(For the second consecutive year, we've opted to not host a club-wide, in-person event to kick off our new season due to COVID-19, but we're hopeful to be able to restart that tradition of hosting team meetings, Q&A sessions with members and special guests, and other activities that mark the beginning of a new season.
In the meantime, below is a "State of the Club" message that is usually shared at this event to provide everyone updates on our club's progress and goals.)
State of the Club: 2021-2022
Every year we take stock of our club's founding principles and missions and provide updates on how we're doing living up to those aspirations:
We will provide soccer players in Maine with a relatively affordable option for high-level soccer.
We have achieved an exciting milestone under this category this year by saving our members (at least) $1 million in registration fees since our founding in 2014!
We'll have a message within the next couple months that specifically addresses how and why we've achieved this milestone, but we're very proud of this accomplishment.
We will help aspiring student-athletes navigate the college search, recruiting, and selection process.
We're looking forward to piloting a new level of programming called RSC Academy with our oldest boys' team this year, both to improve our performance in this area and to have a bridge from our youth teams to the men's and women's teams we aspire to field in the future (see below).
Here's what this pilot program entails:
- Grade-based approach to rostering and programming to better align with the college search, recruiting, and selection timeline
- Expansion of programming to include more college showcase events
- Creation of a Google Classroom that provides resources for players and their families
- Dedication of the club's Veo camera to record all games
The highlight last year for the club was probably the performance of our 2006 Boys team in last summer's U.S. Youth Soccer (USYS) Eastern Regional Championships in New Jersey. Not only did they represent our club well, but the represented Maine soccer well.
To cultivate members' lifelong interest and involvement in the game of soccer.
To provide members with real-life learning experiences and public service opportunities.
Of all our missions statements, these two have probably been the most negatively affected by COVID-19.
We have a tradition of hosting viewing parties that not only give our members the opportunity to socialize off the field, but are also often coupled with opportunities to watch high-level soccer. We haven't been able to host an event like that over the last couple seasons, but we did host an event in early December and we hope to work together with our sponsor Junction Bowl to host similar events again later this season.
Likewise with public service opportunities: We haven't recently been able to organize opportunities for our players to serve meals at a local soup kitchen or organize medical supplies for a local non-profit like we had been able to before March 2020. And we haven't been able to resume a club mentor program we were piloting with our oldest and youngest teams before we had to cancel our 2019-2020 season in March 2020. But we're looking forward to a reset of these initiatives in the near future.
One other area worthy for updates is our RSC 2050 initiative, which include short-term and long-term goals for our club:
Evolve into a multigenerational club
We're doing the one thing we can do at the club level to begin rostering and fielding men's and women's teams--creating a bridge from youth to adult with the RSC Academy--but almost every other aspect of fielding 23U men's and women's teams in July 2021 will require collaboration with our fellow Soccer Maine affiliate clubs and cooperation with sanctioning organizations.
We've been working on providing the foundation for such programming with a number of our fellow clubs, and the next 3-4 months will be a key block of time for us to be a founding member of the first Maine-based men's and women's programming sanctioned by U.S. Soccer.
Expand youth programming
Along with devoting more resources to provide our players more time on the field this winter, we're also looking forward to the first full year of use of the outdoor futsal court in Westbrook that we worked with the Westbrook Soccer Club, Soccer Maine, the U.S. Soccer Foundation, and the City of Westbrook to construct for use by us two local clubs, other Soccer Maine affiliate clubs, and the general public.
Develop age-appropriate curricula and invest in analytics tools
We look forward to continuing our use of our club's Veo camera to record footage for each of our teams at least twice over the course of the season, but we need to do more work on developing (and just as important, employing) club-wide curricula for our teams and coaches.
We've had various levels of success creating curricula over the years, but have long struggled with a club-wide curriculum that is familiar, consistent, and effective. We need to continue to improve in this area.
Build our brand
We continue to punch above our weight when it comes to engagement on social media, but we'll be looking to overhaul our web site to update it and to ensure it's more helpful to both members and non-members alike.
Another area we're looking forward to is boosting awareness of our club by utilizing the tools and resources available to multigenerational clubs, especially men's and women's jerseys and other club swag.
Restructure our club to deepen community ties and prepare for community ownership
We were successful in restructuring our club, so that we were able to provide pathways for ownership both among our members and among the communities we support.
We are currently at 14 vested co-owners among members who've coached and/or served as a director for us, and we anticipate adding more member co-owners in the future when they're vested.
And though micro-ownership is now possible with our re-structured organization, we are still at least a decade out from that being a reasonable goal.
Advocate for policies and practices that provide our club--and the hundreds of American clubs like ours--with opportunities to achieve our fullest potential
Our club continues to be outspoken about systemic changes soccer in the U.S. needs to be more inclusive and to provide more opportunity for *all* stakeholders.
And our chairman will be running for president of Soccer Maine in March 2021, an effort to help improve and strengthen programming and provide more opportunities and resources for all our fellow Soccer Maine affiliate clubs and their stakeholders.
Conclusion
And finally, an update on the goal that animates everything we do and why we do it:
It would take a series of (really long) posts to sum up the history and current state of professional soccer in the U.S., but let's just say our pathway to becoming a professional club that existed last year still exists this year. And anyone who knows even just a little bit about professional soccer in the U.S. would say that's an achievement in itself.
Along with taking all the steps listed above, we're focused almost exclusively on what we can control. And the big step we've taken in that regard is to establish the RSC 2050 Fund, which is a line item in our annual budget that invests funds into a no-fee index fund to help us gradually grow the financial resources we'll need in the future to achieve this goal.
And that approach probably best captures the state of the club for 2021-2022: We'll continue working with most of our focus on being the best we can be right now, while also keeping an eye on the horizon to ensure we can be the best we can be tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment