Region 18

 All:

As I come to the end of my two-year term as Region 18 RC, I'd like to thank the board and the many friends of our Region for assisting me in achieving a number of successes.  In particular, I want to express my sincere appreciation and enormous respect for Byron Eguchi, who is the hardest working and most dedicated volunteer in our Region.  Among our achievements in the last two years are:
REGISTRATION
We continue to be one of the largest and most successful regions in the country, with approximately 3600 players.  This is at a time when many AYSO regions have shown declining enrollments.  We transitioned to "on line" registration.  This made registration (for the most part) easier and also dramatically reduced the amount of paper which we had to print, distribute and then store for many years.  

FINANCES

We are one of the most fiscally sound regions, with substantial cash reserves.  I am very proud to have led the many month fight to kill the "National Banking" proposal.  This ill-conceived, rapacious and thankfully now-dead proposal would have resulted in AYSO National seizing our cash reserves and requiring all regions to have their revenues and expenses controlled by National.

I'm also proud to have led the efforts to:
    -reduce our training expenses from $60,000 to $36,000 per year
    -cancel the $10,000 bill from Hermosa Beach for "repairs" to Clark Field
    -persuade Manhattan Beach to not increase our fees for field use
    -reduce our Area 1D assessment by $2000 per year
    -reduce our photography costs
    -not purchase unused and expensive blocks of Galaxy and Chivas tickets

COMMUNICATION

Our old website was fairly pathetic.  One of the first things I focused on in 2010 was to get a new webmaster.  We have now completely revamped the website, making it more useful, appealing, interactive and regularly updated.

In the last two years, I have made frequent appearances at City Council meetings and have had numerous meetings with City staff regarding many issues vital to Region 18.  This was also done to insure that our elected officials and the public continue to appreciate our enormous volunteer program and to understand how AYSO continues to provide the most successful and popular youth sports program to our kids.

We have also had regular contact with and communications through the local media, including the Beach Reporter to "get out the AYSO message."

40th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION/SOCCER FESTIVAL

In 2010, Region 18 celebrated 40 years of soccer in Manhattan/Hermosa.  Working with some key board members, we turned our "photo days" into a major community event, enjoyed by thousands of kids and their families.  We had over a dozen vendors, including for food and drink, the Mira Costa boys soccer team, and the Chivas and Galaxy street teams.

Building on the 2010 celebration, we now have a Soccer Festival weekend, where we not only have team photos, but again have vendors, sponsors and professional soccer players.  The September 2011 Soccer Festival was a great success.

COACHES

We were very successful in recruiting many new coaches to Region 18.  More importantly, we initiated for the first time Positive Coaching Training.  This was a mandatory annual meeting for all coaches to explain to them the AYSO philosophies and to stress positive interaction with the kids, parents and referees.

In conjunction with the training, in 2010 we created the "Coach Manual" which provides each coach with an easy-to-use set of key Region 18 materials for planning, practices and the games.  In 2011, we also made the Coach Manual available on line through our web site.

REFEREES

We were also quite successful in recruiting and training new referees.  We built on the mentoring program, purchased and effectively used electronic communication equipment and enhanced our referee incentive program.

MARINE FIELD PROJECT

The City of MB had originally planned to put turf on the Big Marine soccer field after the Village Field was completed.  However, the economy took a downturn and the City chose not to pursue the project.  In 2010, I was asked by the MB City Staff to consider having Region 18 take charge of the project.  Over many months these discussions led to the drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding.  This MOU was approved by the City of MB at its July 2011 City Council Meeting.  The MOU provides, for the first time, a ten-year guarantee to Region 18 the priority use of the field.  In addition, the MOU allowed Region 18 to proceed with fund raising to finance the construction of the new field surface and new lights.

We have proceeded with fund raising in a variety of ways.  We hired an experienced consultant.  I recruited our honorary co-chairs.  We designed and printed a full-color informative brochure for distribution.  We began to raise funds during our registration period, through our website, by selling Family Discount Cards, and by soliciting many individual and corporate donors.  I have continued to meet with numerous entities regarding possible additional pledges and contributions.

The goal is to have raised a substantial portion of the funds by February and to have construction begin in June.

CONCLUSION

We have accomplished a lot in the last two years, and Region 18 is well positioned to continue the programs outlined above.

In a perfect world, I'd like to be able to continue to lead these efforts as Region Commissioner.  However, my schedule no longer will allow me to devote the 20+ hours per week to the many demands of the position.  My "day job" in court is busier than ever before.  Not only are there substantially more cases being filed, the California budget crisis has resulted in a large reduction in resources available to judges.

Some of you know that my other passion is education.  In that regard, I have been asked to return to my alma mater, U.S.C., to teach an advanced political science class in the evenings.  I began that assignment on January 10 and it will keep me quite busy.  In addition, I am starting a mock trial program through the Constitutional Rights Foundation at my daughter's high school, Vistamar.  This too will take a large amount of my time for the foreseeable future.  

Accordingly, I have decided not to seek election to a second term as RC.  I am gratified that two capable candidates have indicated their desire to assume these duties.  I will assist the new RC in making a smooth transition.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve the thousands of youth soccer players in Manhattan and Hermosa. 

-Bill Fahey