TRU Board Meeting Notes – 3/17/2025

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At the request of our members the TRU Board will be releasing their monthly board call minutes and notes. View all of the TRU archived minutes or read on for the most recent notes:

  1. Roll Call
    1. McPhail
    2. Dodge
    3. Hiller
    4. Davies
    5. Guitan 9:03
      1. Regrets
        1. Tomsak
        2. Armstrong
        3. Hason
        4. Young
  2. Items from prior meetings:
    1. Grant Requests
      1. Imari Scipio for Maccabi Games – Recommend approval of $250 to maintain the amount in line with prior Grant Awards. Approved by proclamation.
      2. Young (after call): I’ve sent a note to Imari and asked the TRU Treasurer to send a check.
    2. HURT
      1. Player Eligibility Violation – Require a registered member(s) to complete a minimum of 3 matches/assignments from the TRRA (Level 1 Referee certification is required and matches to be local) to be completed by no later than 2/15/26. Approved without objections.
        1. Wendy (after call): Just a quick note on options for gaining this certification if not already available. You can see available Level 1 Referee certification courses here, the club could host their own course or we will have a Level 1 Referee Certification at the TRU Summit on August 23-24 in the Houston area.
        2. McPhail called President Terry and notified him of the ruling.
    3. Name Withheld
      1. 2024-2025 TRU Current Name Withheld
        1. Young (after Feb call): We’ve done lots of social media posts about this, will share again.
        2. Upon further discussion with USAR / SCC, the TRU will begin to have players removed from the active registration roster if the player and/or club are unable to resolve the issue in a timely manner.  No sanction will be assessed for those players that are non-responsive.  Fines will be assessed against the club if they continue to roster the players after receiving notification from TRU Admin.  Note, the Team Admins do not see outward facing issues.  Their insight appears normal and indicates the player’s name.  The outward, aka public, view is where the name is shown as withheld.
      2. Per USA SCC Minutes:
        1. Regulation Reminders:
          1. 3.4.2-(c). Name Withheld Policy. In effect for local playoffs and the NCS. Please remind your clubs, and where teams have already qualified for the playoffs, please review those rosters to ensure compliance.
          2. 3.4-(h). CMS. Please review your competitions and ensure match records are complete: rosters entered, scoring and substitutions entered correctly, matches locked.
  3. Registration
    1. Club Compliance
      1. As of Mar-16th,  membership sits at 2,234. Up from last year at the end of March 2024 total = 2,021. Growth of ~11% which is well above 6% growth used in the Revenue Budget previously approved.
  4. Upcoming Dates
    1. Semi-Finals matchups
      1. MD1 – None – Winner advances directly to GCSR
      2. MD2 – Top Four (1v4 and 2v3)
      3. MD3 – Four regional winners ranked (1v4 and 2v3)
      4. WD1 – None (RRRC Finals only)
      5. WD2 – Top Four (1v4 and 2v3) TBC
      6. WD3 – None – elected to bypass this round
    2. RRRC’s – Lake Highlands Park, Dallas TX
      1. Saturday only, April-12th
        1. Finals for all Divisions with exception of MD1 as noted above
        2. Tentative Schedule:
          1. MD4 10AM
          2. WD3 11AM
          3. MD3 12PM
          4. WD2 1PM
          5. MD2 2PM
          6. WD1 3PM
            1. Championship Website | Event Packet
        3. Recommended Red River Team Hotels:
          1. Sonesta Select North Central Expressway
          2. Hilton Garden Inn North Central Expressway
          3. Hampton Inn North Central Expressway
      2. Sunday – Scheduling meeting.  All RRRC / Board / Club representatives welcome to attend
        1. 2026 RRRC Structure– discussion
        2. Sonesta Select – 10325 North Central Expressway, Dallas TX 7523
        3. 10am until completed (no later than 2pm)
    3. Gulf Coast Super Regional
      1. Weekend of May 3-4th.
        1. Gulf Coast – Pelican Park, 63350 Pelican Blvd, Mandeville LA 70448.
        2. Recommended Hotels – Pending
    4. USA Club Nationals
      1. Friday thru Sunday, May 16-18th
      2. Kuntz Soccer & Sports Complex, 1502 W 16th Street, Indianapolis IN 46202 
  5. Discipline – Zack
    1. Match Official abuse
      1. Grand Prairie was reported for abuse of match official that resulted in the match being abandoned.
        1. Consulted with USA on the abuse issues (as a whole).
        2. Going to seek further guidance.
      2. Space City vs Woodlands
        1. The Match Official cited constant verbal abuse and questioning of calls.  Players targeting the referee regardless of positioning.  Player failing to provide YC information.  Etc.
