The Administrator

Climate Concerns for the 2010 World Cup

Today is Blog Action Day.  Our article is concerned with climate change in order to be part of the movement. 

The 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany raised a lot of concern about the carbon footprint the event makes. Enough concern to become an integral part of the planning process for the cup this year. In response, an Environmental Forum has been formed to oversee these concerns. The forum consists of representatives of FIFA LOC, national and provincial government departments, the nine host cities, and UN agencies. No matter your opinion on the environment, alleviating the tax it puts on the host country in terms of energy and natural resources cannot be a bad idea. The cup is being staged at 10 venues across South Africa, which allows them the opportunity to set precedence in environmental sustainability for major events like this.

FIFA’s mission during the 2010 cup is “Develop the Game, Touch the World, and Build a Better Future”. Below are the initiatives they hope to implement in order to achieve that goal (source).

1. Energy

South Africa's electricity utility, Eskom is considering using renewable energy to supply some of the needs of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The city of Cape Town would get green energy from the Darling Wind Farm; Ethekwini Metro, Durban would use biogas from its landfill sites; and, Pretoria would use biogas from the Ekurhuleni Metro. The Central Energy Fund and Eskom have prioritized the rollout of energy-efficient lighting for residential and street lighting in all nine host cities, and other areas in the Country. Other initiatives include solar-powered traffic lights and cameras on freeways.

2. Waste Management

The Local Organizing Committee is working on a system of separating waste that would be made uniform throughout the host cities. All host cities are encouraged to allocate adequate budget to separating waste. In addition, the LOC for the 2010 FIFA World Cup will encourage the FIFA official affiliates to implement waste avoidance and reduction mechanisms by minimize packaging and reducing waste generation, recycling waste and thus reducing waste to landfill.

3. Transport and Mobility

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) plans to help South Africa with the "greening" of its public transport system ahead of the 2010 Football World Cup. The GEF is exploring ways of ensuring sustainable transport initiatives that deliver greenhouse gas reductions above and beyond those currently planed in a bid to demonstrate the benefits of alternative fuels and green technologies like bio-diesel, bio-ethanol and fuel cells. It would also be looking at cycling and pedestrian routes that could feed into bus networks, offering attractive alternatives to the private car.

4. Carbon Neutrality

According to the Feasibility Study and carbon footprint calculation towards a Carbon Neutral 2010 World Cup, The FIFA 2010 World Cup will have the largest carbon footprint of any major event with a goal to be “climate neutral”. The estimate carbon footprint of the FIFA 2010 World Cup is more than 850,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), with more 1,400,000 tCO2e contribute by international travel, to produce an estimate of 2,171, 000 tonnes of carbon emissions.International travel is more than 65% of the carbon footprint, following by intercity travel and energy use in accommodation at 17% and 13%.The National Greening 2010 Framework and Minimum Environmental Standards for Green Goal 2010 include many measures that have the potential to reduce the carbon footprint. The measures, however, only impact the emission from stadium and precinct energy use, and local transportation, which in total only make up 6% of the domestic carbon footprintOffsetting the domestic carbon footprint of the 2010 World Cup could cost between $6.8 and 12.0 million, while offsetting international travel would, on its own, be double this amount.To maximize the contribution to public awareness, a few of the energy efficiency measures in order to reduce the carbon footprint, will be given visibility during the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

Do you think the increased focus will make a difference? Can you use any of these initiatives at your own clubs? Certainly a simpler effort for each category would make some type of change. Carpooling, recycling, and conserving energy all deserve our attention. What can you think of for each category that would work on a club level?

~Sam@bluesombrero.com

Blog Action Day 2009

Blog Action Day is fast approaching. October 15th is the day and climate change is the topic. This year we plan to participate again, but we want your help in narrowing down the topic. What aspect of climate change would you like most to read about? How it affects our kids health when they practice, the affect on operation costs, field maintenance issues, sustainability, green initiatives, or something new? 

