Spokane Shadow Youth Soccer Club

Club Unification Overview

Shadow United FC (logo coming soon!)

In Spring, 2009, Spokane’s existing Select clubs: Breakers, Sabers, United (formerly Scotties) and FC Storm and the Spokane Shadow Youth Soccer Club unified together and initiated a gradual integration process in order to better serve the needs of our area youth recreational players. The installation of the new U11 program was the appropriate starting point for this process for the 2009-2010 season. The integration of age groups "ages up" one year, each following year; the unified Select age groups for the 2010-2011 season are the U11 and U12 boys and girls teams.

This document is an excerpt of the negotiated Agreement between the Presidents of the Sabers, FC Storm, United, Breakers and the Technical Director and President of the Spokane Shadow. It is not meant to be all-encompassing and does not include many of the functional or legalistic details of the Agreement. It is designed to provide those interested a broad overview of the unified Club.

Agreement for unification was passed unanimously by the voting members of the Competitive Committee on March 31, 2009, with final amendments occurring April 10, 2009. Subsequently, all boards approved the unification and it was ordained on April 21, 2009.

Governance
The overall corporate governance of the Club is referred to as a strong Technical Director structure.

It relies on independent regional select boards operating competitive select soccer in each of their respective regions and an independent Regional Club (RCL; formerly PDL)/Premier board operating the RCL/Premier level teams.

The activities of the various boards are overseen and coordinated by the Board of Directors.

The overriding objective of the unification governance and organizational structure is to enhance the ability of the unified Club to provide a high quality competitive soccer experience for our players. Unification benefits include:

Coordination of soccer activities;
Utilization of financial and manpower resources more effectively by avoiding duplication and increased buying power;
Improve lines of communication;
Creation of comprehensive coach training programs and a centralized coach resource center;
Allow player cross-training opportunities;
Reduce overall player costs by pursuing more substantial corporate sponsors;
Enhance lateral and vertical player movement amongst the various levels of play.

For Club board governance purposes, the regional select board’s bylaws are a reconciled version of the existing select club bylaws and amendments. The RCL/Premier board’s bylaws have been created based upon the existing predecessor Shadow Youth Soccer Club bylaws and amendments. This has been done in an effort to create as little organizational disruption as possible.

Unification of the U11 Program
The U11 year will be the first where regional select teams and Shadow Premier will fall under the Shadow Premier and Shadow-Select club name combination. Resulting team names will be Shadow Premier, Shadow-Sabers, Shadow-United (formerly Scotties), Shadow-Breakers and Shadow-Storm. The regional select teams will retain their Shadow-Select club name as they progress through age divisions and will be governed under the Club organizational structure as provided.

Sabers, FC Storm, United (formerly Scotties) and Breakers Select Club Teams U12 and Higher in the 2009-2010 Season
Existing Select club teams U12 and older will continue under their current respective club names to minimize systemic disruption. Such existing Select clubs will continue as incorporated entities until their last club team exits the oldest age division. There will be no new existing Select club teams formed at the 2009-2010 season U11 age division.

Existing select clubs have the option, but not the obligation, to integrate into the Club at an earlier date if they so choose. If this election is made, the existing Select club 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation shall terminate and existing select teams will be merged into the Club consistent with the Organizational Chart.

Shadow Technical Director
The Technical Director represents the highest level of authority in the Club.

The Technical Director is ultimately held accountable for the performance of the Club at all levels.

The Technical Director is charged with oversight and governance of the overall soccer programs of the Club without bias or prejudice.

Responsibilities of the Technical Director include, but are not limited to:
Working directly with and overseeing the Board of Directors to administer the activities of the Club;
Establishing the overall Club budget for submission and approval by the Board of Directors;
Working with region Presidents to create a list of acceptable Regional Coordinators;
Appointing Regional Coordinators, subject to approval by the Board of Directors;
Serves as the ultimate authority with respect to hiring and firing coaches:
For regional Select teams, this authority may be delegated to Regional Coordinators, subject to the approval of the Director of Coaching-Select; for RCL/Premier teams this may be delegated to the Associate or Assistant Coaching Directors;
Serve as Club signing or co-signing authority for contractual agreements.

The Technical Director will be the current Shadow Technical Director, Sean Bushéy.

New Shadow Board of Directors
The Board shall consist of nine (9) voting Directors identified as follows:
• The five (5) sitting Presidents from each regional select and RCL/Premier board (referred to as the Executive Board)
• Three (3) Non-Member Directors appointed and approved by a majority of vote of Directors.
Non-Member Director candidates will be brought forth by a Nominating Committee, which shall include the Technical Director and other such Directors who share a common interest in the creation of the candidate pool;
Non-Member Directors shall not have a child on any Club teams at any time during their tenure;
Non-Member Directors shall be soccer-oriented individuals who by virtue of experience, training and exposure to the broader soccer community outside of our own are able to bring meaningful insights and direction to the Board.
• One (1) Treasurer elected by and from the membership of the Finance Committee.

The Board shall consist of two (2) non-voting members identified as follows:
• Club Technical Director;
• Inland Empire Youth Soccer Association President or an IEYSA President appointee;

The five (5) sitting Presidents of regional Select and RCL/Premier boards (referred to as the Executive Board) may also elect to invite one additional sitting officer from their respective board to attend meetings as non-voting members.

The Officers of the Corporation shall be a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Treasurer shall be the Finance Committee elected designee. All other officers will be elected by voting members of the Executive Board.

The President will cast tie-breaking votes as required.

