skip navigation

Meet the USASA Implementation Team Leaders

By Admin, 02/17/10, 2:00PM CST

Share

As part of the USASA’s AGM agenda, the new USASA Implementation Team Leaders were introduced to the membership in attendance at the Council Meeting.

These eight individuals will help shape the future of the USASA by leading eight specific teams. Each team is specific to an objective which will be executed through various plans in order to meet given deadlines. These Leaders will be responsible for the strategic planning process of the organization. There was also a ninth person introduced as the overall implementation manager.

The objectives, formulated at the USASA Vision and Strategy Summit in Phoenix in 2009 are;

1. 2015, increase USASA membership from 250,000 to 500,000. 

2. 2015, USASA will have 5 national sponsors generating $200,000 of revenue. 

3. 2013, deploy to all member organizations a comprehensive coaching and adult soccer focused referee development program. 

4. 2011, all member organizations will register all players on the USASA member database. 

5. 2015, increase women and ethnic participants to 50% of total USASA player membership. 

6. By 2012, all member organizations are using USASA developed resources to facilitate development, improvement and access to soccer fields and facilities. 

7. By 2015, double participation in competitions from 10,000 to 20,000 annually. 

8. By 2012, USASA and 90% of all member organizations will use best practices in governance and administration.

Please Welcome the USASA Implementation Team Leaders:

Bob Kepner (North Carolina)
Overall Implementation Manager

Bob Kepner has serviced the game for over a quarter century touching every facet: coaching, officiating, organizing, and working with youth and adults.  Blessed with the support of many friends and co-workers, he has served in a variety of leadership roles with the North Carolina Adult Soccer Association as a Registrar, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and President.  At the national level, Mr. Kepner held positions such as member of the USASA Appeals Committee and Rules Committee. For several years, he served for the US Soccer Appeals Committee, the US Soccer Summit Planning Group, and as Chairman of the US Soccer Credentials Committee. At the youth level, Bob worked with the US Youth Soccer Association for 4 years as Chairman of the Risk Management Committee that shaped the US Youth Soccer Risk Management Program. He also served as the North Carolina Youth Soccer President for 14 years.

Bob feels that he could bring a useful set of skills to the task of helping USASA to move forward in fulfilling its new vision and mission and in achieving its strategic objectives. He believes that he is effective at extracting the essential elements from a whole and providing direction to an activity; at developing concepts based on sometimes organized, sometimes disparate data; at compiling information and presenting it in an organized, readable format, and at working with a group to help the group move forward constructively.  Mr. Kepner is a retired educator, where his focus was in Mathematics and Administration. 
 

Bob Black (North Texas)
Membership Team

Bob Black has been involved in soccer for over 30 years as a player, coach, and Referee. He has served the North Texas State Soccer Association as the Men’s Commissioner, Indoor Commissioner, Treasurer and Vice President. Bob also served on the Rules Committee for USSSD, was USASA Region III Director and member of the USSF National Board of Directors for 5 years. He resigned to go to work for US Soccer where he was the Director of Constituent Services and World Cup ’94 becoming the USSF Deputy Executive Director/Membership Services serving in that capacity from 1995 until 1999. 

In 1986, Bob chaired the Committee who wrote the rules and structure to form the affiliated indoor program for North Texas Soccer, leading to over forty-five thousand players playing indoor soccer in North Texas. Among other contributions, Bob served the USASA nationally from 1985 to 1992 during a time which witnessed the creation and development of many of the programs USASA enjoys today; bringing the USSSD into modern times for the purpose of program recognition and marketability through changing the name to USASA.

Presently, he serves as Executive Director for the North Texas State Soccer Association, where he and North Texas Soccer President John Sutter were the key figures in the structure and development of Pizza Hut Park Soccer Complex & Stadium in Frisco, TX. Bob has worked for the past 5 years with US Youth Soccer as a member of the Leadership Development Committee which annually develops workshops for Executive Directors, Operations Managers and Office Managers in state association soccer offices. Bob was inducted into the USASA Hall of Fame in 2007 and currently serves on the USASA Hall of Fame Committee. 

