Proposed Membership Amendments

[wednesday]

There is a major change about to happen in BC. That is if the proposed amendments governing associate membership carry. FIFA has called for the inclusion of soccer academies in the soccer family. The CSA must follow FIFA's lead. Ontario has already made changes to its rules to allow membership to soccer academies so it makes sense that BCSA would follow suit. But to read the discussion paper below you might wonder what are the intentions of the author(s). Given their track record for voting on change it won't surprise me if some of the youth districts vote against the inclusion of academies. If the changes don't carry it will be to the detriment of soccer in general and a slap in the face to the hundreds of players and parents who are clients of academies. I encourage others to read the BCSA info as well as the numerous letters to the editor on bcsoccerweb.com. Hopefully you will agree and tell your delegates to the BC AGM.

BC Soccer Web

 

[PV]

The resolution is pooly worded, very general and vague, therefore it will face lots of opposition at the AGM. If I were a U14 Metro coach from Richmond and half my players trained at TSS then I would oppose the affiliation resolution because of potential scheduling conflicts with the TSS school. The TSS players on my team would not be available to play on long weekends because TSS wants them to play for the TSS team in long weekend tournaments. The same scheduling conflicts are a concern for coaches in other communities.

Some Clubs are also worried that private business academies will enter teams in their leagues in the future. This is a long term concern that needs to be addressed.

The private business Academies used to be upset that BCSA was operating an academy at 8 Rinks. BCSA no longer operates its own academy. so hopefully the more outspoken private business academies can calm down the rhetoric.

 

[soccermom]

I just read the discussion paper and I agree it is very poorly written but I don't agree the concerns you mention. My daughter, who graduates high school this year, trained at TSS for 5 years while also playing soccer in Vancouver. We never had a conflict between the academy and club team. The highlight of her youth soccer was a trip to California with TSS. For all of the players the regular season was over and here was a chance to travel and play in a very prestigious tournament. But this trip almost didn't happen because of an issue with BC Soccer refusing to sign travel permission. We didn't know until the day before whether the trip was on or not. Even though every player involved was a registered player we were told the team wasn't affiliated. Other girls we knew were on the provincial team and were playing all over and yet this group was told it did not have the right to play. How can that be fair??? Isn't playing what it's all about??? For some of us parents this was certainly an eye opener about soccer politics and I still find it bizarre that such a problem could exist.
I know players who pay as much to play Metro as it cost our daughter to train at TSS. I'm told it's to cover paying for professional coaches. I see no difference between paying a for coach at an private academy versus paying for one at a club or district academy.
I don't see private academies like TSS wanting to be involved in the winter leagues, they're busy enough already. But if someone is really worried about it just make it a rule that they're only associate members for purposes of exhibition games and traveling to tournaments.
Our daughter benefited hugely from her extra training and therefore her club team benefited as well. To say to one group of players can play while another can't or that it's acceptable to pay for coaching on a club team but not in an academy is both discriminatory and hypocritical. And to not involve academies in making soccer better for all is just plain stupid.

 

[PV]

I mis-predicted the outcome. The BCSA membership voted to grant limited associate membership status to schools.

 

[wednesday]

What does limited mean? Who can apply?