In the second edition in this series, we’re introducing you to the positions of Treasurer and our Ref Coordinator and the people behind the positions. Both positions are instrumental to the running of our Club and both are leaving at the end of the season. While we’re very sorry to see them go, this is the perfect time to come forward to shadow them in these important positions.
Stef Hutchison, PLSC Treasurer:
This year will be my fourth year with Prospect Lake Soccer Club as treasurer. I wanted to volunteer sooner but I was busy with the Royal Oak Middle School PAC as President.
Prospect Lake Soccer Club has many committed parents who work very hard for the benefit of all of our children. Several years ago, I was impressed when our coach came forward, volunteered his time three times a week for the benefit of our players, without having a child in our Club. Rain or shine he was always there. Amazing. After Luca made his way to high school, while I was still very involved in the Claremont PAC, I had a bit more time and I decided it was time for me to get involved. Given my bookkeeping background, Treasurer seemed like a good fit.
It helps to have some knowledge of accounting but it’s not necessary. Just an understanding of banking, e-transfers, and payables is enough. The job of the treasurer is to maintain the books for the club, provide financial statements at meetings and write cheques or e-transfers when necessary. It can be easily done by volunteering 1 to 2 hours a week. If we all do our share and volunteer our time it benefits the community. It’s easy to tell our children to get involved in their community and help out it’s harder to set a good example but it’s much more effective.
As Mary noted in her last post, my son is graduating this year and finishing his time with PLSC. While I’m grateful for all of the friends I’ve made during this time with soccer and while being on the executive, I look forward to a much needed break and will be handing over the books at the AGM later this spring.
Please reach out to me directly at treasurer@plsc.org today to get involved!
Chris Leon, Referee Coordinator
I have played competitive soccer all my life, from the streets of Brazil moving to futsal and taking to the academy of Rivelino and Ado (1970 World Cup winners) in São Paulo, Brazil. I have experienced all sorts of conditions and quality of plays. As I grew older and noticed physiologic changes and how my body was healing from injuries, I decided to give referee a try in 2017 in order to still be connected to the game I love.
My family and I moved to Brentwood Bay in 2016 from Victoria and we decided to register our twin boys to play with PLSC at the U9 level halfway that season. The next season their team needed an Assistant Coach and I decided to help out. I coached for about two more seasons.
In 2018, after working with Simon for a full season, I asked him to join the board as a member at large as I didn’t know how I could help at the time. Unaware of Simon’s plans, he decided to offer me the Referee Coordinator position as he was stepping down after 20 years but he would still be the head referee. At that point I had only been refereeing a couple of years but getting better and recognized by LISA and LIWSA and eventually VISL as a reliable referee and I was not ready to take the Head ref position.
The first season was a learning one and I spent many days asking questions and getting to know the ins and outs of the position and trying and making mistakes as well progress.
With a background in Hospitality management the position was perfect for me as I deal with scheduling and staff on a daily basis, part of the referee coordinator is to get a good rapport with new referees and get to know them, their strengths and weaknesses, availability, work rate and how serious some are about the job and sometimes how they try and is not for them.
Refereeing is not for everyone and as a coordinator you try to take a picture of what is goin on the young kids minds, when they expect that would be much easier than what actually is and provide them with the help needed to improve their skills.
The 2019/2020 was a very challenging time for sports and, in particular, for referees, many quit refereeing due to the pandemic and our roster has diminished substantially with a slight improvement for this season and hopefully a better one next season. We had some really challenging times with a new assignment system and the pandemic but you have the right people at the club to help you to achieve a successful season.
PLSC was a perfect size club for me to start my late referee career and to be more involved with soccer, the passion of all board members towards the club, kids development and the sport is inspiring and inviting to anyone willing to see what goes behind the scenes of a Soccer club.
Unfortunately, it is time for me to step down from the position as my professional career got a little busier than before and I can no longer participate as much as I would like and I hope to find an individual that would match the club goals for the future.
Go Lakers!
Reach out to Chris directly at refcoordinator@plsc.org if you feel like this might be a good fit for you.
While I’m putting this post together, it has occurred to me how different soccer is going to look next year from a board perspective. With so many vacant positions available now and many coming available soon, we hope you’ll choose to get involved today!
Next week we’ll profile the Registrar and Communications positions followed by current vacant positions. All positions are listed at: https://www.plsc.org/club/
Yours in soccer,
Mary
PLSC Communications & Registrar
