Cochrane Rangers Soccer Club Annual General

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Cochrane Rangers Soccer Club Annual General Meeting Cochrane Lions’ Club February 9/14, 2PM Present: Terry Norman, Lucy Lovelock, Kevin Shier, Dom Hickey, Zeta Hickey, Jo Daviduck, Neven Knut, Keith Thomson, Janet Norman, Sharon Birkett, Dimitry Scholte, Mike Warwick, Daran Fletcher, Andy Harris, Gunther Schutterle, Dena Sykes, Shawna McNeil, Michèle Fossum, Greg Barclay, Steve Tucker (briefly), Marika Couch (briefly), Sarah Tas 1.

Call Meeting to Order – please sign attendance sheet

CRSC AGM called to order at 2:10PM. CRSC members present signed-in. See list above. 2. Introduction of Board members Jo Daviduck, Director-at-large - Fields Kevin Shier, Director-at-large – Cochrane Turf Association and website Terry Norman, Director-at-large – Coach and Manager liaison and direction setting Lucy Lovelock, Treasurer, fields, and operations Sarah Tas, Secretary and operations Melanie Martzoukos, Treasurer on sabbatical (a) Welcome CRSC Technical Director Dom Hickey CRSC welcomes Technical Director Dominic Hickey. TD Dom has been working with CRSC programs for the Indoor 2013-2014 season. CRSC looks forward to working with him into the Outdoor 2014 season. Dominic Hickey is the chairperson for the 2014 CRSC AGM. 3. CRSC AGM 2014 agenda (a) Additions – (i) To agenda item #10 “Volunteers”, add in item (a): Meet ASA District Coach Steve Tucker. (ii) To agenda item #12 “New Business”, add in item (d): Role and Budget for CRSC Technical Director. (b) Approval – Motion to accept the CRSC AGM 2014 agenda by Dena Sykes, seconded by Daran Fletcher.

4. Approval of AGM 2013 minutes (found at www.cochranerangers.com under “Club History”) The CRSC 2013 AGM was held on February 10, 2013 at Cochrane Lanes Bowling Alley. The membership was referred to the CRSC website to review the minutes prior to the 2014 AGM. Hard copies of the minutes were available to be perused at the 2014 AGM. Motion to accept the CRSC 2013 AGM minutes by Gunther Schutterle and seconded by Janet Norman.

5. Business arising from CRSC AGM 2013 minutes No matters arising from the CRSC 2013 AGM minutes. 6. Treasurer Report CRSC Treasurer Melanie Martzoukos is on sabbatical. Lucy Lovelock stepped up to do the CRSC treasurer role while she was away. Thank you Lucy! CRSC book keeper Marika Couch was on hand at the CRSC 2014 AGM to present the treasurer report. Mrs. Couch is new to this role and had done an excellent job in organising the Ranger affairs. The CRSC is in the midst of transition with the recent treasurer and book keeper changes. The CRSC would like to clean things up in the book keeping department. Book keeper Marika Couch was posed questions regarding the Cochrane Cup earnings (~$26,000) and the CRSC turf expenses (~$76,000) at SLSFSC – both numbers seemed high in the treasurer’s report. It was determined that in these two areas of the club there was a double carry-over. This meant that the expenses (turf) or revenue (Cochrane Cup) from the past two years had been included in the report, rather than from December 2012 to November 2013 only. It was also noted that the Cochrane Cup expenses fell under “Field Maintenance” rather than “Cochrane Cup”. Mrs. Couch intends to restructure the headings to ensure clarity in Cochrane Cup financial reporting. The CRSC board has a goal of getting more consistency in our financial reporting. The CRSC board would like to be a little tighter with where money goes. The CRSC board would also like to look ahead at the big picture and see how our nest egg would best serve its members. Thank you to book keeper Marika Couch for her work in organising and presenting CRSC financials. ASIDE conversations during the Treasurer’s report:  Should social activities be covered in player fees or be an add-on fee for players? Should each program take care of its own social activities?  Transparency in fees: What do members get for their money? Where do casino revenues go? ACTION: CRSC set an operating budget for the 2014 Cochrane Cup. Get committee going early. ACTION: Mrs. Couch recommended that money going out to people should be via cheque so that there will be a record of it in case CRSC is ever audited.

