Great Basin Youth Soccer League

by Richard Jay, GBYSL President

Greetings from the north!

Once again we have a lot to report — we have become the largest league within NYSA, have a new corps of league officers, summer camp and new fields have been approved on the state level.

Randy Ritter has been elected GBYSL League Commissioner. Also, after many years of dedication to soccer, Ron Flicker submitted his resignation as Northern Nevada Vice President. Ron has been involved in virtually every aspect of soccer and he will be missed. His wife, Joni, tells us they have lots of travel plans. Pam Calhoun has been appointed to finish his term.

In the meantime, GBYSL has become the largest league within NYSA, with over 3,800 players. Our new recreational division is growing with every season. We are also exploring adding academy-style training for the players.

We have been working on new fields for over two years and they are close to becoming a reality. The Mill Street Flood Plains will feature 13-15 fields. The slated location is the east end of McCarran and Mill Street in the flood plains. The Nevada state legislature and governor have passed and signed the necessary state paperwork; our final step is the approval from the U.S. Congress. Keep your fingers crossed!

It is our hope that the fields will be completed by Memorial Day 2011 so we can host our first league tournament, which we plan to name the Mackenzie Burgess Memorial Day Tournament. Visit our website to find out who Mackenzie was and what soccer meant to hear at gbysl.org

This summer, we held our first summer camp, with over 117 U5-U12 players attending. The camp was run by the UK International Soccer Camp association; pictures from the camp can be viewed on our website.

Enough for now, more to report in the next issue!