Bill Letbetter’s first encounter with soccer was a 7th grade, two-week P. E. class. Three years later,  while taking a short-cut across the Texas A&M Campus on his way to play tennis, he stumbled upon a make-shift field, hidden from public view, where foreign students from all over the world were playing the world’s most popular game.  The “third time’s a charm” turned out to be his most rewarding encounter:  It was 1979, he was 39, and his eight-year-old son began playing in the Decatur-DeKalb YMCA soccer program.   In the 25 years since 1979, Bill has been an active soccer enthusiast whose service to soccer in Georgia can be characterized by avid long-term dedication, an eagerness to meet challenges and solve problems, encouragement of local league development, eternal optimism and belief in the goodness of people, and unswerving belief in the beneficial impact of soccer on the personal growth of each player involved in the game.  Along the way, he has participated in many levels of coaching, administration, and leadership. 

 

Like many before him, Bill found the game through his children.  What followed was the all-too-familiar story of runaway involvement - the usual progression of “just helping” followed by assistant, head, and multi-team coaching. Then came various local board positions starting with age group commissioner in 1983, followed by field’s director, registrar, vice president, and finally league president in 1988.  He was league president through 1995.  It was this continuing grass roots involvement and 15 years of local youth league experiences that helped Bill to formulate his perspectives and philosophies that, under his later leadership as Youth State President, led to one of the greatest periods of growth of youth soccer in the history of the sport in Georgia.

 

Opportunities to become involved beyond the local league level came in 1984.  His coaching successes at DDY allowed participation in the very first year of the newly formed GYSA Premier Division, a state program designed for inter-affiliate play at an intermediate level of competition between recreational and select play.  He immediately served as Age Group Scorekeeper and for the next three years as Premier Committee Member and Program Scheduler.  This involvement with other people from other local leagues cemented his pathway to State-level service and, in 1987, he was elected to the GYSA Board as Recreational Representative. He was able to lead and champion the Premier Division concept for the next 12 years.  Additional elected roles on that board included tenures as Premier Division Representative, as Vice President, and as State President for 8 years beginning in 1991.  A second opportunity to see beyond the horizon also came in 1984 when Metro Atlanta YMCA selected him  as head coach and organizer for a U16 Boys All Star Soccer Team which accompanied Mayer Young’s YMCA International TRIAD Mission to Jamaica. The team played two International games and won the first one held in Montego Bay against the U-16 Jamaican Boys’ National Team. 

 

Bill’s involvement beyond state-level programs includes participation (as one of the 200 invitees) in the 1993 USSF Strategic Planning Summit in Chicago where a strategic, long-term plan for soccer in the United States was laid out for the next 15 years.  He served on both the USSF and the USYSA Constitutional Commissions that rewrote the bylaws of each respective organization in 1997.  He has also continued to serve on the USSF Appeals Committee since 1999.  In 2001 Bill was elected Deputy Director of Region III and was re-elected in 2003.

 

The legacy of Bill’s leadership in Georgia Soccer includes: an eight-year period of record growth in leagues and players, especially in new communities; expansion of statewide programs for player, coach, and referee development; installation of able and professional management to the fall Labor Day Atlanta Cup tournament, leading to unprecedented increases in its generated revenues; unwavering support for the concept of a professional State Director of Coaching Program; emphasis that one important goal for Georgia Soccer is to create and expand a strong Soccer Fan and Supporter base; and pursuit of the inclusive vision that the game is for players of all ages, genders, and physical abilities.