Canada Club Soccer

1
Canada Club Soccer

• Club Symposium ? Toronto ? April 14-15, 2007

2
Opening Remarks Bob Lenarduzzi

• Bob is a former North American Soccer League
  star, Canadian International, and coach of the
  Canadian
• national and Olympic soccer teams. He is
  currently Head of Soccer Operations for Whitecaps
  F.C. in
• Vancouver. He is a member of the National Soccer
  Hall of Fame.
• Club career
• Reading F.C. in England
• NASL Vancouver Whitecaps
• NASL North American player of the year in 1978
• NASL Soccer Bowl Champion in 1979
• National team playing career
• Lenarduzzi won 47 caps playing for Canada
• 1984 Summer Olympics
• 1986 World Cup finals
• Coaching career
• Vancouver 86ers
• Canada Mens National Team Head Coach 1993-1997

3
FIFA Mens World Rankings

• The March 2007 FIFA Ranking was 103 out of 207.
• The March 2007 CONCACAF Ranking was 13 out of 35.
• Of those ahead of Canada include
• Mexico
• USA
• Costa Rica
• Honduras
• Panama
• Cuba
• Jamaica
• Trinidad Tobago
• Haiti
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines

4
FIFA Womens Rankings

• The March 2007 FIFA Ranking was 10 out of 142.
• The Womens program has been consistent the past
  4-5 years with the FIFA rankings
• It is evident that womens football is developing
  rapid in other countries.
• Canada must continue to elevate womens football
  initiatives to maintain international status.

5
Introduction to Canada Club Soccer and Club
Symposium

• John Pugh
• President and CEO, Ottawa Fury Soccer Club

Diverse and successful career in academia, high
technology, business and more recently in the
world of soccer CEO and Owner, Ottawa Fury
(2002-gt) Grown Club from 1 womens team to Club
with Academy programs (U1-U13), SYL Teams
(U14-U20) plus W-League and PDL teams Member of
the USL Owners Committee, the W-League Executive
Committee, the OSA Senior Pyramid of Play Review
Working Group and the Site Organizing Committee
for the Ottawa portion of the 2007 FIFA U20 World
Cup. W-League Executive of the Year,
2004 Director, School of Computer Science,
Carleton University (9 years) Undergraduate,
Masters, Ph.D. and Co-op programs A pioneer in
the field of Object-Oriented Systems, John is
co-author of five books, was the editor of an
industry newsletter, and is an author of many
columns, articles and research papers. He was a
regular speaker at international industry
conferences and served on numerous leading
academic and industry committees. Founder and
CEO of The Object People Inc, (1990-2000) Grew
education, consulting and software tools company
from 3 employees to 120 employees in 5 countries
over a 10 year span. Led company from start-up to
acquisition VP World-Wide Education BEA Systems
(2001-2002) grew BEA Education Division to 120
employees worldwide, tripled its annual revenue
and trained 5,000 channel partners Soccer
Career Semi-Professional British
Universities, Swansea City, Llanelli, Durham
City, Sheffield FC, Ottawa Falcons
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Why we are here?

• The founding members believed that it was
  essential to bring together clubs to formalize
  and create the initial membership.
• The Inaugural Club Symposium will lay the
  framework for the future development of CCS.
• The Club Symposium will be used to develop a
  position statement on CCSs philosophy and
  present some of the key issues surrounding the
  sport to the governing associations and the
  soccer public.
• Most of all, the individuals here care about the
  future of the sport in Canada and want to lead a
  new direction for club soccer.

7
What is Canada Club Soccer?

• Canada Club Soccer, CCS, was founded in
  November of 2006 by a group of club operators and
  technical directors that are passionate about
  growing and developing the sport of soccer in
  Canada. Canada Club Soccer is an organization
  committed to the support and development of
  competitive level soccer clubs in Canada. It is
  founded on the belief that soccer clubs, which
  are in the business of player development, need
  an organization of their own to foster growth,
  address concerns, and provide programs with a
  minimum of rules and restrictions.

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What the Founding Members Envision for Canada
Club Soccer

• To Create, Develop, and Grow the best soccer
  organization, and support the national governing
  body, to foster the growth and development of
  club soccer programs throughout Canada. The
  result of which will be to improve the level of
  play of the competitive soccer player, and
  thereby the Canadian national teams and
  professional leagues.

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Essential Aspects for Success
10

• Agenda

11
Break Out Sessions

• Governance. How and has the governance of the
  sport restricted club growth? How should
  governance lead the sport and promote healthy
  competition for club development?
• Technical. What are the technical challenges
  facing players, coaches, and clubs in Canada?
  What role do clubs play in the technical aspects
  of the sport and how can clubs aid the CSA in
  player identification?

