WYSC President's Report for July 12, 2007 AGM

The last 12 months have made this a watershed year for our Club.

With founders Andree Janyk and Bob Calladine stepping down, there was a pressing need for volunteers to come forward to take over their many functions performed over the past decade. In addition, Linda McGaw's retirement as Registrar would leave a gaping hole in several areas.

Fortunately, the response from our membership was magnificent, and I send my deep appreciation, both personally and on behalf of the Club, to those individuals mentioned throughout my Report.

Hiring of Administrator

Linda graciously continued assisting the Executive while we waited (very) patiently for someone to step forward to assume the newly created paid position of Administrator.

Many thanks to David Demers and temporary Administrator Amy Cassidy for guiding Angela Mellor into the job.

Cooperation/Dialogue with Pemberton/Squamish

Continued excellent coordination of activities with the Pemberton Club meant the availability of their fields for our use in May before our own fields could open. The spring Green River League was again relatively successful, and the respective Clubs' season-end festivities were well received. In addition the U13 and U15 combined boys teams acquitted themselves well (and in a couple of cases spectacularly so) in spring tournaments on the North Shore, in Victoria and in Kamloops. I especially thank Pemby President and Senior Travel Team coach Phill Read and that Club's hard-working Administrator Bettina Falloon.

The unfortunate exclusion of a couple of our teams in the previous fall's Squamish League led to greater dialogue with that Club, and I felt very welcome at its AGM recently. A dramatic recent development is the permission granted by our neighbour to the south to use one of their fields on Saturdays this coming year as the home field of our new Senior Girls' rep team. Many thanks to the Squamish President Garry Gregg and his Executive.

Regular Competitive Play in Lower Mainland

Yes, Bernard Messeguer has finally fulfilled his dream of entering "his girls" in the 5 District Vancouver league.

Without a viable home turf during the winter months, Bernard needed Squamish to come through, and now this passionate coach who is so very generous with his time, has a U 18 girls silver A team ready to go! We all hope he still has the energy to fulfill his demanding and most welcome scheduling commitments for our Club.

Two of our club's lads played for the Squamish U14 rep team in the city league, which won the divisional trophy. I understand that a couple more boys will be participating this coming year. Two of our own have also been chosen for the elite North Shore Premier Player Program, representing the North Shore Youth Soccer Association in high-level games against other districts. Congratulations to these young ambassadors!

Community Participation

Last summer our club was asked to provide "entertainment" for visitors to our fair village and PJ O'Heany and Bob Baker stepped up to the plate to help organize an extremely successful weekend in Mountain Square. Furthermore, the annual RMOW "Pitch-In" day in late April attracted several dozen young club members, and many thanks to them and the parents present who raised hundreds of dollars for the club and instilled the kids with a sense of community responsibility.

Equipment & Unifoms

The indefatigable Bob Baker came on this year to complete an inventory of our needs after having built a third shed for the Myrtle Philip fields. He procured referee uniforms/supplies, dozens of new balls, replenished our "junior" nets and replaced the much maligned High School shed door with an impenetrable steel one. His considerable efforts in selecting and ordering new (complete) uniforms for the U8-U13 kids were unfortunately stymied by customs delays, but by September we should have them ready. We all owe a great debt to Bob for his incredible efforts for our Club. Many thanks also to David Demers in tracking down some excellent rebound nets which are already proving a great tool for practice-sessions.

Summer Camps/Clinics

Saibo Talic's European Football School clinic and our second camp, through former Olympian Jason Levitts and former Whitecap Sandi Potis, both proved to be strong attractions and by all reports successful.

A third camp delivered by the North Shore Soccer Development Centre, was a unique opportunity for our select youth at the U9-U15 levels to be exposed to some of B.C.'s best professional coaches.

A hat-trick of thanks to PJ O'Heany for his tireless efforts in organizing all these opportunities, and our gratitude to Dave Demers who provided coaches' accommodation at his Sundial Boutique Hotel. He also generously provided free meeting space there for the Club directors and coaches/managers this past year.

Financial Stability

Donna Hutchison's past years of prudent fiscal maneuvering left us in a fairly healthy situation, but thanks in large part to David Demers we were successful in three significant grant applications this past year. Thank you very much indeed to the Whistler-Blackcomb Foundation and the RMOW (Community Enrichment Fund). We are very happy to have Sandra MacKenzie come on now as Treasurer, and as bookkeeper too.

Website Development

Our webmaster, Jacques Choquette, has really done a fine job in updating our website and in training our Administrator. I encourage you all to list www.whistlersoccer.com as one of your favourites and to visit often. Other useful sites are the B.C. Soccer Association one (www.bcsoccer.net), the North Shore Soccer one (www.northshoredistrictsoccer.com) and the general info one called B.C. Soccer Central www.bcsoccercentral.com

Coaching Development

Again, it's thanks to the energetic PJ O'Heany that we continue to upgrade our coaches' qualifications. Last August we had a very successful course with Donn Sparks, and in late August he will again reprise his exceptional sessions. In addition, the North Shore Soccer Development Centre's Hubert Busby came for a visit last month, and the NSSDC will be providing some sessions in early August.

Referee News

We are grateful for Laura Wetaski's extensive efforts in the area of refereeing this year. While Squamish was able to cover the officiating in the fall league play, Laura was very successful in her first year in ensuring the scheduling of the refs for the Green River League. In addition, she organized Class 5 (Assistant Ref) and Class 4 (Referee) courses, of which, regrettably,only the former attracted enough participation. I encourage those interested in officiating to contact Laura, and I thank Bob Calladine and Andree Janyk, our senior referees, for their commitment this past season.

Increased Indoor Play

The coaches' enthusiasm for indoor play from January to April resulted in a dramatic rise in attendance at the Spring Creek Gym on weekdays evenings this past long winter. I thank everyone for their patience in awaiting the field openings after the May long weekend, and we continue to press for all-weather fields (with lights) in the Olympic village development at Cheakamus.

Visioning Workshop

We held two visioning workshops which were quite well attended by our volunteers. Thanks to John McCormick for facilitating these and for providing us with valuable guide-posts for our exciting future. We do need to continue with these in the fall and I encourage all interested to stay tuned. Our Club website continues to have a parent survey on it so feel free to complete it and turn it in so your Executive has feed-back on your needs.

Final Thanks

I have mentioned the Board members (past and present) who have been instrumental in behind-the scenes governance. I again especially thank David Demers who has provided such valuable assistance to me in leading the Club. My final flourish of thanks go to the many dedicated coaches and managers who are the glue holding the Club together. Their selfless commitment to our players strongly reinforces my firm belief that soccer is community.

"The beautiful game" we have been watching at the FIFA U20 World Cup level these last couple of weeks is in good hands here in Whistler and I see a rosy future for our Club. Best wishes this summer, register for the great clinics, and stay fit for September!

In soccer,

Peter Shrimpton, WYSC President