Club Affiliation

To:	Mount Tabor Soccer Families
From:	Graham Ross, President
Subject:	Club Affiliation: Detail
Date:	Summer, 2009

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Thank you all for supporting our club and supporting the game of soccer in our community.

Each year since its founding our club registered as a member club of Oregon Youth Soccer Association (OYSA).

Effective July 1st, 2009, that affiliation has been terminated. With a few exceptions this is true for all the clubs which formerly constituted the Portland District of OYSA. Many of you know these clubs. They are the clubs your players have been competing against since U7. The exceptions are clubs which have extensive classic soccer programs and must compete against other teams statewide. We terminated our OYSA membership after over a year and a half of in-depth discussion, disagreement, analysis and planning among the presidents of Portland clubs and the board members of PYSA. Together we decided that PYSA could do a better job than OYSA was doing. So far it looks like we are right about that.

What follows is a brief discussion of each of the services provided to our club by PYSA and OYSA.

Over the years, relatively little has been provided to our club by OYSA, while approximately 30% of the money passed through our club has gone to OYSA. Keep that in mind. By keeping the money in Portland we are able to focus our energies where we need it. Especially see the section on Coach Training. Although recreational soccer players accounted for more than 80% of OYSA's players, recreational soccer was of secondary importance at OYSA.

This year, PYSA member clubs have directed PYSA to fulfill these needs to the extent that it can be done well. PYSA has always recruited, trained, scheduled and paid our referees. PYSA has always obtained match and practice fields and scheduled our matches. PYSA has had extensive programs for outreach into underserved parts of our community, coordinating the registration of players and teams with member clubs such as Mount Tabor.

Fields, referees, game scheduling, coach recruitment, outreach

OYSA has never been involved in these areas. These are the historical functions of PYSA in collaboration with member clubs such as Mount Tabor. There is no change in these areas.

Insurance

OYSA provided insurance for players, coaches and club officers.

This summer PYSA began providing insurance for players, coaches and club officers at midnight on July 1st, the moment the OYSA-based insurance lapsed.

Coach Training

OYSA provided coach training.

PYSA has developed a strong schedule of coach training for the coming year. This is one of the products of John Madding, PYSA's new Director of Development. The move away from OYSA has freed up about $5 per player--citywide--to pay John's salary. John comes to PYSA from New Mexico where he led in the development of many programs statewide. We are thrilled to have John on board. Our own coach development rep, Nigel Chaumeton, is in conversations with John to ensure that Mount Tabor coaches have the best opportunities for training. Coach training has to be convenient or it just doesn't happen. One important outcome of PYSA coach training is that many courses previously available well outside of town will now happen in Portland.

Clerical Support

OYSA provided a criminal background check service. OYSA provided a procedure for producing member passes (player cards).

PYSA provides criminal background checks this year at a lower cost than OYSA. They are identical in content and actually are provided by the same underlying service. PYSA will also produce member passes. Unfortunately these member passes will need to be delivered from PYSA's office on the west side to our registrar. OYSA had a print-it-yourself scheme. This was super-convenient. However, it was too clever by half and led in many cases to players with multiple passes for different teams and leagues. For certain circumstances PYSA will not require member passes. Since we are in charge we can make the right decisions!

DRL

OYSA hosted the District Recreational League.

PYSA is introducing Rec Plus, a six-Sunday program in the heart of the fall season to provide More Soccer for families who need it. It is open to clubs outside Portland, and allows teams to opt in. It allows individual players to opt in if their team doesn't want to. This is year one for this new program. Personally I think it has great potential to involve far more players than DRL ever did. Please note that Mount Tabor teams are not eligible to play in OYSA DRL this fall.

Kohl's Cup

OYSA hosted the statewide Kohl's Cup recreational tournament in mid-October.

In 2009 there is no PYSA substitute for this. PYSA has a stated goal of presenting a fall tournament in 2010. In recent years only a handful of teams from Portland have participated in this tournament.

Affiliation with USSoccer and FIFA

If you were registered with OYSA you were registered with USSoccer and FIFA.

Mount Tabor Soccer Club is no longer an affiliate of USSoccer or FIFA. We do regret this change. It is nice to be part of something global, especially when you are playing the World's Game. We continue to seek a new way of becoming a USSoccer affiliate, but so far we have not found a cost-effective one. It is not unusual to play soccer without USSoccer affiliation. This is common, for example, in indoor soccer.

The move away from OYSA has freed up funds and volunteer energy to do great things in Portland.

This fall we are registering fifty-three teams with PYSA, U7 to U14, boys and girls, plus our Kick and Chase kindergarten program. This is a club record. We are very excited about the changes in PYSA.

Thank you for supporting your player and our club,