Cara Rooney (DC/VA)
Sponsorship Team

Ms. Cara Rooney is the Treasurer for the Metro-DC Virginia State Association (MDCVSA) and recently served on the USASA Vision and Strategy Task Force. She is a current member of the USASA Women’s Initiative Task Force and is committed to increasing women’s participation in the sport of soccer with particular focus on recreational players. She has been playing the game since age 4 having competed for various clubs in the Massachusetts area. Since moving to Washington D.C. in 2002, she has renewed her commitment to soccer and volunteer work. She served as the Treasurer for the Capital Coed Soccer League for a term of two years and also established the CCSL Summer League in 2007, serving as organizer and Summer League Commissioner for the first two years. She is the co-captain of two coed adult teams in the Northern Virginia area and until recently, held a grade 8 referee badge.

Professionally, Ms. Rooney is the Proposal Manager for Strategic Analysis, Inc., a small government contracting firm where she is responsible for the organization and submittal of roughly $130M worth of proposals annually. Outside of adult soccer, Cara serves as the Business Director for City FCÓ and has been involved with the program shortly after its establishment in 2007. She also serves as a Board Member for the Kevin J. Rooney foundation, a group established as a memorial to her brother Kevin who passed away from cancer in 1995. Born and raised in the suburbs of Massachusetts, Cara is a graduate ofBoston College where she studied Business and Communications, participated in various volunteer programs (Appalachia Volunteers and 4Boston amongst them), 

Gianfranco Borroni (Ohio North)
Education & Development Team

Gianfranco came to the Cleveland, Ohio area in 1947 after a successful semiprofessional career in Italy. He played with the Lake Erie Soccer League for 18 years and coached at all levels for more than 20 years. He has been an officer at the national, regional, state, league and club levels and continues to serve as the Ohio Soccer Association-North vice-president. He organized the Cleveland Stars and Cleveland Cobras of the American Soccer League from 1972 to 1983.

Gianfranco became the Region II Director in the early 80’s, serving for nearly a decade. He was elected USASA Chairman from 1991 to 1997 and served on the USSF NBOD. He was a founding member of the USASA and of the Soccer Festival. He has an “A” coaching license and has coached at the high school and college levels. In 1978 and 1981 he was honored as the NAIA District 22 Coach of the Year. Gianfranco is now the USASA Coaching Committee Region II Officer and USASA’s representative to the U.S. Soccer Foundation.

Barbara Trainor (Arizona)
Registration Team 

Barbara Trainor is currently a senior manager at Apollo Group Inc., Information Technology (IT) Department, which supports the education-based businesses such as University of Phoenix, and eight other colleges and high schools.  She works in IT Service Management, managing the Release Management and Configuration Management departments. She also has a major role in a five million dollar project to roll out an important IT Service Management system.  With nearly 30 years of experience in IT and engineering, Barbara’s career includes working for many major companies such as AAA, DHL Express, Motorola and Honeywell (21 years), managing teams, data, and technology implementations.

 Barbara started in soccer when her children reached playing age.  She quickly moved into the ranks of youth coach and began playing to understand what the kids needed to learn.  She coached youth teams for eight years, was a referee for 15 years, and continues to play in local adult leagues and tournaments.   Barbara is the Region IV Secretary, President of Arizona State Soccer Association and USASA Membership Committee. She served many years on the board of the Arizona Women’s Soccer League and consulted Phoenix

Richard Moeller (Florida)
Diversity Team 

Richard Moeller currently resides in Miami Beach, Florida, and has been involved in soccer for 35 years as a player, coach, manager, and league officer in various USASA-affiliated leagues in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Tampa, and Miami. Currently, he is the Vice President of the Florida State Soccer Association (2008-Present), and the President of the Florida Suncoast Soccer League (2004-Present). 
 
