After reading about all the BS going on at Evergreen. I thought that share the email war we parents are being put in the middle of. We came to "Premier" this year because everyone said that was the thing to do and we would be surprised at how professional these clubs are run. What a joke!!! Then someone tells me about this website which at first I thought was pretty good info on tournaments and predictions. Then turns into stuff about the Crossfire being the Evil Empire and they break all the rules, Tyncastle doesn’t play soccer they just run, Evergreen overcharged and lied and to add to this my kids club has coaches wanting to fire the Board of Directors along with the coaches on the board. When will this insanity stop!
And to my kids club, act like adults, sit down and work it out just like it is done in the "Real World" instead of putting your "Customers" in the middle!
Email from the NWN Coaches to Parents and Board
January 11, 2009
Notice to President
Pursuant to our bylaws, section 2.3, the President shall call a special meeting upon demand of one-tenth of the voting members.
Accordingly, demand is hereby made by over 50% of the voting members that a special, emergency meeting of the members be called on January 25, 2009 at 8:00 P.M. at Rock Woodfired Pizza and Brewery for the purpose of holding an election for all the members of the board of directors and any other business deemed appropriate by the members including removal of a director from the board of directors in violation of the bylaws. Who was elected to his position by the members.
In order not to be in violation of Washington State law and the IRS regulations for failure to have any annual meeting and elections an immediate election is necessary alsonot to endanger our non-profit status. The last election was held in June 2006 and the board of directors has failed and refused to hold required lawful elections.
Nomination should be sent to NWN Boys Coaching Director Mark Collings and/or NWN Girls Coaching Director Arby Busey. The 2 year term of all directors has expired and all directors except one have never been elected by the membership in accordance with the by-laws.
Each member of the membership will vote for 7 candidates only 3 of whom can be non coaches. The 7 candidates getting the most votes will be the new directors except that only 3 can be non-coaches.
Respectfully submitted,
Signed by a number of the Coaches
Email reply from Board to Parents and Coaches
January 14, 2009
Dear NWN Parents:
You may have recently received an unauthorized and inappropriate communication from a disgruntled group of coaches. As is true with most things in life, there are at least 2 sides to every story; but the purpose of this note is not to debate any particular issue at this point in time. The purpose is just to, regardless of what you may have heard or the contents of the ill-advised message from the stated coaches, assure you that NWN is doing just fine and will continue to provide the quality and caring services to your children as it has in the past. For this Club and this Board, the focus is and always has been on your child. Our Club’s philosophy and priority is the development of talented youth players who receive high recognition in WA State, Regionally and in National forums. Our Club is very proud of its traditions and has been acknowledged as one of the best programs in WA State
As with all growing clubs, there are some issues which require resolution. The representations of the stated select group of coaches, however, are simply misleading and far from wholly accurate. Certainly, the Board of Directors is mortified at such an embarrassing and inappropriate method of expressing concerns; and we apologize on behalf of those coaches for such an action…an action which compelled this communication.
As you may or may not know from the recent press release, the Board has hired Cliff McCrath as the interim Technical Director to help the Board deal with and resolve those issues in an expedient, efficient and appropriate manner; and we have every confidence that Cliff will be successful in those actions.
Please note that only authorized communications generated or approved by the Board of Directors speak for this Club and will have any validity; and you should disregard any further communications from the present group which generated the most recent e-mail. The Club does not utilize "g-mail" addresses for its dealings.
Patience would be the most prudent action at this point; as the points of resolution should begin to become evident in the very near future.
Sincerely,
NWN Board of Directors
Email reply from NWN Coaches to Parents and Board
In review of the letter from the board of directors please note the following.
Article 9, section 9.1 of the bylaws states the bylaws may be altered, amended or repealed in whole or in part and new bylaws may be adopted by a vote of the majority of the members at any annual meeting of the members or any special meeting of the members when the proposed amendment has been set out in the notice of such meeting.
Section 2.1 states that membership shall be limited to one head coach or one assistant coach or other designated representative for each registered NWN team
The coaches, who on January 12, 2009 called for a special meeting for election of the board, represent a large majority of the voting members of the Club. These coaches hereby state that since June 2006 none of them has taken part in a meeting or received notice of any such meeting to amend the bylaws. Therefore, there are no duly ratified bylaws since 2006 and those being referenced here are the current and in-effect bylaws. Any records that support a claim to the contrary of modification of the bylaws by the members should be brought forth at once to resolve dispute and preserve the integrity and reputation of the Club and ensure the best service continues to be provided to the families and players within the Club.
In addition, these same coaches affirm that they have neither been notified of nor participated in an election of board members since June 2006. As board terms are only 2 years, this suggests that any person currently acting as a Club board member is usurping such powers, particularly in light of repeatedly ignored calls by members for board elections. Any records that support a claim to the contrary of an election by the members should be brought forth at once to resolve dispute and preserve the integrity and reputation of the Club and ensure the best service continues to be provided to the families and players within the Club.
If those currently acting as board members wish to do what is right and set an election time, date (on or before January 25), and location for all board positions, and provide reasonable notice to the entire membership, we will take part. However, repeated requests for elections have been ignored and unless such an election meeting is set, we are left with no option but to proceed with the election meeting as we've indicated in order to comply with Washington State and IRS rules and ensure we are not failing in our responsibility within the Club to elect the Club's board.
The coaches noted above believe we have acted to protect the Club in a situation in which certain parties appear to be acting without and against the authority of the bylaws and have been repeatedly unresponsive to calls for compliance with the bylaws. We will not respond to personal attacks as our only wish is to keep our Club together and as strong as it can be by conducting business the right way.