In case you forgot what the day stands for, the creative minds behind it describe it as:

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.  

You can find the post we did on last year’s issue, poverty, here. We’re excited to be a part of the movement again, so help us out and narrow down the topic.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com

The Tree

This Wednesday’s post is for the club’s field managers. We’re pretty sure you won’t be complaining about the quality of your fields after seeing what they are playing on in Chile.

It looks like someone took the green initiative a little too far when they planted a 10-meter high magnolia tree smack dab in the middle of their field. Chilean artist Sebastian Errazuriz planted a tree in the center of Chile’s National Stadium where dictator Pinochet tortured political prisoners 30 years ago. For a week the stadium was open to the public as a park, culminating with an actual soccer match at the end of the week in front of 15,000 people.  

 

 

 

 

It’s a very interesting exhibit for a stadium with such history (read here). I’m sure the national team was relieved when they found out it wasn’t a permanent solution. Errazuriz’ site is here if you are interested.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com    

Green Team Building: Goodbye Old Way

The wonder of Google Maps has found its way onto almost any web user’s screen these days. However, the visual appeal of Google Maps might not initially match its application and leave some of us wanting more. There is finally a simple solution for administrators!!!

We talked a couple weeks ago about mapping your families by locale, and assigning teams based on that. It encourages carpooling and saves your club members mullah.  Entering location data in a spreadsheet might not seem beneficial because you still have to compare those results on a map. Fortunately we found, Map A List, which gives you the visual satisfaction that you’ve been waiting for.

Map A List is free and all you have to do is sign up. You can then link your data (we did it through a Gmail account because it uses Google Docs) up with Map A List and create appealing but useful eye candy. As with any spreadsheet, make sure your fields are complete and unique. For example use one column for address, one for zip code, etc… The uses for this are endless, but we know as administrators hoping to save our club members money, this was perfect.

You can also schedule tournaments with neighboring clubs or associations based on field proximity to the entire membership. You can pick board meetings, administrative lunches, or travel plans all based on visually compelling data. Just copy the code, and post the map on your site, no effort at all. It even lets users zoom in or out, move the map, and move locations; give it a try! If you click on the plane, the map zooms to each of your data points in the order they were entered. Check the sample we made above of restaurants around us at Blue Sombrero.

What else could map data be used for? Will you use this, or stick to the old fashion way of assigning clubs? We want your ideas, so click on the article and post below.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com

Economic Fear Factor and Avoiding Lost Membership

It’s not shocking to say things are moving slowly in our economy these days.  Gas is outrageous; the stock market is taking a hit, and worst of all the cost of a slice of pizza has gone up nationwide.  It’s lingered on long enough to affect our daily activities.  Consider how this affects our clubs:  it is tougher to pay staff for extra help, field management becomes more burdensome, and away games are passed over during scheduling.  Possibly the most threatening aspect for us as administrators, is parents might rethink their kids involvement in youth sports.

We’ve heard from some clubs around the nation really struggling to sustain their numbers from previous years.  Some have even had to close shop for the season because they can’t afford the cost (especially rural areas where a lot of travel is involved).  There is a financial strain on parents with gas, equipment, etc.., but this happens during this kind of down cycle. 

A major factor scaring our membership is the fear associated with this economic downturn.  There is so much uncertainty about when we will recover.  This can translates into parents forgoing youth athletics and blaming it on the economy. The economy becomes a scapegoat and gives people a reason to not do things.  There isn’t a question of how important youth sports and activities are for kids, but our club community can easily forget in an economic slump.

That is why we need to remind our membership of its importance.  There are endless opportunities for money saving suggestions; the following are gas related since that seems to be the biggest factor lately. You could consolidate your registration online instead of having parents drive all over to the field, saving gas money. Post carpool schedules on your website and even have club members fill them out.  You could go one step further, and use your registration system to match their information up to see who is close to each other and suggest carpool groups. Keep your web announcements up to date; especially weather related ones to save parents from making an unnecessary drive to canceled games.  Give gas cards out as raffle prizes at fundraisers or as incentive during registration.

