A few weeks ago I spent some time talking to Dustin Dow of the Cincinnati Enquirer for an article he was doing about recruiting. Later he and a photographer came out to a training session to talk to some players and take some photos. Sunday the stories were published and Ohio Elite played a prominent role as several of our players and I were quoted. I have to say I was a little disappointed that they chose the day after St. Ursula and
Fenwick won their respective
OHSAA State Championships. For St Ursula it was their second consecutive title. It seemed like the subject of recruiting stole the headlines from what should have been the story. I am proud to say that Ohio Elite players played a major role on both high school teams. Congrats to both teams.
Several issues came up in the stories that I think need to be addressed and clarified.
1. Fees
This was the biggest inaccuracy in the article. Our fees vary according to age and level of each team. What I told the author was that our academy older age teams pay fees in the neighborhood of $1,500.00 per year. Those fees go to Ohio Elite to pay expenses incurred by that players participation in our club. These include coaching, registration/administration, tournament entry fees, etc. I told him all in I thought a player would pay $5,000.00 including fees, uniforms and travel to events in a given year. If you look around the region this number will be consistent with the other top clubs like Carmel, St. Louis Scott Gallagher, Michigan Hawks, Ohio Premier and Eclipse Select. Our fee structure is also competitive with local soccer clubs.
2. Income vs. Expenses
First it is important to note that the Ohio Elite Soccer Academy Board of Directors is made up volunteers who are in no way shape or form compensated for their work. Although they work behind the scenes, they have and always will act as the fiduciaries of the financial side of the organization and have full authority over financial matters. Funds must be collected and spent on behalf of Ohio Elite. The Board of Directors and Tim Lesiak go through a detailed budget development and approval process. This often requires that an initial budget is established that would then be adjusted to reflect current market conditions.
The financial numbers are a matter of public record as Ohio Elite is a 501 (c) 3 (non-profit) organization. I did not discuss these figures nor the salary figures with the author. Tax returns for most non-profits, which include soccer clubs, are available on the Internet. One of the articles was quoted as saying that in 2006 Ohio Elite had an income of $801,978.00 and expenses of $675,889.00. That disclosure suggested that Ohio Elite generated significant profitability in 2006. I will deal with the income side first. The article stated that this income was generated by player fees. This is not completely true. In fact, the income stated includes player fees, fundraising income, tournament income, camp income, spirit wear income and sponsorship income. Fundraising was significant in 2006 Ohio Elite to generate funding for the OE Training Center. The OE Training Center has been developed at a cost of over $600,000.00. The funding for the facility has come from a combination of contributions, fundraising, sponsorships, surplus in operating dollars and some bank debt. Obviously, Ohio Elite is very proud of this facility. It will be used by Ohio Elite and it's members for many years to come.
As for expenses and salary information, Ohio Elite is a business. Ohio Elite is not in the business of making money and building significant cash reserves. However, it does operate in a manner to build financial flexibility to ensure the long term success and viability.
The Mission Statement of the organization clearly outlines the goal.
Ohio Elite Soccer Academy Mission Statement
"To create an elite training and competition environment for boys and girls that strives to reach the highest level of success through first achieving excellence: providing a life enriching experience in an academy atmosphere that seeks to develop the complete player on and off the field of competition."
To achieve this goal, Ohio Elite must invest in and develop first class facilities and a professional staff that can provide the necessary direction and leadership to the club and it's players. Our number one draw is our professional set up. Tim, Mike and myself are all involved in every aspect of the day-to-day operation of Ohio Elite. That includes budgeting, registration/administration, facility development, program development, fundraising, team administration, advertising/marketing, website development, etc. I compare it to being the Executive Director of a non-profit organization with the type of budget described above. It is a multi-faceted full-time job that often requires us to be accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
3. High School vs. Club
Although I have addressed this in a past blog I feel I must again touch on our position on playing club soccer vs. playing high school soccer in the fall season. In my mind there are a lot of reasons for a player to play for their club in the fall season. There are also a lot of reasons to play for your school. We have four players playing in our fall team this fall that will go on to play NCAA DI soccer on significant scholarship money that have been cut by their high school team. Although I find it hard to believe that they were not good enough to play for their school that is the coach's decision. We have players playing in the fall that have had very bad high school soccer experiences for whatever reason. We have players playing in the fall who are returning from serious injuries. We have players that made the individual decision that playing club was what was best for them. If we did not have a fall program those players would not be playing soccer for that period of time. We have the program because the players asked for it. I challenge anyone to find one of our players that was coerced or threatened in order to get them to play for the club in the fall. They don't exist. If they do exist, I encourage you to contact our Board of Directors directly to discuss this. As confirmation, feel free to ask our players that chose the fall team alternative about their experience. Reality is that less than 5% of our players chose to play on the Fall Team.
There have been those who have come out in support of one or the other. All I have to say is I don't support club soccer over high school or vice versa. I support our players and their needs. Most of all I support our players right to make a choice that they think is in their best interest.
In closing, I thought and we thought as an organization it was important to clarify a few things that were either misquoted or left room for misconception. When we started Ohio Elite seven years ago we set out for the financial/business side to run parallel with the soccer side. The Board of Directors was charged with guiding the financial/business side while the Directors of Coaching were charged with leading the soccer side. Along the way we have found that the two often curve and intersect; however, we have experienced success in both areas. A balanced budget and watching our player develop and move on to the next level is our measuring stick. There are many challenges ahead, but rest assured Ohio Elite will continue to "always be on the offensive" when it comes to tackling those challenges. As always we remain grateful to the outstanding families that make up Ohio Elite and have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us throughout the years. Your investment in your sons and daughters will always be held with great regard by every member of the Ohio Elite staff and Board of Directors.
Congratulations to the Columbus Crew for their first ever MLS Cup Championship. The Title is a testament to patience and perseverance by the staff and front office. The Crew, who was the best team during the 2008 regular season, reversed a three-year run of finishing out of the play-offs (finishing last in the Eastern Conference in 2005 and 2006 and only ahead of expansion Toronto in 2007).
Marc Sabin and I had a chance to work with Sigi Schmid and Brian Bliss last spring as they trained our Ohio-South ODP team. They were gracious hosts who interacted with us and the boys throughout. I appreciated the time they spent talking with the boys and especially the time Coach Bliss spent talking with Marc and I.
