| USPSA E-news - March 2010 |
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In This Issue
USPSA ContactsPresident Vice President Deputy Vice President East Region Director West Region Director Treasurer Secretary Head Coach, Team USA Webmaster
A Message from the President!
Dear Members and Friends, It is almost spring, although Mother Nature has continued to batter us with snow and rain all over the country. Preparations are being finalized to hold this years' Regional Tournaments. Competition will again be very close in all areas. Good luck to all of you on your quest to make the National Tournament. Elections will be held for three open positions, President, Executive Vice President, and Secretary. Nomination forms are available for download on the USPSA website. Some committee's have not been active and need members and participation. Some of those committee's are Athlete's Committee, Financial Committee, Equipment Committee, and Hall of Fame. Please contact me if you have the skills and initiative to participate on any of these committee's. We are working hard to finalize the breakdown of our new competition structure, which will eliminate divisions and initiate better and more competition. Part of this new initiative involves adding a committee/commission to our organization. It will be called the competition committee. This committee will work with the new program and be involved with ranking teams based on competition throughout the season. This will be a limited number of members. If you have interest in being involved in developing and participating with this new committee please contact me directly. I will be looking to select someone to chair this committee. We submitted a bid to host the 2011 World Cup and hosted Robert Thomson for a site assessment in January. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful with being awarded the bid. France will host the 2011 World Cup. Location and more details will be forth coming. We have started some discussion on extending the term length of Board positions to four-year terms. The Legislative and Bylaws committee has been forwarded this recommendation for consideration and address of the language in the Constitution. We will also entertain a participation fee for athletes. This participation fee would be modest, but assist the organization with funds to help continue its mission to grow power soccer in the U.S. Yours in soccer, Dominic Russo
2010 Tournament Schedule
Regional Tournaments are about to get underway! If you are in the area, stop by to support your favorite teams! LISTED BY DATE: March 5-7, 2010: Division 1 & D-ll Western Regionals, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. In keeping with FIPFA's Laws of the Game, we have adjusted the speed testing protocal to the following:
This information will be outline in the tournament rules and regulations of the games on site, and reviewed at the coaches meeting prior to tournaments. For more info on addresses and contact info, please go to USPSAteams.org/tournaments
Executive Committee Elections UpdateThe Executive Committee Elections will be held this year during Nationals in June at the annual USPSA board meeting. The Executive Committee officers up for election this year are:
Any individual, 18 years of age and older, who is a member in good standing of USPSA, regardless of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin or physical disability, may be eligible for office to the United States Power Soccer Association. Each officer shall be elected for a term of 2 years. An officer may serve as many terms as elected. Below is a short summary of the duties of officers up for election: President: The President is directly responsible to the Executive Committee and the Advisory Board for all business and operations of the USPSA.The President is the liason between the USPSA and International organization, FIPFA. Executive Vice President: The Executive Vice President will oversee the general business of USPSA as directed by the President. The Executive Vice President is responsible for marketing and development of the organization and will oversee the committees pertaining to those areas. Secretary: The Secretary will be responsible for keeping the records of all meetings of the Association and the Executive Committee, and distribute said minutes according to the policy and procedures of the Association. The Secretary oversees and managers all member registration, is responsible for all communication to the membership. For a more detailed description of duties please review the You can find the USPSA Constitution and Bylaws at powersoccerusa.net under downloads. If you or anyone you know who meets the requirements is interested, please return the completed nomination form to me by March 31, 2010. The nomination form will be e-mailed to your team representative and also be available at powersoccerusa.net under downloads. Don Gorman
Games Play Being Stepped Up All Over the Country