Gunther Schutterle motions to accept the treasurer report. Seconded by Sharon Birkett. 7.

Program reports: Thank you coaches, managers, and volunteers . In your report please mention roster number, achievements, and future concerns

a) Women’s Recreational League – Reported by Sharon Birkett. The CRSC Women’s Recreational League have 105 players registered for the indoor season. There are no major concerns. There have been some rug burns and ankle sprains. Women’s Recreational League would like a few more clinics from CRSC Technical Director – especially keeper clinics. Women’s Recreational League players take turns in nets. TD Dom could review the soccer rules and keeper rules. Teams have low numbers for the year-end tournament to date. There are 8 teams in the league and 6-7 teams in the tournament. The tournament is scheduled for the last weekend of the Easter break (April 25,26,27). Generally tournaments and social gatherings have been well attended. b) Men’s Wednesday Program (Indoor) – Reported by Daran Fletcher. It is designed to be a fun and competitive program. This program is for over-35-year-old players. It has been doing well. The Wednesday night program has been running for about 5 years. There are 25 registrants and a waiting list to join the program. We don’t know from week to week who will attend. Some players don’t contact organisers to let them know they will be absent. Only once have they played short (with only 11 players). If numbers are low, other players are contacted to join in. It is a good way to keep fit over the winter. Usually the same players come back every season. If spots open up, they are offered to players on the waiting list. ASIDE conversations from this report:  Are players asked to “sub” in on a night insured? Have them sign the online CRSC waiver.  Wednesday organiser must submit a recreational player roster to Big Country Soccer Association (BCSA) for insurance. Submit roster in September or October. CRSC treasurer pays insurance fees.  Insurance costs – CRSC looking into obtaining insurance from a new source to lower recreational player insurance costs.  All players engaged in CRSC programs or on CRSC facilities must sign a CRSC waiver (Reiner’s outdoor sessions at CRSC fields)  Incident at Wednesday night program where one player struck another player. Situation handled on the night, not formally reported to CRSC board. ACTION: Look into a new source of recreational player insurance for CRSC (Gunther Schutterle) ACTION: Non-club members attending Wednesday Indoor, Friday Indoor, or Reiner’s outdoor sessions on CRSC fields should sign the CRSC waiver (Board) ACTION: Send incident report to the board (Daran Fletcher) ACTION: Create Discipline and Grievance Committee? Create a process? (Board and TD) ACTION: Create a report in order to have the incident on file (Daran, TD, and Board) c) Men’s Friday Program (Indoor) – Reported by Greg Barclay. There are 23 players registered in this program. This is the most ever. The program is running smoothly. Most players are those who have already been registered with the Rangers in the outdoor 2013 season. The lowest number to attend this season has been 6 players. Most Fridays there are 12-16 players on hand. One player has gotten injured. Will inform him of insurance. It has been a good season.

d) Men’s Over-45 B – Reported by Daran Fletcher. Overall went very well. A big thank you to Dominic Hickey for coaching. There has been excellent player turn-out at practices: 18, 19, 20. The team finished 4th in the league. Gordon MacDonald was a good organiser for e-mails and details. He is the kind of manager that makes it work, he puts a lot of time and energy in and gets people to show up. Gordon is a non-playing manager. Having a non-playing manager may be the key to making a team successful. e) Men’s Masters Premier – Reported by Mike Warwick. Having a good indoor season. It has been a struggle to get players out with some consistency. There is a mixed bag of players for the Indoor 2013-2014 season. In the Outdoor 2013 season the team tied for 3rd place. CUSA may announce a Masters Premier and Masters Elite seeding round. Teams will have to vote on it. The CRSC Masters Premier team should go into a provincial vying division if possible. f)

