Joe Miller
It is with great pride and a heavy heart as I begin to serve the members of NISOA as your President. As most of you know, our highly respected Executive Director, Dr. Raymond Bernabei passed away on September 5, 2008. For those of us who were lucky enough to know Ray personally, he will be greatly missed.
As a visionary, Ray surrounded himself with many very qualified leaders such as Mario Donnangelo the NISOA Associate Director for the past 20 years. Mario will continue in his current role and assume additional responsibilities.
Ken Andres has accepted the position of Interim Executive Director and will also continue as our National Rules Interpreter and Legal Council.
John Van de Vaarst has accepted the job as the Director of Operations, serving as operations officer for NISOA on all matters pertaining to operational functions.
Cliff McCrath has joined NISOA as the Director of Communications/Liaison Officer. Cliff will serve as liaison with organizations such as the NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, NCCAA, NSCAA and other partners of NISOA that have similar interests. We all look forward to working with and supporting Cliff in his new role.
I would like to take this moment to thank the above mentioned leaders for all of the work that they have done for NISOA in the past and the continued work they will be doing as we move forward.
As all members know, NISOA is an organization in pursuit of excellence to service intercollegiate and interscholastic soccer by establishing the highest level of officiating, professionalism and ethics in the game today. We strive to improve the performance of NISOA officials through innovative quality education, training and leadership.
As your President I am committed to the future of the NISOA, its membership, the student athletes and the institutions that we service. In an effort to improve our service to the game, I would like to encourage all members to learn more about NISOA, take advantage of the programs we offer and become more involved either at the local, regional or national level.
You can learn more about the association by visiting our web site www.nisoa.com or by attending one of the NISOA Annual Conventions (2009 in San Francisco) and/or the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony held each August in Oneonta, NY.
You can take advantage of the programs we offer by (1) attending the Referee Training Camp held each July in Elizabethtown, PA. (2) establishing yourself as a respected official and applying to be a member of the National Referee Program, (3) attending a clinic to become a NISOA Clinician or Assessor or (4) attending an assignor’s workshop. The leadership of NISOA is striving to train at least one local clinician in each chapter to professionally present power point presentation to its members.
You can also become more involved with the association by becoming one of the future leaders of your local chapter as an officer, clinician, assessor, rules interpreter, committee member or mentor. If your local chapter does not have a recruitment committee, maybe you could recommend forming one to identify eligible officials to become NISOA members. It is critical to the future of NISOA that we all recruit new qualified soccer officials to join our association.
The foundation and strength of NISOA begins at the local chapters. I want to personally thank all of the members of NISOA who have dedicated their time and efforts into making NISOA the outstanding organization that it is today.
In closing, I would like to thank Past President Larry Dorsey, all of the NISOA Program Directors, Committee Chairs and all of the staff members who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the NISOA a strong and respected association.
I look forward to serving as your President for the next two years.
Joseph Miller
NISOA President, 2009-10