An update on the nation's leagues: Our Midwest Power Soccer League has just concluded our 3 rounds of League Play. Currently we have 7 teams that play in our league. Madison Mauraders, GLASA FIRE from Chicago, Driving Force from Columbia MO, Courage Thunder, D1 Blizzards, D2 Blizzards and Tornados. Currently Team Thunder is undefeated in league play with D1 Blizzards and GLASA in 2nd Place followed by Driving Force (3rd), Madison (3rd), D1 Blizzards (3rd), Tornados (4th) and D2 Blizzards (5th). Next league play is scheduled for April 24th in Wauconda, IL at Wauconda HS. Our last league play tournament will be our 4th Annual Duluth Shootout on May 8th at UW Superior. Power Soccer of Indy League hosts a league day once per month with member teams. There are currently 12 teams in the league. In alpha order... Game days have been a great addition to this season and the additional games have allowed teams to really stepped up their skill level as they prepare for regionals. Please visit: Powersoccerofindy.org for team stats. Next League Day: The 2010 Arizona Power Blast, held in January, was great fun for the Arizona teams and for the visitors from California and Minnesota. Both the D1 and D2 Arizona Heat teams took the championships. Meanwhile, the Northern California teams have met four times so far this season, with SoCal team Santa Barbara also traveling up in February. The competition has been strong and fierce, all teams have improved this year, and San Jose's Division 1 team heads into the Western Regional tournament with an 8-0 record. After Regionals, there are only two more local league days before the USPSA National Tournament: April 10th-11th in Santa Barbara and May 22nd-23rd in San Jose. Southeast League: no updates by time of printing
Team USA
The US Power Soccer National Team completed its first training camp together in January held in Atlanta, Georgia with the help of the Fernando Foundation. We appreciate their support to start our journey forward to winning the 2011 World Cup in record fashion. Literally record fashion as they had record low temperatures and snowfall while we were there. Despite the cold temperatures Team USA is starting to heat up working together and showing signs of great things to come. Our next training camp will be in Berkeley California April 15-17 followed by Indianapolis hosting our third training camp August 12-14. Make sure to come out and support the team at their exhibitions from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. on the last day of each training camp. We are still looking for sponsors and help with the team. For more information check out the Team USA website at www.powersoccerteamusa.org for more information. Thanks for your support!
Kicks 4 A Cause
USPSA was pleasantly surprised this week with a donation to the organization. But this was not any ordinary donation. After receiving a very nice gift through Pay Pal, shortly after an email was received stating who had sent it and why with a connection to a website....this is what we learned... "KICKS 4 A Cause was started to raise money for children and adults that are in power wheelchairs." The amazing thing is, These kids can't be more than 12 years old! They have made an impact on our organization and to our potential athletes! Please visit them on www.kicks4acasue.org and drop them a note to let them know how much you appreciate what they are doing! They highlight some of our athletes on their web site.
Going to Regionals? Like Writing? We want YOU!We are looking for athletes' perspective stories of all upcoming Regional tournaments. If you are going to your regional and would like to write a short article about it, we would love to put it on the USPSA website! At least one D1 and D2 player from each regional would be preferred, and if multiple authors volunteer, we'll combine your stories into a perspective piece. Interested? Let us know! This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Thanks, and good luck to all athletes!
ClinicsUniversity of Illinois hosted their first power soccer clinics in January of this year. Dominic and Karen Russo, along with Michael Archer and JC Russo spent the day with 12 eager and excited athletes sharing the sport of power soccer. University of Illinois is home to wheelchair basketball and has great history in adaptive sports. . We hope to see them on the power soccer circuit soon! Good Luck U of I! NEW CLINICS UPCOMING March 20, North Carolina Clinics are still being finalized for the upcoming spring and summer season. Some cities we have on our radar and have shown interest in hosting are: Oklahoma City, OK: April
New Affiliate Members"Manufacturing Genuine Thrills Inc. is a premier manufacturer and retailer of adaptive sports equipment made specifically for power wheelchair users. Based in Tampa, Florida, MGT was founded by three disabled individuals one of whom is a C1, 2 Ventilator dependent quadriplegic. MGT is enthusiastically committed to enabling power wheelchair dependent people to get out of the shadows and back in the game of life. MGT's IKAN product line includes the IKAN Soccer Guard which via the IKAN Universal Mount or IKAN Center Post Mount enables power chair users to compete in the sport of power soccer regardless of the type of power chair. The IKAN Soccer Guard takes only seconds to install and extremely durable, the universal mount will absorb most impact from incidental contact without damaging expensive power wheelchairs. The IKAN line also includes the award winning IKAN Bowler® which enables any power wheelchair user that can operate his or her chair to independently bowl against able-bodied competitors or other wheelchair users. The IKAN Bowler® is approved for all league play by the United States Bowling Congress, allowing any power chair user to join a league or enjoy bowling alongside friends and family."
USPSA APPAREL & TEAM USA CHAMPIONSHIP SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE FOR SALE ONLINE!
Our new League Store will be offering new items in the future. Check back often to see what is new!Team USA Shirt MasterCard and Visa now conveniently accepted in a safe and secure website. T-shirts: $10.00 |
Purchase your USPSA t-shirts, ball caps and 2007 Team USA Championship T-shirts on now on line for your convenience!