Men’s Masters Division 2 – Reported by Greg Barclay. No idea about the exact returning numbers. There are 14 returning players for sure plus a few question marks. There are a few new guys who want to join up. A keeper is needed. Pursuing a Friday Men’s program registrant to be the outdoor keeper. With two team joining from Calgary West, there may be a few players who could join the team.

g) Men’s Open Division 2/3 – No representative present

h) Girls’ Under-18 – Reported by Janet Norman: The team has had very successful indoor and outdoor seasons. The players are at a cross-roads now with Grade 12 graduation on the horizon. The team has qualified for Indoor Tier 2 provincials, but will not attend due to lack of numbers available. Some of players will try out for the CRSC Open Division 2 team. Cochrane Minor Soccer will henceforth have the under-18 programs.

i)

Women’s Open Division 1/2 - No representative present

j)

Women’s Open Division 4/5 – Reported by Shawna McNeil. There is one game left in the seeding round. There are 18 players on the roster, generally 5 players at practice, and 9 players at each game plus 4 subs. The team would love more tech sessions. There is a core of 5 players with interest in the outdoor season. Have used Girls’ Under-18 players in one game.

k) Women’s Classic Division 1 – Reported by Michèle Fossum. There are 17 full-time registered players and 2 part-time players. The team is having a good season and is in 4th place. There is always an excellent turn-out for practices. Coach Dom has been a great asset. The team is a good example of how practicing can have an impact on games. A few have already registered for the Outdoor 2014 season, and there may potentially be a roster of 15-20 players.

l)

Women’s Classic Premier – Reported by Sarah Tas, Gunther Schutterle. We would like to say thank you to Coach Terry Norman who is stepping down after 11 seasons coaching us. He will

be missed at the helm. The team’s record thus far this season is 8-5-1. We are in second place in our division right now and in contention for a provincial spot with 5 games left in the regular season. Practice turn-out has been 4-5 players. We are lucky to join the Classic Division 1 team for practices run by Terry, Dom, and/or Gunther. The team must evaluate and determine what the club expectations are, what program expectations are, and how to make the best of late practice times (There has been a schedule change to allow for 9PM practice start time on Thursdays). Players have other priorities. We experienced low practice turn-out in the Outdoor 2013 season too, qualified for provincials but did not attend due to player availability. Dena Sykes added that the keeper clinics by TD Dom were appreciated.

m) Welcome Players Formerly Known as Calgary West – Reported by Keith Thomson. Thank you for welcoming the 20-25 guys from Calgary West that could be joining the CRSC Over-45 and Over-35 divisions. We are looking forward to integrating into the CRSC. Calgary West used callups from CRSC last year and we all got along. Zeta Hickey added that so many players from these teams were found by advertising on Kijiji and were new to Canada and looking for social contacts and friendship. n) Co-ed Soccer Saturday (SLSFSC program run by CRSC TD Dom Hickey) – Reported by Dom Hickey and Shawna McNeil. TD Dom teamed up with Shawna to get this program rolling. There have been 12-17 players, a mix of male and female. Players pay a $10 drop-in fee to SLSFSC and register at guest services. The session runs from 7:30PM to 9PM on Saturdays. There is lots of positive energy here, players have a brief coaching session and then scrimmage. 8.

Cochrane Turf Association

Two years ago the Cochrane Turf Association met. The Cochrane Turf Association consisted of Football, Rugby, Minor Soccer, and Rangers Soccer. The association agreed it would first look at the possibility of an outdoor turf field in Cochrane and down the road would look into the possibility of more indoor turf. The price tag was about 1.4 to 1.6 million dollars. The Town of Cochrane could contribute $600,000 and District of Rocky View could contribute funds. The Cochrane Turf Association groups each pledged 100,000 to the project. Bow Valley High School was determined to be a location to build the outdoor turf. In order to ensure a solid foundation to the project, a project manager and a geotechnical company were hired to determine the quality of the potential turf area’s base. The result of the geo tech study was evidence of biological materials beneath the surface which would have to be removed before construction. In order to account for the frost in the ground, 7 feet of material would have to be removed and replaced with suitable material for an outdoor turf to be constructed. The removal of this material would bump the cost of the project up to 2.4 million. If the material was not removed down to the frost line, risk of field heaving and buckling of the outdoor turf surface would become a factor. The Cochrane Turf Association decided to re-evaluate. The cost of the project had increased due to the need to dig down 7 feet. The Football members of the Cochrane Turf Association would like to begin to build on the Bow Valley High School. The Football members resigned from the Cochrane Turf Association.