1000 1230 PM
12
Break Out Sessions

• Individuals will be placed into working groups.
• Each working group will contain a leader
  (founding member), who will guide the discussion.
• Group members will discuss major key issues
  surrounding the sport at the technical and
  administrative areas.
• Identify the Issue
• Provide Examples
• Provide Solutions
• The key issues will then be presented by each
  group after lunch.
• The symposium attendees will identify the major
  key issues surrounding clubs and the various
  technical and administrative areas.

1000 1230 PM
13
Break out sessions
1000 1230 PM
14

• Break Out Session Review
• 130 315 PM

15
Break Out Session Review

• Summary Reports presented by each break out
  session group
• Each group will present discussion topics and
  core issues surrounding clubs and the development
  of the sport.
• Once key issues are presented by each group, the
  focal issues to advocate change will be
  identified and discussed by all in further
  detail.
• A formal position will be assembled for inclusion
  in the CCS report.

130 315 PM
16
Group Presentation Key Issues
Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
130 315 PM
17

• Invited Presentation
• 315 430 PM
• The impact club soccer has on development of
  the sport and how the U.S. has created a
  competitive environment to provide opportunities
  to players, coaches, and administrators
• Matt Weibe, USL Managing Director of Club
  Development

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Matt Weibe

• Professional
• USL 1999 - Present
• USL Managing Director, Club Development - Present
• Created and Developed the USL Super Y-League
  Super-20 League
• US Soccer Professional Council Member - Present
• US Soccer Technical Committee Member - Present
• US Soccer Youth Task Force Member - Present
• US Soccer Board of Director (2002-2006)
• Education
• B.A. Sport Management, Bethany College (WV)
• Playing Background
• NCAA Bethany College (WV)
• 1996 Player of the Year, All Conference Selection
  (96, 97, 98)
• Personal
• Hometown Severna Park, Maryland, USA

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Innovating Soccer

• Soccer has experienced significant growth at all
  levels in the U.S. over the past decade.
• The U.S. currently has over 4.2 million
  registered players.
• The U.S. has a comprehensive professional
  structure at the division I (MLS), division II
  (USL First Division), division III (USL Second
  Division) levels.
• In addition the U.S. contains the top development
  leagues within the PDL, W-League, Super-20
  League, and Super Y-League.
• State-of-the-art stadiums and soccer facilities
  are being built coast-to-coast.
• Elite club soccer has a multitude of competitive
  platforms within US Youth Soccer, US Club Soccer,
  and AYSO.
• Recreational soccer is flourishing at the youth
  and adult levels.
• The U.S. has developed successful national teams
  at virtually every level on the youth, mens, and
  womens sides.
• Our governing body is financially sound and
  growing.

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Soccer in the United States
US National Teams
US Mens National Team
US Womens National Team
Professional Soccer
Major League Soccer
USL First Division
USL Second Division
USASA
Youth Soccer
Super Y-League
Super-20 League
USYSA
AYSO
US Club Soccer
SAY, USSSA
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Club Soccer

• Club Soccer has evolved into a major business in
  the U.S. over the past decade.
• The once volunteer organizations have transformed
  into businesses that contain large numbers of
  players, paid coaches and administrators, and,
  have developed private facilities.
• It is typical that major competitive clubs
  operate on yearly budgets between 1-2M per year.
  
• Professional soccer clubs are now vertically
  integrating to operate their own youth academies.
  
• Clubs are now a major contributor to the sport
  and player development.
• Elite clubs have outgrown the recreational
  philosophies and rules that were established in
  the past to grow participation numbers.

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Youth Breakdown

• From and organizational perspective we have
• different categories of US Soccer Members
• National Members gt250,000 players
• US Youth Soccer (55 state associations) (3.2M)
• AYSO (800K)
• National Affiliates gt26 states but less than
  National Members
• Super Y-League (20K)
• US Club Soccer (140K)
• Other Affiliates lt26 states but more than 3
  states
• SAY (100K)
• USSSA (10K)

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Organizational Competition

• US Soccer contains Member Organizations that
  compete for their position within the US soccer
  market.
• Clubs can choose which organizations and programs
  to join based off their needs.
• Clubs can be registered with multiple Member
  Organizations.
• Different organizations operate player
  identification programs for US National Teams.

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Challenges that resulted in alternatives

• State Associations monopolized the sport at the
  youth level, and were not susceptive to listening
  to clubs about developing the sport.
• These associations were restrictive, governed by
  recreational rules, volunteer based, fragmented,
  political, and in many areas lead by boards that
  did not understand the sport and how to develop
  it.
• With the evolution of clubs, there was a demand
  from club leaders for an environment that
  provided less restrictions, promoted club growth,
  and was professionally managed.
• This was the result of organizations such as the
  USL Super Y-League and the formation of the state
  associations competitor US Club Soccer.

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Interplay and club protection rules
From US Soccer Bylaw 603. Section 1. One
Organization Member may not require that all of
the players, coaches, teams, and administrators
of another Organization Member (who have been
registered with, and fees paid to, the Federation
as required by section 1 of Bylaw 212) be
registered with the first Organization Member as
a condition for only some of those players,
coaches, teams, or administrators participating
in the activities of the first Organization
Member. The first Organization Member may require
registration of only those players, coaches,
teams, and administrators of the other
Organization Member that actually participate in
the activities of the first Organization Member.
Those players, coaches, teams, and administrators
of the other Organization Member registering with
the first Organization Member shall comply with
all of the regular registration requirements of
the first Organization Member. Section 2. An
Organization Member (other than a Professional
League) shall not discriminate against the
participation of players, teams, coaches or clubs
on the basis of that player, coach, team, or
clubs membership in, or affiliation with,
another organization. The Federation encourages
its Organization Members to allow teams of all
other Members to participate in tournaments
sponsored by them or any of its organization
members when the teams otherwise comply with the
tournament eligibility requirements. A tournament
sponsor may charge each team of another Member an
additional fee of not more than 25 to
participate in the tournament.
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What has this done?

• The competition environment has made programs,
  clubs, and organizations better.
• There are alternatives for competitive clubs.
  Prior there were only competitions within state
  associations, which restricted competitive clubs
  and organizational growth.
• Clubs have choices to join programs based on
  their needs and demands.
• When the market demands change, changes can be
  made easier.

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What did it take to make changes?

• Over the past eight years, clubs have come
  together to develop consensus on key issues of
  the sport.
• It has taken a collaborative effort to bring club
  leaders together.
• Club leaders have given themselves a voice by
  coming together to present issues
• Governing associations have evaluated rules and
  policies, new organizations have been created,
  and the game has changed from where it was a
  decade ago.

28
Club Findings

• Soccer Club Findings from US Club Soccer Summit
• Soccer decisions need to be made by soccer
  professionals and not administrators.
• Soccer clubs need to be managed and allowed to
  make decisions like any other business, with a
• minimum of restrictive rules.
• Day to day operations need to be managed by
  business professionals.
• Player identification and development needs to
  happen within the Club.
• Players need to be allowed the flexibility
  within the club to play at their level of ability
  or potential.
• Clubs need to be able to develop a competitive
  calendar that allows them to play more of their
  games at the appropriate competitive level.
• Considering the above key concepts of the vision
  statement, it was decided that the most
  significant barriers facing the sport of club
  soccer in pursuit of this vision are
• Soccer politics at the state and national level.
• Obtaining consensus within the club to adopt
  certain club-wide actions.

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Where is the U.S. going?

• What worked 20 years ago doesnt work in 2007.
• Recently the US Soccer governance went through
  changes so the decision making process can become
  better and less political.
• The U.S. is continuously assessing programs,
  leagues, organizations, player development, and
  professional development.
• More soccer stadiums and facilities are being
  built.
• Club development is a major priority.
• We want to win a mens World Cup and maintain our
  status at the womens level.

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Questions and Answers
31

• Group Discussion
• Sunday

32

• Group Discussion Priorities
• 900 1130 AM

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Short Term Objectives (1)

• Appoint Executive Committee
• Approve Mission Statement
• Legitimize Canada Club Soccer
• Develop Initial Media Release
• Symposium Summary
• CSA Urge to keep TD and Mens Coach positions
  separate
• Distribute Symposium Package to all attendees

34
Short Term Objectives (2)

• Membership Recruitment
• Seek Members to complete National Coverage
• Exec Members to hold regional meetings
• Accept invitations to governing body meetings
• Develop initial set of position papers based on
  governance and technical development consensus
  from Symposium

35
Key Issues

• Governance
• Define the minimum standards and accreditation
  for clubs.
• Creation of a best practices document for club
  technical and administrative operations
• Implement vertical age integration within club
  rosters
• Create structure for player movement between and
  within clubs
• Differentiate between recreation and elite
  development create a new tier of elite
  development opportunities
• Define a player development pathway from
  grassroots to national team programs
• Creation of standardized and defined roles for
  clubs, provincial associations, the national
  association, and professional clubs
• Consistency and simplicity of rules and
  regulations across Canada
• Implementation of a national insurance and player
  registration program
• Competition
• Facilitate the best possible playing
  opportunities for each level of development from
  grassroots to elite

