While 2009 has certainly been a successful year for NSA, it has also been one of the most challenging in recent years, mainly due to the weather. However, working with the other members of the Executive Board, Management Committee and our coaching and volunteer staff, we have managed through it, even though our Scheduler and Referee Assignor came close to losing their minds with all the cancellations and reschedules. But their dedication prevailed!
The accomplishments both financially and operationally this year at NSA are gratifying to all of us and we certainly have a lot to be proud of. While some other associations are struggling, we continue to be fiscally responsible and to improve our operations while offering a very structured and organized youth soccer experience to all our membership.
This year we hired a new Administrative Director, Office Manager & Registrar and we also moved our offices to a larger facility. We purchased a state-of-the art lightning prediction system in an effort to better protect the welfare of everyone while at the fields. We increased our overall number of players in both the Recreation and Select programs. We had some great camps, a well attended Select try-out and a very successful 9th Annual Nike Cup, despite fighting the weather issues. The members of the Executive Board and the Management Committee are to be recognized for their direct leadership and decision making as everyone worked for the good of NSA. However, it also takes the dedication of all the other behind-the-scene volunteer members of NSA who are to be congratulated and thanked as well. We especially appreciate all our Recreation volunteer coaches for their commitment to our Rec players and that program and we certainly must recognize the terrific team managers who keep it all the teams organized. We thank our many volunteers and paid staff members for taking care of the field set-up, the equipment, the scheduling, field marshaling, fundraising, the photos, uniforms, the referees, the Fury Cafe, the administration, the Nike Cup tournament and all the things that have to take place for NSA players and visiting players to enjoy the game of soccer throughout the year. It really does take a village!
Actually, the real reason we are all here is not just soccer, or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s hopefully because we want to help our kids learn teamwork, commitment and responsibility, in addition to learning and playing the beautiful game. So, I remind everyone that our job is to not only have fun and develop the best soccer players we can, but to also teach them valuable life lessons along the way. At the end of the day, whether we win or lose is ultimately not the most important thing, even though sometimes we believe it is because soccer is a competitive team sport. However, more important is if we can teach and encourage our players and parents about maintaining good health, being a good sport, a responsible leader, and about giving something back to our younger generations, then we have done the best we can do for all our members and our sport.
We all should be very proud of our accomplishments as an association in 2009. Our talented coaching professionals continue to build a competitive Select Program and our Recreation Program is thriving. The 9th Annual Norcross Nike Cup Tournament was a successful event and set an all time record for participation. The tournament is a wonderful fundraiser for us and enables us to offer many programs and still keep our fees as low as possible to benefit our entire membership. Again, we thank all the member volunteers who have served so tirelessly all year, those who don’t get recognized, the ones that just get the job handled. It’s these people who make NSA such a great volunteer based organization and while we formally recognize many, there are many more who work without recognition and we sincerely thank every one of them.
2009 was a successful year for NSA, and we are already planning on an even better 2010. In addition to funding all our ongoing operations in 2009 from cash, we also were able to contract indoor training facilities for rainy periods, purchase new field equipment, purchase all the field paint (a new expense in 2009) and all while maintaining our cash reserves. We plan to continue that trend in 2010 as we are making our plans for some new directions and programs. We launched our new Demosphere web site in early 2009 and it has been much more interactive. Our soccer operations, under the leadership of our EDOC and Program Directors, continued to develop players and coaches at all levels, and we will look to add more qualified coaches for even more NSA teams next year. We have also added our first ever Recreation tournament, the Norcross Recreation Invitational, scheduled during April 2010. The 10th Annual Norcross Nike Cup will be on December 4th and 5th, 2010.
Our emphasis will continue to be on teaching all our players better nutrition and overall fitness, and how staying focused on making top grades is a vital part of their curriculum, and about being a better youth citizen in the community. As parents, coaches, volunteers or paid staff, our first priority should be to help our players become better adults wherever life after youth soccer leads them.
A sincere thank you to every single member; the players, parents, coaches, referees and to all our volunteers and paid staff for your support of NSA and we look forward to 2010, our 28th year, as we all work together towards another fun and exciting year of soccer. We thank all those who have helped NSA this year in any capacity, please know that you are appreciated.