The remaining Cochrane Turf Association members, Rugby, Minor Soccer, and Rangers Soccer are moving forward with the outdoor turf idea together, but have modified the plan to incorporate a dome over the turf. With a dome over the turf there would be no need to dig down in order to compensate for frost as the ground beneath the dome structure would not freeze. A dome structure would also allow the turf to be used all year round. The projected cost of this project is 1.5 million. The dome should make money. The dome should be able to generate money to pay for its operation whilst setting some money aside for upgrading down the road. Potential locations for the dome structure: GlenEagles, Burnco site, Towers Trail Dominic Hickey and Kevin Shier have approached the Town of Cochrane on behalf of the Cochrane Turf Association. Thank you Dom and Kevin for your work with the Cochrane Turf Association. 9. Cochrane Cup The 2013 Cochrane Cup made a little bit of money. It was organised a little bit last-minute. There were not enough people helping tournament organiser Andy Harris. We would like to see an organising committee form shortly to get the ball rolling for the 2014 Cochrane Cup. The Cochrane Cup may be held on the weekend of September 13, 14, 15 this year. We can use the Cochrane Cup volunteer list generated from the TeamSnap registration page. It was suggested to perhaps pay someone to work at the Cochrane Cup table in the tent. If you are running the table, you perhaps should not participate in the tournament. 10. Volunteers – which positions in the CRSC should be paid? All CRSC members must register and pay to play upfront. Funds for paying paid roles in the club could come from the $50 non-volunteer fee selection? Some members opt for paying the $50 non-volunteering fee. These funds could be used to pay for jobs needing to be done in the CRSC. At present CRSC members who are paid to volunteer: the CRSC board (5 members at max of $300 for indoor and $275 for outdoor), the Women’s Recreational League board committee (4 members - $135 outdoor, $195 indoor), coaches (get fees reimbursed if they play in the club), book keeper is paid ($30/hour), field maintenance is paid ($25/hour). Previous Webmaster Neven ($210 indoor, $275 outdoor). Some board members and coaches pay their own fees anyway. Volunteers with a special skill set such as coaches, field maintenance, book keeper, technical director should be paid? Volunteers with “processor-type” jobs with perhaps no decisions, just do the job… perhaps need-not be paid? Can the CRSC hire teams or parents from Cochrane Minor Soccer to do some jobs in the CRSC? Should CRSC board members be paid? Positions should be filled with volunteers who have the skills to do the jobs required, not with volunteers who sign up for the role merely to receive payment. Employ a pay-it-forward type of volunteer reward system whereby if a CRSC member volunteers this year/season, he or she will reap the benefits his or her labours next year/season. Have a fee embedded in our player fees to cover costs to pay people to do jobs to run the club effectively?

