The next @ussoccer Board of Directors meeting is this Saturday (9/12) at 12p.

It will be a video conference meeting, and here is the agenda:

Good morning, @ussoccer_comms. Will this meeting be streamed live, or are (virtual) attendees allowed to attend?

Here’s a thread of the September 12 @ussoccer Board of Directors meeting, which we both attended virtually.

(We were able to observe--we were muted and our cameras were turned off--the meeting because we serve on the boards of two USSF member organizations, but the views expressed in this thread are our own personal views.)

USSF president @cone_cindy opened the meeting at 12:03p with 78 participants logged in via Zoom.

Attendance was taken (we believe @BocaBoca3 was the only absence, but don’t quote us), minutes from a previous meeting were quickly approved, Cone presented the President’s Report.

In her 3-minute report, Cone reviewed the federation’s diversity initiative (see below), talked about @FIFAWWC and @FIFAWorldCup, summarized progress with return-to-play from pros to youth, and congratulated Bocanegra on his recent induction to the @soccerhof.

Next up: USSF CEO/Secretary General William Wilson. Wilson’s five-minute report consisted of new personnel: Karen Leetzow as the federation’s new Chief Legal Officer and new HR staff, which is apparently much-needed: https://twitter.com/duresport/status/1304817382616182784?s=20

Wilson also informed everyone the 2021 USSF Annual General Meeting, which had been scheduled to take place in Atlanta, would now take place in Chicago

It will also be a hybrid AGM with some events taking place in-person, but most events taking place virtually (see below).

Next up: USSF Manager of Events Alex Ross presented the recent work of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council: https://www.ussoccer.com/onenation/deicouncil)

The DEI is new (it was just formed in July) and appears to currently be focused on inward-facing initiatives within USSF.

After Ross’s overview of the DEI and its work so far, USSF Chief Financial Officer Pinky Raina provided an update on the professional staff’s return-to-office health and safety plans.

The DEI and return-to-office presentations took about eight minutes, and they were followed up by a summary of the federation’s fundraising tools and strategies by Mary Teeter, the USSF’s Director of Development.

At the tail end of her presentation Teeter teed up @TheeOtherDan (see what we did there?), the USSF’s Director of Sport Development, to go into more detail about the status of the Jill Ellis Scholarship Fund.

Russell discussed how the Jill Ellis Scholarship Fund is designed to help reduce the barriers women face to access coach education and coaching jobs at all levels of soccer, primarily by reducing the registration fees of USSF A and B coaching courses by 50% for fund recipients.

(As part of the process to establish this scholarship fund, the federation conducted a survey for female coaches that had nearly 4,000 respondents. This would be great info for state associations to have.

Also, the costs of higher-level coaching courses in general are:)

Anyway, the Jill Ellis Scholarship Fund appears to be an encouraging step toward giving women more opportunities on the sidelines, and contributions to the fund can be made here: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jill-ellis-scholarship-fund

USSF Sporting Director Earnie Stewart presented next. His 7-minute presentation focused mostly on the “Stars and Stripes Guidebook.”

Mostly developed by the USSF Director of Sporting Analytics @tjheaps, it appears to be a digital handbook for national team players and coaches.

The first phase of this project focuses on player profiles, qualities, positional responsibilities. The platform features a digital interface with this information and exemplar video clips from high-level men’s and women’s players.

The second phase will focus on style of play.

(The “Stars and Stripes Guidebook” sounds like it has the potential to be a resource so many state associations and grassroots clubs often talk about needing in their organizations. Sharing the guide would be a great way to flatten resources at all levels for USSF stakeholders.)