WYSC President’s Report for August 31, 2009 AGM

New Technical Director

The Club Board’s primary goal this past year was to attract a well-respected and experienced soccer professional to become our Technical Director. Fortunately, with the generous support of the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s Community Enrichment Grant, we were able to achieve that important step, for the enduring benefit of the Board, our coaches and our youth.

Steve September has been a great blessing to us all, so please read much more about him on our Club website (which also has the link to his own site). The Board sincerely hopes that he will agree to continue past November when we can confirm our funding on the continuing part-time basis.

Many thanks indeed to David Demers and PJ O’Heany for their support and wisdom in helping me conduct the comprehensive search to find the right candidate. I encourage as many of you as possible to introduce yourselves to Steve and to continue to welcome him into our soccer community.

Players’ Successes

Due to the continuing welcome financial support of the Whistler-Blackcomb Foundation, your Board has focused on assisting our many volunteer parents deepen and broaden their coaching abilities. Mostly as a result of this development (in my opinion), soccer players from Whistler have achieved remarkable results this past year.

The Senior Girls’ rep team under the irrepressible Bernard Messeguer enjoyed another fantastic year in Lower Mainland play, finishing a whisker away from the top of their league. You may know that many Pemberton players on the squad were integral to their success, but you will also need to be reminded that this U18 Silver 1 team had many players from every high school grade!

Most of the girls combined again in the Spring (with several Grade 8’s) to accomplish the incredible in winning their zone in the High School “A” competition. Stefano Baradel, able assisted by Bernard, motivated the girls into believing that they really could overcome great odds, which gave them an 8th place result in the provincial finals in Nakusp in the spring.

The Senior Boys who played with the Club in the recreational Squamish and Green River Leagues showed the province that they could compete at the highest level of competitive soccer, also winning the tough High School “A” zone competition last fall. They were very unlucky to be hit with injuries to key players in the provincial finals in Victoria, finishing 4th out of 12 when they knew  they could have beaten the eventual winners with a full side. As with the High School girls from our Club, credit must be given the strategic skills of their coaches, who are also from our Club.

Some of these boys were also the back-bone for the Sea-to Sky Selects team I had the privilege of managing, where a mix of the most talented 15 & 16 year olds from the Corridor brought home several trophies in Gold level tournaments throughout the province. That team also beat the professional Women’s Whitecaps and held their own against Metro level teams (who draw from at least 10 times the population base, where highly competitive soccer has been ongoing for decades). Dave Robson, in particular, need to be commended for the generosity of his coaching time (and for his company’s sponsorship).

I see from the Squamish Club’s rep team lists for the coming season that the number of Whistler players joining their ranks for competitive play in the Lower Mainland has swelled from 2 in each of the past 3 years to about 17 for the coming year.

Indeed, even coaches and managers from our Club are now seeking the lime-light down south, and will be able to bring their experience back to Whistler for the spring sessions when their season is over.

There are also the strong results from the younger girls and boys’ endeavours from our Club to be celebrated. In several tournaments and exhibition games, our youth acquitted themselves well against much more experienced visiting teams. Many thanks to Steve September for encouraging and promoting these types of competitive opportunities.

Refereeing

Nets full of thanks to Sue Baradel for so ably assisting Angela Mellor in organizing the refereeing in our recreational leagues this past year. It was such a pleasure having the officiating regularized, and I bring news of further exciting developments.

Former Club President Andree Janyk and I conducted a very well-attended entry-level referee course in the spring, and many of those recently qualified young girls and boys now have significant experience to assist them in future Club games, thanks to a program initiated with the Adult League run by Whistler FC.

About a dozen of our youngsters have been “running the lines“ at the close to 50 competitive and fast-paced games played by the adults here in Whistler this summer, and should now be very comfortable as Assistant Referees at the high-school age. More importantly, as Head Referees at the games up to the U14 level, they will be mentors for the younger players and should instill a sense of pride and professionalism in what our Club youth can accomplish.

As with youth soccer Clubs and in most sports, referees are subject to unnecessary abuse, often from parents, and I implore you all to leave the refs alone and let them do their job. Much more is on our club website under the “Parents” section.

Board News

The AGM will be Vice-President PJ O’Heany’s send-off for a year “Down Under”, and we will sorely miss his wise direction and unbridled enthusiasm for youth soccer. There is no-one better to take over the seat of President upon his return.

David Demers has again provided the Board with his valuable experience in business matters, and I say once more how very lucky we all are. He was instrumental in bringing Barry Burko “on Board“ as Club Treasurer to succeed Sandra McKenzie, and Barry’s financial acumen is most welcomed.

Elsewhere you will read the Reports from other hard-working Board members, and we welcomed Rob Palm and Duane Hepditch this year too. There was also an extremely valuable first ever joint Board meeting with Pemberton and Squamish’s Boards, with much goodwill generated from that occasion.

I save my final words to recognize the tremendous abilities of our Club Administrator; Angela Mellor, who continues to be our efficient and always cheerful organizer. Thank you Angela, for making all of our tasks so much easier, and for ensuring that youth soccer in our fair Valley continues to broaden its appeal.

Respectfully submitted, Peter Shrimpton, WYSC President

Vice Presidents Report 2009

Administrators Report 2009