Pasted this from an email attachment that was forwarded to me. The original email was sent to a big distribution of all of WYS leadership and all RCL club directors.
Have to post in 2 parts since it is so long.
Grabbing my popcorn because this discussion should be fun to watch.
------------------------------------------
May 9, 2019
Terry Fisher, CEO Dan Popp, President of the Board of Directors Washington Youth Soccer
CC: WYS Board Members; Leadership of RCL member clubs
Terry and Dan-
We are writing to address the allegations levied against Reign Academy in your letter of May 1, 2019 and your subsequent email communication to our organization. In addition, we have shared our thoughts on the actions Washington Youth Soccer and some of its member clubs have taken against our organization since we first received your letter.
We would first like to express our respect and admiration for the efforts made by the many clubs in Washington State – including their coaches and leadership – who have taken on significant risk and invested incredible amounts of time and energy to build their organizations and to help develop a robust soccer community in our state. We believe that most individuals in these clubs are good people that are motivated by a genuine desire to foster the growth of youth soccer players. We welcome collaboration with these groups and individuals, and remain open to building strong, mutually-beneficial relationships with any like-minded club that may have interest.
As relative newcomers to the soccer community we can appreciate that there may be a lack of understanding about Reign Academy by WYS and its member clubs. To help you understand the motivation that drives the development of our organization, we have below shared some of our observations about the youth soccer community in our region, as those observations directly informed our vision, mission and approach. We believe our recent entry into this arena afforded us with a unique opportunity look at the youth soccer complex with fresh eyes.
And what do we see?
We see a lack of female coaches and female leadership.
We see female coaches who are paid less and receive fewer opportunities than male coaches.
We see environments where female coaches must often endure inappropriate comments and behavior to do the jobs they love.
We see environments, attitudes, and approaches designed for boys that have not been sufficiently adapted to meet the needs of female players.
We see administrators and coaches who treat players and parents as their property, and who believe fear and intimidation is an effective way to retain their customers.
We see arrogance and entitlement that stems from a marketplace engineered to stifle competition, that insufficiently rewards innovation, and that unreasonably restricts the movement of players.
We see an opportunity to make things better for female players and their families.
Reign Academy is run by women for the benefit of youth female players. Our organization features the highest percentage of female coaches of any club in the country. We serve girls and young women at all levels of talent and experience. It is our hope that Reign Academy’s female-forward approach will inspire other organizations to recognize the benefits of equal opportunity and equal treatment for their players and their employees.
We elected to move forward as members of U.S. Club Soccer, the U.S. Girls’ Development Academy, and PSPL because we believe these organizations value our approach while providing the best platforms upon which we can serve our players. We will work with these entities and their member clubs to do whatever possible to improve and expand our collective interests, and we will always adhere to the rules and regulations of those entities.
We know that building our club will be a challenging endeavor, and that the marketplace will ultimately decide if our organization adds value to the youth soccer community. We welcome competition with other clubs, as we believe that such competition will drive us all to innovate, to improve our offerings, and to deliver the best possible experience and value to youth players and their families.
---------------------
Continued in next post------
Have to post in 2 parts since it is so long.
Grabbing my popcorn because this discussion should be fun to watch.
------------------------------------------
May 9, 2019
Terry Fisher, CEO Dan Popp, President of the Board of Directors Washington Youth Soccer
CC: WYS Board Members; Leadership of RCL member clubs
Terry and Dan-
We are writing to address the allegations levied against Reign Academy in your letter of May 1, 2019 and your subsequent email communication to our organization. In addition, we have shared our thoughts on the actions Washington Youth Soccer and some of its member clubs have taken against our organization since we first received your letter.
We would first like to express our respect and admiration for the efforts made by the many clubs in Washington State – including their coaches and leadership – who have taken on significant risk and invested incredible amounts of time and energy to build their organizations and to help develop a robust soccer community in our state. We believe that most individuals in these clubs are good people that are motivated by a genuine desire to foster the growth of youth soccer players. We welcome collaboration with these groups and individuals, and remain open to building strong, mutually-beneficial relationships with any like-minded club that may have interest.
As relative newcomers to the soccer community we can appreciate that there may be a lack of understanding about Reign Academy by WYS and its member clubs. To help you understand the motivation that drives the development of our organization, we have below shared some of our observations about the youth soccer community in our region, as those observations directly informed our vision, mission and approach. We believe our recent entry into this arena afforded us with a unique opportunity look at the youth soccer complex with fresh eyes.
And what do we see?
We see a lack of female coaches and female leadership.
We see female coaches who are paid less and receive fewer opportunities than male coaches.
We see environments where female coaches must often endure inappropriate comments and behavior to do the jobs they love.
We see environments, attitudes, and approaches designed for boys that have not been sufficiently adapted to meet the needs of female players.
We see administrators and coaches who treat players and parents as their property, and who believe fear and intimidation is an effective way to retain their customers.
We see arrogance and entitlement that stems from a marketplace engineered to stifle competition, that insufficiently rewards innovation, and that unreasonably restricts the movement of players.
We see an opportunity to make things better for female players and their families.
Reign Academy is run by women for the benefit of youth female players. Our organization features the highest percentage of female coaches of any club in the country. We serve girls and young women at all levels of talent and experience. It is our hope that Reign Academy’s female-forward approach will inspire other organizations to recognize the benefits of equal opportunity and equal treatment for their players and their employees.
We elected to move forward as members of U.S. Club Soccer, the U.S. Girls’ Development Academy, and PSPL because we believe these organizations value our approach while providing the best platforms upon which we can serve our players. We will work with these entities and their member clubs to do whatever possible to improve and expand our collective interests, and we will always adhere to the rules and regulations of those entities.
We know that building our club will be a challenging endeavor, and that the marketplace will ultimately decide if our organization adds value to the youth soccer community. We welcome competition with other clubs, as we believe that such competition will drive us all to innovate, to improve our offerings, and to deliver the best possible experience and value to youth players and their families.
---------------------
Continued in next post------
Comment