• Financial Development
• Create collaborative sponsorship initiatives
  between clubs, provincial associations, and CSA
• Provide resources or consultants for clubs to
  create plans for facilities or facility
  development.
• Technical Development
• Standardize NTC programs across Canada
• NTC to become a scouting program evaluating
  players in their club environment, not a training
  program
• Develop a national scouting network to aid
  identification of national level players
• Develop safety nets in the scouting network to
  ensure that players do not slip through the
  cracks
• Provincial associations and CSA to borrow players
  as in the rest of the world.
• Develop coaching and technical programming
  tailored to the clubs
• Give the authority of qualified technical
  directors the ability to certify their internal
  coaching staff at appropriate level.
• Establish standard continuous coaching education
  programs

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Immediate Issues

• Must have separation of Mens National Team Head
  Coach and Technical Director roles. The CSA must
  hire someone to perform an analysis of the sport
  in Canada and develop a plan to foster the growth
  and support of clubs.

37
Priority of Issues

• Technical

• Governance

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Formalize and Define Membership

• Develop charter and establish not-for-profit
  status
• Establish formal membership and criteria
• Who can join?
• How to apply?
• Future membership meetings
• Provincial
• National
• Financial Commitment (Develop Consensus)
• Financial Priorities
• Executive Director
• Future Meetings
• Web Site
• Chairman travel expenses
• Membership Development

39
Formation of Canada Club Soccer and Mission

• Appoint Chairman
• Appoint Vice-Chairman
• Create Committees
• Technical Development Committee
• Focus on Key Technical Issues and Develop Best
  Practices
• Governance Committee
• Develop CCS Bylaws, Policies
• Assess Provincial and CSA Bylaws
• Membership Committee
• Develop more membership for CCS
• Connect with other clubs
• Legal Committee
• Work on legal issues relating to affiliation
• Advise CCS and clubs on key legal issues
• Provincial Coordinators
• Serve as liaison to Chairman in each Province
• Play an active role in preventing misinformation
  about CCS

40
Mission Statement Review

• To represent and serve the needs of soccer
  clubs in Canada to articulate views and
  positions on behalf of its member clubs to work
  in concert with governing bodies to foster the
  growth and development of soccer throughout
  Canada.

41
Philosophy Review

• Canada Club Soccer is built on the belief that
• Soccer clubs are the key to player development in
  the Canada, and while the Provincial Associations
  play an important role, the game has evolved, and
  new concepts and innovation must be brought to
  the table to advance the sport.
• Leadership of the sport must be led by influence
  not by authority and power.
• We have spent too much time governing competitive
  soccer rather than encouraging its growth.  This
  has provided negative results across the board at
  the local and national level. It is our belief
  that the sport needs to be innovated to create
  constant evaluation and improvement for the
  technical and administrative levels.
• The business of the day-to-day development of top
  youth players rests with the competitive soccer
  club and those leading these clubs.  A
  business-friendly environment must be created to
  develop programs and services which assist the
  competitive club and player, provide a minimum of
  rules and regulations to assure basic fairness,
  and allow clubs the flexibility to build programs
  that meet their needs. 
• Clubs must work together to grow the club
  system.  This includes speaking with a collective
  voice on important issues affecting them
  assisting clubs organizationally and technically
  and coordinating player development with national
  teams and professional clubs.

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• Canada Club Soccer was founded on the belief that
  the most important organizations to player
  development in the Canada are the competitive
  soccer clubs.  The support of these clubs is our
  number one priority.
• Our organization, to a great extent, believes
  that allowing clubs the freedom to develop its
  player programs as it sees fit, without
  unnecessary restrictions imposed by
  administrative bodies, will in time, by itself,
  make an important contribution to club and player
  development.
• The empowerment of clubs to develop their own
  programs will always be an important aspect of
  our philosophy.  Having a Board of Directors
  setting policy is balanced between qualified
  technical and administrative leaders is essential
  to ensure that philosophy remains in place.

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• Nevertheless, Canada Club Soccer must develop
  programs to assist
• clubs and the player development process.  These
  programs
• include
• The development of technical resources and best
  practices, so that clubs do not necessarily have
  to reinvent the wheel, but can learn from other
  clubs and coaches from a similar geographic,
  demographic, or philosophical framework.  This
  includes members coming together to share
  information, and also over time, develop
  formalized technical practices.
• Working closely with the CSA to make soccer
  education available to our members on a general
  or course-specific basis.  This also includes CCS
  focusing on club development initiatives and
  developing a Technical Director course for clubs.
  
• Continuing to encourage a dialogue and work
  towards the resolution of a national soccer
  calendar.
• Providing the CSA and the Provincial Associations
  constructive criticism in a professional formal
  environment to improve both the technical and
  administrative areas to foster the growth and
  development of the sport.