We urge the board to join in having the required elections so we can move forward together. This will be our final public correspondence.
NWN coaches
Email reply from Board to Parents and Coaches
January 16, 2009
Dear NWN Coaches and Parents,
The Board of Directors continues to be amazed by the actions of these few select coaches. We have verified, as a result of discussions with many of the coaches whose names appeared on the previous letter, that they have been mislead, and are quite confused; as are the parents. These continued emails and demands by these select coaches directed toward the Board are inappropriate and invalid. It appears that these coaches want to wage an inflammatory and misleading debate via e-mail to avoid the real issues that will soon begin resolution by appropriate and authorized action.
We first, again, want to apologize to the families of NWN for this corrosive behavior used by these few select coaches. With that intent in mind, we hope the following will clarify the Board’s position and give you a clearer understanding of the current state of affairs. As we stated in our previous letter, it is our intent and hope that we will continue to resolve these internal issues with these coaches and communicate in a professional manner. Our focus and priority needs to be with our Club and our valued athletes.
NWN is a player-centric organization. We realize that our coaching staff is a critical piece of our overall mission. This is why we have given our coaches such a strong voice in club management. Each coach has a vote in matters of board elections equal to the number of teams that they coach. However, their ability to institute changes needs to follow the process that has been established by our bylaws. Sending inflammatory, unauthorized emails to the general membership is certainly not the correct way to initiate change. In fact, their actions have called into question their judgment and temperament in matters relating to club administration.
In response to this last unauthorized message sent yesterday at 4:09pm by the identified coaches, it is important to note the following facts regarding the demands of these few coaches:
1. The letter received from this coaching group demands a special meeting under a portion of an older version of the Bylaws and the request is noted. These coaches also attempt, however, to take and demand action completely outside the authority of the Bylaws, including attempting to set the time, date and location of such a special meeting. That meeting, as suggested by the Coaches, would be outside the Bylaws, and would, as a result, be without any legal significance or effect on the Club or for any other purpose.
2. In Section 2.3, the Bylaws are clear that once the President is notified of the desire for such a special meeting, the President and the Board will set the time, date and location of such a meeting and will provide the notice of that meeting… not the coaches. The President and the Board of Directors will notify the coaches of the proper date, time and location for the requested meeting.
3. The letter from these identified coaches also misstates the facts by saying that the “last election was held in June 2006”. The Club records support the fact that in 2006, our meeting was held on April 18, 2006 at 8:00pm and not June 2006. Further, our last annual Membership Meeting was held on May 22, 2007 at Rock Pizza in Lynnwood, WA. Below is one excerpt and is an important piece we voted in during the 2007 meeting:
4. John Wagner, Past President of NWN before he resigned, initiated an oral vote and changed the bylaws on 5/22/07 as a result which carried by sufficient Member vote. So, the attempts by this Coaches’ group to indicate that (a) there have not been any revisions to the Bylaws; and (b) that the Bylaws have not been followed as to such amendments, are both incorrect and misleading. The Technical Director at that time was Chuck Sekyra and he was present at this members meeting.
5. All Directors have been elected to serve on the Board in strict compliance with the Bylaws, and anyone removed as a Director was accomplished as required under the same Bylaws; all of which is supported by the Club records. The coaches’ letter which states that the Board members have not been elected according to the Bylaws is not correct on that issue either; nor is the letter correct on terms remaining.
6. The request of Mark Collings and Arby Busey for nominations for Board positions to be submitted to them is completely in violation of the Bylaws regarding that process, and will not have any binding effect on the Club.
7. The last paragraph of the Coaches’ letter is also not a proper nor a complete listing of the required make-up of the Board under the present Bylaws.
8. There are significant and multiple reasons, supported by appropriate facts and circumstances, for any delays in an annual meeting, as most of the coaches are well aware (especially those that served on the Board of Directors during this current time period in question and voted in favor of a related course of action); and those issues will be resolved as well and within a time frame when the full truth of the underlying problems can be disclosed, discussed and addressed. We have every intention to have an annual Membership Meeting for this current 15 month season. Due to the extension of this 15 month season, this complies with all 501 (c) 3 regulations. WA State statutes provide that a delay to a hold an annual meeting does not invalidate or affect our corporate existence.
As you must know by now, one of the steps the Board took to effectively work towards a resolution of some of the more serious issues facing the Club which resulted in significant part from previous actions and inactions of its coaching leadership, was to hire Cliff McCrath initially as a consultant and then as the interim Technical Director.
Given Cliff’s reputation and known expertise in the world of soccer organizations and coaching issues, it is believed that he will be a major force to help the Board deal with and resolve the present issues in an expedient, efficient and appropriate manner; in a manner that would preserve, rather than threaten the Club and its continued efforts on behalf of the kids; and we have every confidence that Cliff will be successful in those actions. It appears that Cliff’s hiring and known abilities to sort out difficulties and resolve those may have frightened some of the coaches involved in this communication for a variety of reasons.
Please note that only authorized communications from the Board of Directors speak for this Club and will have any validity and you should disregard any further communications from the present group which keep generating these emails.
There are many appropriate methods of expressing concerns and dealing with differing opinions. We hope this will be our last public message of this content to our Coaches and Parents of NWN. We need to allow the appropriate procedures to take place so this ongoing dispute can have resolution. Thank you for your continued support during this time.
Sincerely,
NWN Board of Directors
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Topic: Some NWN Coaches and the Board of Directors just can't seem to get along! (Read 75306 times)