MUFA Minutes 2/19/04

By Carrie Loushin Newman

  1. Financial Report-
    1. Expenditures and Balances
    2. Taxes
  2. Juniors
    1. Certified Coaching
    2. Mud Bath
  3. Leagues
    1. Spring
    2. Winter
    3. Summer
      1. Location
      2. Cost
      3. Sponsor
  4. 4. Board Makeup
  5. 5. Field Acquisition
    1. City
    2. Bank
    3. Future avenues

Members present: Brad Wendt, Robin Davies, Susan DeCico, Matt Merrill, Carrie Loushin Newman. Late arrivals Dan Rabbe, Kevin Johnson.

Initial discussion began with a summary of MUFA's financial status, balances of checking account and CD. Some discussion of renewal of CD and what to do with accumulated funds, no decision to change current status was made. Moved on to discussion of tax status. Since we have re-incorporated we must now file taxes. There was discussion of how to go about doing this, H&R block vs. free place on Park, and no volunteers. Since Brad has all of the previous years records, he is going to take them to a professional and take care of the matter. General agreement to take care of the matter for current and previous years, and pay whatever is reasonable to get us up to date.

Arrival of Kevin and Dan prompted discussion of their recent attendance at the Coaching Certification Clinic held by the UPA in Minneapolis. Summary of covered topics included ethics of coaching, organization of a team, background checks, legal advice and insurance coverage. Interesting point, MUFA may be liable or legally responsible for those people we recommend as coaches etc. Certification puts the burden on the UPA, which is covered by insurance. We discussed having the UPA hold a clinic here in Madison if we could get enough interest. Suggested to air the option out to MUFA chat and solicit names of interested parties. Cost was $60 for Coaching and less for certified volunteer plus UPA membership.

The up coming Juniors tournament was also discussed. Dates are April 24 & 25, a number of teams have already signed up and the amenities are being worked out. Dan has Mud Bath well in hand. MUFA will host the website for the tournament on its homepage. Dan asked for suggestions for sponsors.

Also discussed the issues of discs for clinics and teams and field lines. Lines work well if the soil conditions are good. Otherwise they pull out. Discussion of ordering a few more sets for future use (2).

Moved on to discussion of previous leagues- Spring, Summer and Winter. All leagues generated funds. Spring league 2003 feed back included confusion over the draft procedure and some annoyance at the traffic/construction however overall response was positive. Plans for 2004 are in place. Play begins April 5th through last week in May. One game a night same location. $15 registration. Carrie will order discs again. Signup will allow teams of 11+ and baggage up to 6.

Winter league was organized by Cynthia Fok with MUFA covering initial costs(Matt). Also provided funds for the Red Eye indoor tournament. Overall $400 positive gains.

Summer League 2003 went well as usual, one issue with the grounds keeper finding alcohol containers in the trash. Alcohol was not allowed at the Stadium.

Concerns for 2004 include sponsor ship. There is a second party interested in sponsoring summer league, some issues with possible negotiations. All agreed that final decision is up to Robin since he has to deal with the sponsor. Also field sites have been expanded. We will need to move from Olbrich next year while they redo the site. Several fields have been offered/proposed by the city including Reindal off of East Washington, Sycamore park behind the recycling center, Yahara on the south east side. Agree to reserve all the field space and see what options there are. KJ proposed using more sites and having only one game per night at a later start date. This would allow more driving time and less traffic hassles and no time caps. Robin will take it under consideration and try to figure out what is best/least amount of problems. UW Health has offered to buy discs. Robin announced that this is his last year of organizing Summer League. Suggestions for grooming a successor were encouraged. Discussion of start date (1st week in June) and cost ($25).

Also discussed board size. No particular board size is set, decision to keeping it as 7 currently and changing as necessary.

Field future: Brad met with bank and was told basically that we need a lot more money down and a very detailed plan of what we want and how it will be done or someone to sponsor the loan. Met with the city and offered $10,000 per year but they were not definitively on board. Projected need is 10 fields. Discussion of possible sites and their problems- Demetral only 4-5 field spaces available, city doesn't want to remove backstops, lights a plus. Other sites need development, are on fringes or are too small. In order to develop a more realistic plan, we need to figure out what we want and what that will take. To start we will contact the county, and Redden Soccer complex to check out options and costs. KJ would look into construction/maintenance costs. This is a long-term goal and for now we will stick to renting fields from the city since the cost is minimal and the fields are still adequate. We expect that this may change in the near future.

For further discussion of Field progress see MUFA Board emails.