for no field rental fees at Alief for 2 years.  The money will be recovered as HWSA will still charge the same coed fees.  HWSA will have priority on the fields on Sundays, Monday and Thursday (after 8:00 p.m.).

3.       The City of Houston has instituted a new 3-strike policy for leagues playing on city fields.  This includes soccer, softball and football.  This will affect teams playing at Cullen.  Patti Ernst met with the city along with representatives of other leagues.  A strike can be recorded against the league for players or representatives driving on the fields or parking on the grass, public intoxication, violence or public indecency.  Please note that alcohol cannot be consumed at matches.  The city will form a rules oversight committee to review each incident.  Each league gets 3 strikes.  For each strike, the league will have to provide security at the fields.  This would cost $800/night.

4.       There was some discussion of problems at World Soccer Center.  There is a ditch by one of the fields, which is not well marked.  The fields are not marked very well.  Some of the fields are not well lit.  WSC is working to correct these problems.

5.       An opinion was voiced that other gifts would be preferred for division champions other than what was provided recently.  If you have a suggestion, please let Beth Reiney know.  Please recognize that there is a budget.  There was a voice vote in favor of eliminating second place awards.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1.       The U.S. Women’s National team will play Mexico at Robertson Stadium on December 10 at 6:00 p.m.  Tickets are available through Ticket Master.

2.       The next league meeting will be November 1st at 7:30 p.m. at Saengerbund Hall.