      3. Dallas RFC – Yellow Card (accumulation hearing).
      4. Update on GoPro (Huns) situation
        1. Call scheduled for Tuesday.
    2. Multiple Yellow Cards / Card reporting in general
      1. DC requests Clubs need to be diligent and timely when inputting RX data. Cards need to be done at the same time as they do scores, subs, etc. The problem is mainly with D3 but is across the board. Hansel echoed the RC/YC frustrations. RRRC will now be tracking these and the Clubs will be subject to Fines/Sanctions each week. Possibly League point deductions or other sanctions as deemed appropriate.
      2. Discussion and re-affirm requirement to have all cards submitted by normal Monday deadline.
      3. Importance of the TRRA to also have YC/RC reported in a timely manner as that completes the reporting process and puts the DC on notice so that it can begin hearings.
  6. Referees – Ross
    1. Ross spoke with one of the Houston Club about Sevens.  Directed him to Fil K.
    2. Gulf Coast – TRRA has the majority of the seven appointments.  Happy with the majority of the assignments. Both Referee Coaches are from Texas.
    3. Need to confirm April-5th semi final matchups. David asked Wegman to confirm D3.
    4. David to WD2 play in a match versus only the Finals at RRRC?  
    5. Next season scheduling discussion. Need to continue coordinated efforts with Youth, College and Seniors.  Additionally the desire to have a full blackout date before playoffs start would be helpful instead of a single week that is makeup weekend and often ends leaving no recovery weekend in reality.  
      1. Need to add to the Scheduling Meeting on Sunday, April-13th.
    6. Ross requested that we try and not have matches at our furthest locations on the same weekend. 
      1. Need to add to the Scheduling Meeting on Sunday, April-13th.
    7. Member Reports: None
  7. SCC
    1. Chair, Al Lucas, is currently un-opposed for the position and will be staying on for another term.
    2. David presented a recommendation to the SCC regarding the location of USA Club Finals on Wednesday night. 
    3. SCC Note: Exco has worked on a “Event Sanctioning” document for hosting events, tourneys, tours, etc. The document is still in draft format. ExCo presented to SCC for feedback and subsequent changes needed to get it to final draft and future approval.
  8. New Business
    1. Discussion regarding referee resources and costs:
      1. Recommend that Board look at TRU policy requiring teams to develop Center Referees and Assistant Referees.  As we continue to grow the Union, the vast distances that must be covered are increasingly putting a strain on referee resources.  In order to help prevent Referee burnout, TRU travel costs, and simply put having adequately trained and available referees we need to look at changing our dues structure or our club commitments to human resources.  TRRA / TRU are spending ~$500 to fly referees around to cover matches.  Doesn’t include other travel costs or match fees which can take the cost of a single game up towards $1K.
        1. Discussion…geography, density of Spring only schedule are material challenges.
        2. Fall competition would have more refs avb and would have better referees available.
        3. Ability to build more referee courses.  More time for Coaching and Training.
        4. TRRA has 6-7 CMO’s (coaching match officials).
    2. 2026 Hosting (RRRC / GCSR / Nationals)
  9. Action Item: 
    1. Assign match officials for Semis weekend.  Looks like most in the Central regions (SA / AUS).
    2. Need to confirm April-5th semi final matchups. David asked Wegman to confirm D3.
      1. Young (after call): Once these are confirmed, Hansel needs to be alerted so he can input the matchups in RX. Same for Finals weekend.
    3. David to WD2 play in a match versus only the Finals at RRRC? 
  10. Adjournment: Motions by Dodge & Davies 9:38 pm.