We’re administrators for many reasons, and one of those reasons is to support our membership.  As times change, to be successful we have to adapt and respond differently.  Are any of you feeling the strain at your clubs as far as numbers go?  Have you thought of any creative ways to combat it? Feel free to share your thoughts as we help each other through the slump.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com

Administrator Of The Year Awards

Happy Soccer Administrator’s Day!  Cue the fireworks and streamers.  Before we announce the winner(s) of our Administrator Of The Year awards (below), The Administrator would like to offer a few words from Blue Sombrero Cofounder Pete Santora.

“I was a force to be reckoned with.  There was no player that I couldn’t take down and no team that I couldn’t single handedly dribble through.  A goalkeeper looked more like a cone than a threat.  In a game heralded for its team play, I was a one man wrecking crew.  I was their atlas and I was just turning 5 years old. 

A lot changes from your fifth birthday.  I have been playing soccer for almost 30 years … Division I, A-League, Europe, old guy’s league.  From the players point of view the world revolves around us.  Everything that happens outside of practice and games is unimportant in the grand scheme of things because everyone is there to allow you to just think about the game and succeed.  Things change slightly for the coach, but the principle still applies.  “Give me the things that I need to succeed.  I have a team to organize and motivate.  WE have a big game coming up.”  Players and coaches don’t know anything about administration.

What makes May 9^th such an important day in the world of soccer is that without our club Administrators, we wouldn’t have soccer…period.  Coaches don’t fully grasp what Administrators go through.  They don’t understand the volume of paperwork, the volume of emails, the volume of phone calls, and the volume of organization that is needed to give the impression of a finely tuned machine. 

One day is such a small amount of time to say thank you to an unheralded group of people that give so much for other people to succeed. 

If someone hasn’t told you…YOU…Sandy Jenkins, Meg Munson, Ric Marion, Jane Olinger, Joe Zizik, David DeHoog and the thousand of Administrators around the country, you help build our kids futures. 

THANK YOU and Happy Administrator’s Day!”

Now To The Awards:
We had hundreds of essay entries for our Soccer Administrator’s Day contest.  We spent hours reading, rereading, and arguing over who deserves to be named Administrator Of The Year.  In the end we jut gave up and threw darts at our “Top Ten” list (just kidding).  In order to properly reward our top finalists we have decided to give prizes to our Winner (obviously) as well as our Co-runners Up and our Newcomer Of The Year.  Are you ready to meet the winners?

Newcomer Of The Year: 

• David C. DeHoog
• Lafreniere Soccer Club
• Nominated by Julio Paiz

Excerpt From David’s Entry Essay: 
David’s organizational skills have been invaluable to our club. He has saved the club thousands of dollars by reviewing contracts and implementing a better system of fiscal management. He has made sure the club maintains the proper documentation for all legal and financial matters. He has written several new club policies. David spends many "12 hour days" in the office working and then still continues to do so at home. He can also be found out at the fields on the weekends. Through his managerial and organizational skills, the unselfish volunteering of his time to cover areas that were not his responsibility, and self imposed high standards, David has given us an invaluable and much needed improvement to the administration of our club.

Co-runner Up:

• Jane Olinger
• Brentwood Soccer Club
• Nominated by Vicki Sanford and again by Bret Dye

Excerpt From Jane’s Entry Essay:
Under Jane's leadership Brentwood SC has tripled in size. She has served as Girls V.P., Registrar, President, and is now Ex Director. Always with her eye on the future Jane pushed to develop a great website, was the first local club to use online registration, and became involved with US Club Soccer. Jane was instrumental in the club's strategic plan, which included a new mission statement, core values, goal setting, and plans for the future. There is no soccer administrator who can hold a candle to Jane Olinger.