The Executive Board is charged with the following:
• Approve, by majority vote, the budget as submitted by the Technical Director;
• Approve, by majority vote, the Regional Coordinator selections as submitted by the Technical Director;
• Initiate changes to Club bylaws by unanimous vote and in consultation with the Technical Director;
• Coordinate and oversee the activities of the various boards (Example: Shadow-Sabers want to bring in a group for a coaching clinic. This is brought to the Board of Directors to see if other parts of the club wish to participate);
• Establish and/or perpetuate proactive community support programs whose implementation will be coordinated through the various boards (Examples: Youth Advancement Program, Shadow Ambassadors program);
• Serve as liaison between the Technical Director and their respective boards;
• Present ideas and programs from the various boards to the Board of Directors for approval and coordination (Example: The Shadow-Storm wishes to establish a new program for underprivileged kids in the West Plains area. Since this will be a Club program, the rules, forms and liability waivers will all need to be reviewed and approved);
• Present complaints from the various boards to the Board of Directors and Technical Director;
• Present committee activity and status reports from the various boards to the Board of Directors to ensure coordination of efforts (Example: If the RCL/Premier board wanted to conduct a fundraiser on the same weekend the Shadow-Sabers were doing the same – and both were in the same geographic area, there will need to be coordination to prevent conflict);
• Approve/monitor/require committee formation, activities and mergers for the best overall interests of the Club (Example: If each various board maintained its own Public Relations Committee, the Board may feel it better serves the interest of the overall Club to have these committees merge and work together.);
• Accept reports from and work with the Finance Committee to implement and oversee the budget including fees, dues, expenditures and other financial matters with respect to the Club;
• Coordinate tryouts amongst clubs in consultation with the Regional Coordinator, Director of Coaching-Select and Technical Director;
• Moderate intra-board disputes.

Finance Committee
The Finance Committee shall consist of the five (5) sitting Treasurers from each various board. The Finance Committee reports to the Board of Directors and implements the Club budget, in addition to being responsible for finance-related communications to their respective various boards.

In the event a Treasurer of any various resigns, it will be the responsibility of the impacted board to appoint a successor.

The Finance Committee will elect one of the five (5) sitting Treasurers to serve as Treasurer of the Club Board of Directors.

The Finance Committee is charged with the following:
• Accept recommendations from the various boards with respect to financial matters;
• Make recommendations to the Technical Director with respect to annual dues, fees and special assessments;
• Assist the Technical Director in preparation and implementation of the overall Club budget;
• Oversee all accounting books and records of the Club;
• Establish bookkeeping policies and procedures for the Club;
• Establish the accounting year of the Club;
• Designate an authorized signing Treasurer and alternate to serve as Club Treasurer;
• Have charge and custody of and be responsible for all funds and securities of the Club;
• Receive and give receipts for moneys due and payable to the Technical Director from any source whatsoever;
• Deposit all such moneys in the name of the Club in banks, trust companies, or other depositories selected in accordance with the provisions of the Club bylaws;
• In general perform all of the duties incident to the office of Treasurer and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned by the Technical Director;
• Establish fee payment procedures for the Club;
• Present to the Board of Directors the status of player dues payments and overdue payments;
• Make semi-annual financial presentations to the Board of Directors;
• Make annual financial presentations by the appropriate Treasurer to their various boards;
• Facilitate payments to satisfy financial obligations of the Club.

Each regional Select board will:
• Be held responsible for operating soccer within their respective region to include conducting tryouts, mediation of coaching disputes and performing a substantial majority of duties presently executed by the current select club boards;
• Work in coordination with their respective Regional Coordinator;
• Select a pool of qualified coaching candidates for submission to the Regional Coordinator along with recommended appointments.
• Bylaws for all regional select boards have been streamlined and are common to all boards.

Spokane Shadow Director of Coaching-Select
Activities of the Spokane Shadow Director of Coaching-Select will fall under the oversight of the Technical Director. The Director of Coaching-Select is responsible for:
• Acting as liaison ensuring each Regional Coordinator implements a uniform program of age appropriate technical and tactical development;
• Conduct regularly scheduled meetings with Regional Coordinators to ensure coaching support is adequate;
• Organize and oversee area U-10 orientation meetings providing families with an overview of the U-11 program to include costs and participation expectations;
• Organize and oversee area U-11 orientation meetings providing families with an overview of the U-12 programs available to players including PDL or regional select play.

Regional Coordinators
Will be appointed to facilitate coach education, player development and streamline communications to incoming and outgoing players from the U-11 program.

Qualifications which should be taken into consideration include:
o Licensing and other credentials;
o Experience;
o Ability to manage;
o Ability to effectively teach children the sport of soccer;
o Ability to effectively communicate with parents, coaches, administrators and players;
o Ability to work cooperatively with Director of Coaching-Select and Technical Director.

The Regional Coordinator, subject to direction from the Director of Coaching-Select and Technical Director, is responsible for hiring and firing coaches.

The Regional Coordinator, subject to direction from the Director of Coaching-Select and Technical Director, maintains jurisdiction over the formation of teams.

The Regional Coordinator will have oversight responsibilities for other programs whose creation the Director of Coaching-Select, subject to the approval of the Technical Director, determines are appropriate given the needs of the region.

Conclusion
The unification of the soccer clubs in the Inland Empire Youth Soccer Association territory proves organizations can collaborate in new and exciting ways to bring their missions to the next level. New ideas, new opportunities, and new goals can result.

The Spokane youth soccer community is a shining example of collaboration; working to make soccer better for all players at every level to keep them playing and enjoying this game longer. The unification between the Select Breakers, Sabers, United (formerly Scotties), and Storm FC Select Clubs, and our Premier Spokane Shadow Youth Soccer Club is unprecedented.