FDSA President’s Message 2012
On behalf of the FDSA Board of Directors, I would like to welcome everyone to the start of the 2012 soccer season. Throughout this past winter the Board has been working on improving our soccer programs in order that our 2012 season provides a better youth soccer experience to our community, members, players, coaches and volunteers.
The most important initiative undertaken was to begin the process of hiring a Club Head Coach. We are very pleased to welcome Barry Morrison to FDSA. While the responsibilities of the Club Head Coach will see him advising and assisting our competitive coaches, his main responsibility will be to assist our volunteers and coaches at the recreational level, improving their skills and qualifications so our developmental soccer programs will provide the best experience to our members.
Our recreational programs have also been modified to provide a better experience for our youth members. The age groups have been adjusted to 15U and 18U in an effort to ensure that we have more balanced divisions.
Further revisions have been made to our competitive policies, in hopes the commitment to these teams will become more transparent. We also hope to see FDSA teams once again representing our club and city at Division I and NBSL Provincials, as well Club Nationals. We have one of the best records of any club in New Brunswick for creating competitive championship teams and will continue to work to maintain this tradition.
For 2012, FDSA will be introducing a U11 category for Premiership, and will try to increase the number of teams in both the U12 and U14 Division I groups. These are efforts to allow as many players as possible to benefit from an early competitive experience.
This season the soccer experience will be further improved by having access to three artificial turf fields. FDSA is grateful to the City of Fredericton and the University for their efforts in securing these venues. For the first time in many years, FDSA is now in a position to host major tournaments and hopes to re-introduce the FDSA Invitational Tournament.
As we welcome new Board members we say goodbye and extend a well deserved thanks to our outgoing President Mike Gagnon; Secretary Ross Fredericks; and Director-at-Large Bryant Harding. Having spent countless hours working on behalf of FDSA, the efforts of these individuals were greatly appreciated.
FDSA is a community based volunteer organization whose operations rely on the many people who volunteer their time and effort to make our soccer programs work. We would like thank all our volunteers and corporate sponsors who continue to make possible youth soccer in Fredericton.
With the continued excellent day-to-day administration of the FDSA office by our Executive Director Andrea Smith, the dedication of our Board of Directors, and the hard work of our volunteers, we are looking forward to another successful soccer season.
Chris Hand
President, FDSA