Co-runner Up:

• Vinnie Herczeg
• Parkland Area Soccer Club
• Nominated by Kris Campbell

Excerpt From Vinnie’s Entry Essay:
His vast knowledge of computer software and how it works has really moved our club into the current generation with all registrations being done online and using the various tools available to us for creating teams, reports, rosters, and information. Vinnie has spent countless hours working with Blue Sombrero to streamline different aspects of our website and system tools not only to help Parkland Area Soccer Club but for all groups that Blue Sombrero works with and support. Vinnie is a kind, warm, helpful, energetic soul and I could think of no one else who deserves to be recognized as "Administrator of the Year" more than he.

Administrator Of They Year: 

• Jim Kelly
• Franklin Township Soccer Club
• Nominated by Scott Ludwigsen

Excerpt From Jim Kelly’s Entry Essay:
Jim is an amazing soccer administrator and without him our Executive Board would need about five more people and that is why I nominate Jim as the Administrator of the Year! (Ironically, as I was proofing this nomination he just called me FROM LONDON to address an email I had sent him about an urgent matter for tomorrow - talk about dedication!)

Click Here to read more essays from across the country 

Congratulations to all our winners!  You are shining examples of how hard work and dedication can enhance the lives of our young athletes.  We encourage all our contestants to fully embrace Soccer Administrator’s Day… You deserve it!  Take a break, from the daily grind to reflect of the fruits of your labor.  Our sombreros are off in honor of your unending dedication to the development of youth soccer. 

~The Administrator and Team Blue Sombrero

The Origin of Soccer Administrator's Day

This year’s participation in a long overdue holiday, celebrating your hard work and effort, has already been a smashing success.   We thought during this year’s festivities you might want to take a minute and reflect in the commemoration’s roots. 

Soccer Administrator's Day was created as a celebration of the men and women whose continual and extreme hard work has driven the growth of youth soccer in our country.  It takes a lot of late nights and extra hours, and most people (even your coaching staff and parents) often go without realizing it.  On top of your daily lives, you still find time to fulfill your administrative duties to keep your clubs running. 

Thank you...
Thank you to those of you who are parents and still find the time to manage your lives as well as maintain your club duties.  Thank you to those of you who have full time jobs and somehow have the energy to come home after work and better your club.  Thank you to those of you who don’t have any real interest in sports, but are deeply connected in creating a worthwhile experience for your community’s family.  Lastly, thank you to those whose kids have already grown up, yet stick around because you realize the importance of the club to your community's youth. 

Soccer Administrator’s Day isn’t a historical holiday like Independence Day or MLK Day, and it might not compare to the hype of New Year’s Eve (yet), but Soccer Administrator's Day is genuine.  We know how important it is to recognize those of you who do so much for so little in return, so keep up the hard work; it is so worth it in the end.  If you have anything further to add to our holiday’s recognition post below, email us at Sam@bluesombrero.com or call 404-835-0305.

America’s Top Soccer Administrators

The Administrator is absolutely blown away.  Your response to Soccer Administrator’s Day has been nothing short of amazing.  We have been flooded with hundreds of essays and entries. From across the country, individuals have selflessly nominated other members of their club or organization for the Administrator Of The Year award.  In recognition of all our contestants, we would like to share a handful of quotes from various entries which we have received over the last month... enjoy!

1) “Jim is an amazing soccer administrator and without him, our Executive Board would need about five more people and that is why I nominate Jim as the Administrator of the Year!” Scott Ludwigsen about Jim Kelly (Franklin Township Soccer Club)

2) “Our club is strictly volunteer and the fact that he did this while managing so many other personal items shows how much heart and love he has for the youth of Hendersonville.” Thomas Sanchez about Erik Swinger (HSC)

3) “Shellie Ross always goes above and beyond at all times for whatever the club needs. She is always active with the Director of Coaching to streamline the registration process for a club of over 2000 players. ” Anonymous about Shellie Ross (Rockledge Soccer)

4) “She is the glue that holds the club together and is always there for everyone. I can't imagine what the club would be without her.” Vicki Sanford and again by Bret Dye about Jane Olinger (Brentwood Soccer Club)