Over the years, Richard has been a strong advocate for increasing the participation of female players as well as players of all ethnic backgrounds in Florida. These efforts have included organizing teams for the Coed Cup, National Amateur/Open Cups, and State Cups. Currently, he is working on increasing the participation of female and Hispanic players in South Florida, and bringing numerous unaffiliated soccer leagues into the Florida State Soccer Association and USASA. Richard believes that his soccer experiences - in conjunction with his leadership skills and business background - will assist him with his role as Diversity Team Leader!

 

Klaus Reich (Alaska)
Facilities Team

Klaus Reich has been involved with the game of soccer for most of his life, combining over 40 years of playing experience with two decades of volunteer work. Klaus moved to Alaska in 1975 after being raised in Germany and playing for the youth soccer club of the local professional team, Kickers Offenbach. He played college soccer at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon and returned to Alaska in the mid 80’s, where he began volunteering as a coach, on a variety of levels in the local youth leagues. He served as the head coach for the Bartlett High School Girls Varsity Soccer Team from ’89 through ’95. In 1995 Klaus founded Soccer Alaska, Anchorage’s Adult League provider that currently offers 12 divisions for over 130 teams. In addition to his role as CEO of Soccer Alaska Inc., Klaus works as a program director for the Small Business Development Center at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. 

Mr. Reich is the past President of the Alaska Adult Soccer Association and still serves on that board, in addition to being a board member of the Anchorage District Soccer Foundation. Klaus currently holds a grade 8 referee license and continues to play in several divisions of Soccer Alaska. He is an enthusiastic supporter of "the game for life" and passionate about improving the quality and quantity of fields, available for adult play.

Tony Battle (Pennsylvania West)
Competitions Team 

Mr. Tony Battle was born in London, England in 1947. He played youth “football” in Manchester for Manchester Grammar and attended the Youth Camps of Manchester United from 1963-1964. He continued to play the game in Manchester until moving to Birmingham in 1969. Tony immigrated to the United Statesfrom Great Britain in 1980, where he established several businesses including an advertising & printing company, which he still operates today and have since opened a travel agency & tour company as well developing a soccer complex with 6 fields in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA.

Battle played soccer in the Keystone League and then formed several men’s teams and played in the PA West Adult Leagues, where he is still active in the Over-50 League.  He has served as referee for all levels of games from Youth to Adults both outdoors and indoors. Currently, Tony is in partnership with a youth soccer club playing cup soccer throughout the Tri-State area and organizes local tournaments for the club and other local youth clubs. 

Tony holds the positions of Adult Secretary and Tournament Director for PA West. Annually, Mr. Battle hosts an adult tournament in Pittsburgh attracting as many as 50 teams, both Men’s and Women’s; tournament which he has been organizing  for the last 12 years. The tournament attracts teams from not only Western PA but also from Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Ontario, Canada. Each year, he helps raise funds from sponsorships in order to subsidize the cost of entry and still make a profit of some $2-3,000. Tony spends his free time traveling back to the U.K. to watch Manchester U play and he is currently working with 

Kevin Anderson (Maryland)
Best Practices Team

Kevin Anderson is a career scientist/program manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate. He oversees the requirements for programs focused on bioterrorism prevention, preparedness and response.  Dr. Anderson has provided leadership within the federal government for science program development and execution, and laboratory design and strategic planning. He has participated in multiple inter-agency working groups and assessments to guide medical countermeasure development, a key component of the nation’s bio-defense strategy. He earned a Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1984 and has recently acquired level III certification in Program Management from the Defense Acquisition University.
 
Kevin was a high school varsity letterman in soccer and tennis, and played competitive adult soccer for USASA affiliated clubs in Maryland, Montana, North Carolinaand Alabama. He is a USSF certified State Referee and currently officiates a wide spectrum of youth to competitive adult matches in Maryland. Since 1994, Kevin has served as the Treasurer of the Maryland State Soccer Association and has managed the Mason-Dixon Soccer League, a competitive adult men’s soccer affiliate of the MSSA and USASA, located in western Maryland. He currently serves as Region I representative on the USASA Appeals Committee and was an active participant in the recent USASA Strategic Planning Summit.