What about: Women’s Recreational league organisers, Men’s Recreational program organisers, special event organiser (Cochrane Cup? Soccer Quest 42? Social events? Christmas party?), CRSC scheduler, referee co-ordinator, equipment director, webmaster, team managers, CRSC operations manager, communications? ACTION: Determine who in the club should be paid: Come up with a list of paid jobs. Make job descriptions and expectations clear. Set up a committee to discuss (Board) ACTION: Determine a method and amount of payment (Board) a) Meet ASA District Coach Steve Tucker Introducing Steve Tucker: Steve Tucker is an ASA district coach with the Big Hill Soccer Association (BHSA). He stepped in to coach the co-ed session at SLSFSC when Dom was invited to coach the Women’s Open Division 5 game on Saturday, February 8/14. CRSC could ask him to coach some sessions. Cochrane Minor Soccer (CMS) could also use him. 11. Elections Board members Terry Norman, Melanie Martzoukos, and Sarah Tas are stepping down. Members at the AGM were presented with a slate of people who expressed interest in joining the CRSC board: Sharon Birkett, Shawna McNeil, and Keith Thomson. Nominees briefly described experience that they would bring to the board. Also wishing to stay on the CRSC board were Lucy Lovelock, Kevin Shier, and Jo Daviduck. Other nominees were welcomed from the floor. There were none. The CRSC board was unanimously voted in: Lucy Lovelock, Kevin Shier, Jo Daviduck, Sharon Birkett, Shawna McNeil, and Keith Thomson. 12. New Business a) Updating By-Laws (proposed new by-laws are found at www.cochranerangers.com under “Resources”) ACTION: Put the by-law updating checklist on the website and ask membership for comments and suggestions. (Sarah Tas send information from Alana Staples to Kevin Shier) b) New CRSC website The TeamSnap website is not as pretty as the one we used to have, but it allows for multiple users and it is already paid for in the costs we pay to TeamSnap every year and will allow for a more streamlined club. Thank you to Neven Knut for originally bringing us out of the dark ages and into online payments with PayPal. As we learn and grow into TeamSnap we will be able to maximise what TeamSnap can do for us. It runs the website, registration process, fee collection, scheduling, team and club communications and player availability. ACTION: Create tentative rosters and begin propagating teams so non-playing coaches and managers can see the team roster registration status (Kevin) ACTION: Coach and TD evaluations shall place players on appropriate team rosters.

ASIDE: The registration process is: (i) Register at www.cochranerangers.com, By March 1/14 – early bird ends February 25/14 (ii) Select your preferred team, volunteer activity, initial waiver, pay fees By March 1/14 (iii) CRSC registers teams to CUSA and CWSA, By March 15/14 (iv) Get assigned to a team (once CRSC has a handle on team player numbers), By April 1/14 Get notified which team roster you are with, By April 7/14 c) Girls Under-18 team joining Cochrane Minor Soccer (CMS) If CRSC teams and programs are not using the fields, CMS is welcome to use if for Under-16 and Under18 games and practices. ACTION: CRSC Outdoor 2014 scheduler needed! (Board) d)

Role and Budget for CRSC Technical Director

To improve programs in our club, CRSC hired Technical Director Dom Hickey. For the Indoor 2013-2014 season he was employed for 10 hours/month at a rate of $65/hour. TD Dom was very dedicated and exceeded the 10 hours per month. He attended competitive practices, competitive and recreational games, voluntarily coached the Women’s Classic Division 1 team, and held coaching and keeper clinics for CRSC members (CMS members were also invited to join the coaching and keeper clinics). The advantages of having a technical director: support and training for coaches, development of better and consistent coaching in the club, developing a standard system of play across the club, appropriate player placement and movement in teams in the club, keeper training sessions, coach training sessions, Women’s Recreational League training sessions. The CRSC together with TD Dom Hickey are trying to establish a technical director program for the club. How can CRSC make best use of TD Dom? It must be determined how TD Dom will best work within the CRSC programs. CRSC can allocate a base amount of TD time to each program. Teams and programs may be free to hire TD Dom for training outside of this base amount provided by the CRSC. TD training outside of the base amount provided by TD Dom would be paid for by the teams directly. TD training outside of the base amount provided by the club would have priority over teams hiring TD Dom for extra training. The fees for the Outdoor 2014 season have already been assigned. There are no new fees coming in, therefore additional expenses to the club will come out of existing resources. ACTION: Look into AGLC regulations to determine exactly what casino funds may be allocated for (Board). Paying TD? Paying for indoor turf? ACTION: Determine a contract for CRSC Technical Director (Coach and Manager meeting, Board). 13. Adjournment Daran Fletcher offered thanks to Terry Norman and Sarah Tas for work done on the board. Gunther Schutterle motioned to adjourn at 5:33PM. Dena Sykes seconded the motion.