5) “Vinnie has spent countless hours working with Blue Sombrero to streamline different aspects of your website and system tools not only to help Parkland Area Soccer Club but for all groups that you work with and support.” Kris about Vinnie Herczeg (Parkland Area Soccer Club)

6) “David Ray has been very instrumental in keeping our Club together. In the past two years we have had 6 resignations, and David has taken on the extra work load to make sure the club survived.” Rex Blackwell about David Ray (AASA)

7) “My mom helped my club with their soccer tournament last month; she did a lot of hard work to make sure that our team had fun. She just loves watching all the teams play soccer and have fun.” Wheeler Birsch about his mother Annette Birsch (Classics)

8) “Joe Sciame has devoted over 20 years of his life to Eastchester Soccer. Serving as coach, commissioner, registrar, club vice president and many other roles. Joe has been the backbone of this very successful club with over 90 teams and 1300 players …...... If anybody deserves a blue sombrero, it is Joe!!!” Steve Ulrich about Joe Sciame (EastChester Youth Soccer Association)

9) “…Through his managerial and organizational skills, the unselfish volunteering of his time to cover areas that were not his responsibility, and self imposed high standards, David has given us an invaluable and much needed improvement the administration of our club.” Julio Paiz about David C. DeHoog (Lafreniere Soccer Club)

10) “She is truly doing her work for the good of the club, and especially the good of the kids. She puts her heart and soul into the club, and deserves to be Administrator of the Year.” Beth Thompson about Mary Ellen Edwards (Spirit United Soccer Club)

Click Here to read our favorite essays for Administrator Of The Year

Thanks again to all our readers who took part in this competition.  Make sure you and the rest of your administrative staff take advantage of Soccer Administrator’s Day, and let us know you plan to celebrate!  Post a comment below, send an email to jon@bluesombrero.com, or call 404-835-0305.

Administrator Of The Year

 
Soccer Administrator’s Day is THIS FRIDAY (May 9^th)!  To show our appreciation for all your hard work, The Administrator has decided to hold a contest to help us find the Administrator Of The Year.  However, in order to locate a winner, we need your help!

Click on the link above and nominate yourself or a member of your club.  Hurry, you only have two more days!  The winner will receive:

- A $100.00 Amex gift card
- A spotlight article in The Administrator
- A Blue Sombrero Prize Pack (including a blue sombrero)
- And a whole lot more (Top Secret)!

Thanks to everyone who has already submitted a nomination, we have received a ton of awesome entries from across the country.  This is a testament to the administrators who put in long nights and late hours to ensure that all club members have a wonderful youth soccer experience. 

Good luck and get your nominations in today!
~The Administrator

May 9th Is Soccer Administrator's Day

      

That’s right folks, The Administrator is turning 2, but instead of throwing ourselves a party we’ve decided to reward you!  In honor of the men and women in the youth soccer trenches, we’ve decided to hold a little contest to help us find the Administrator Of The Year! 

Step 1:  Contact Us

• Click on the link above
• Enter your personal info
• Enter your nomination

…and tell us why you, or a member of your club, deserve to be named Administrator Of The Year!  Don’t worry; you will not be graded on your writing ability.  Feel free to send us pictures, links, videos, or anything else to help strengthen your case.

Step 2:  Read The Administrator
On Soccer Administrator's day (May 9^th) we will announce the winner! 

Step 3:  Celebrate!
So what do you get?

1. A spotlight article in The Administrator, broadcast to 30,000 weekly readers
2. A Blue Sombrero Prize Pack (including an authentic blue sombrero)
3. A $100.00 Amex Gift Card of your choice to be used at the Blue Sombrero Soccer Depot, or any other location
4. And a whole lot more (Top Secret)!

Don’t wait; get your nominations in today!  Feel free to submit as many members of your club as you want.  We look forward to reading your entries!

Thanks again for making The Administrator the leading resource for youth soccer management in the country, and as always… good luck this season!

~The Administrator