Helena Youth Soccer Association

Board Mettings & Minutes

The HYSA Board of Directors meets at 5:30 pm on the third Monday evening of every month, at the Montana School Board building 863 Great Northern Blvd. Please contact us in case there may be a change of day, time or venue for the meeting. 

The HYSA Board's Meeting Minutes and other public documents are available for review upon request. Please send your request to the attention of our Board President Email Us

AGENDA FOR SEPTEMBER 2023 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Board Members

Board Members

Board Member underline

Amy Christensen

President

Amy’s primary exposure to soccer has been as a parent/fan of her two younger daughters, Ellie and Jane, who have played through the rec, Academy, and Arsenal programs at HYSA.  

After coaching Jane’s rec team through a few seasons, it soon became clear that the kids knew way more about the game than she did, and she transitioned to being a manager for various teams over the years.

Amy has been a member of the HYSA Board since 2018 and she is the managing partner at Christensen & Prezeau law firm.

email: Amy Christensen

Frank Cornwell

Treasurer

Frank Cornwell has lived in Montana his entire life and has grown to love the greater area of Helena since he moved here in 2009. He developed a love for the game of soccer during the first time he saw his daughters, Taylor and Ashlynn, start playing for HYSA.

Ever since their first games, he’s been coaching having earned his E License and then joining the HYSA Board of Directors in 2013. He has coached 6 years of recreational league soccer and had 3 straight seasons were his teams did not lose a game. He is also proud that most of the players he has coached with the recreational program have moved on to play competitively in the Arsenal program. Along with his involvement with the recreational program, Frank continues to be actively involved in coaching after having completed 5 years of coaching Arsenal Academy and Arsenal competitive soccer.

email: Frank Cornwell

Quinlan O'Connor

Secretary

Quinlan grew up in Billings playing soccer, and refereed soccer since high school.

He got back into soccer in 2017 as a referee here in Helena, and his son has started to play.

Quinlan is Chief Legal Counsel at the Department of Labor & Industry, and joined the HYSA board in 2022.

email: Quinlan O'Connor

Andy Adamek

Andy played recreational and pickup soccer growing up and jumped back into the game several decades later as a parent of two young players who wound their way through local youth soccer in Helena to find the HYSA Recreational League in 2010.

Since then Andy has supported HYSA first as a Recreational League coach, then as an Academy coach, followed by numerous seasons of Arsenal coaching for U12 - U17 boys age groups. In his varying roles as a coach and manager, his teams have won State Cups attended college showcase/id tournaments and played into the USYS Region 4 Far West Regionals Championship. Andy is a Helena-based USYS Referee.

Along with his wife Marika, and sons Aidan and Nate, Andy has supported player development opportunities in Montana through MT ODP now known as the Montana Development Program. As an HYSA Board Member Andy remains committed to promoting positive club expectations and experiences for all players, coaches, officials, and HYSA Members as our club teams compete and grow on the pitch in Montana and beyond.

email: Andy Adamek

Dawn Gallinger

Dawn joined the HYSA Board in 2023. She has been coaching with HYSA (Recreation, Academy, and now Arsenal) for the past 6 years. She has two daughters, Rylee and Lachlyn who play with the Arsenal program.

She knows how important this program is to her family and wants to ensure that more Helena area families have the opportunity to participate. She has a background in technology, fundraising, and facility planning and wants to bring these passions and focus to the club. 

email: Dawn Gallinger

Bree Gee

Bree is a lifelong Montanan who grew up in the Bitterroot Valley. Now with a family of four children, they moved to Helena in 2018 and love it here!

She grew up playing sports, but has only learned about soccer since their boys started playing. Her husband coached each of their boys on HYSA micro and recreational teams. They now love to sit together on the sidelines and cheer the boys on while they play with their Academy teams.

She is happy to help HYSA as a board member and as a parent and finds Helena being full of great people and amazing soccer.

email: Bree Gee

Mike Hoxie

Mike has been involved in youth soccer since 1995 when he coached his oldest son Chris in Kennewick Washington.  Since then he has coached both girls and boys teams up to the U-14 level in Washington and Montana.  

He holds E Level Coaching Certification.  Mike also played high school soccer well before soccer was a popular youth sport.  While living in Germany with the US Military he played on the local club soccer team.  He currently has two children involved in the program both playing at the Arsenal level and his niece is currently involved in the recreational program.  

Mike is an active referee and each weekend you can find him refereeing multiple youth games.  Mike works locally for an environmental remediation firm located in St Paul MN.

email: Mike Hoxie

Scott Lockwood

Scott Lockwood started his interest in soccer when participating on the Helena High ski team. The coach was looking for a fun activity that involved lots of running to get the team into shape during preseason so he had them play soccer. Nobody knew the rules except for a French foreign exchange student who knew the game but not how to coach, especially in English. Scott went on to play intramural soccer in college and occasional adult soccer in Helena. Coaching for HYSA began when he coached his son Sean on the U-14 boys Arsenal team (along with the legendary John Hollow) in 1985. Since then he has coached Arsenal teams at every age group and gender. He started coaching girls in 1993 and met his wife Dawn while coaching her daughter Kim Leighton. His teams have won numerous State Championships and competed at the Far West Regional Tournament as well as the USA Cup. He has a National “D” coaching license and continues to assist HYSA teams. He also assisted with the Helena High School girls soccer program for a number of years. Recognizing a need for girls to develop their soccer skills in an all-girls environment, 1990’s he approached the HYSA with an idea for an All Girls League. He and Dave Michels set up a registration table in the Capital Hill Mall and the first season about 45 grade school age girls played the first recreational soccer sponsored by HYSA. The turnout doubled every season for many years and became a vibrant force in the emerging dominance of Helena girls soccer throughout Montana. This program eventually evolved into our recreational soccer program available for boys and girls.

Scott has been on the HYSA board of directors nearly every year since the beginning and is currently the President of HYSA. He was the MYSA state player registrar and has been recognized as coach of the year by HYSA and the Montana Youth Soccer Association. He was the State Referee Administrator for Montana for more than 25 years and continues to train more than 100 referees every year. He has been the Soccer rules interpreter for the Montana High School Association for more than 20 years and has sat on the National Federation of High Schools Soccer Rules committee for 3 years.

email: Scott Lockwood

Sean Lawlor

Sean's interest in soccer began in college when he played club soccer while at Dartmouth to supplement training for track and field and cross-country running. He began his association with HYSA when his oldest daughter, Aine, started in the Recreational League program. He quickly transitioned into coaching her team and continued coaching as Gracie and Tess were added to the Lawlor clan. After several years coaching, Sean joined the board. He has been on the board since 2010 and is currently serving as President.

email: Sean Lawlor

Timothy Leinonen

Timo, born and raised in Detroit, played youth soccer and became a devoted fan of the sport. He moved to Helena in the summer of 2019 with his young family, to be closer to relatives in Ennis and to find a supportive community.

He currently coaches his two young boys in Micro and Recreational, much to his enjoyment. After joining the board in 2022, he was part of the 2023 Strategic Plan development and is committed to seeing the growth and success of the Helena Youth Soccer Association into the future.

Outside of HYSA activities, Timo is a licensed architect, contributing to many community projects around Montana. He brings 12 years of experience in planning and project management to the board and aspires to elevate HYSA as the premier soccer club of Montana.

email: Timo Leinonen

Nate McCarthy

As a dedicated board member and coach within our organization, Nate brings a wealth of experience and passion to the realm of soccer development.

With over 15 years of coaching recreational and Arsenal soccer in our programs, he has been honored as both Recreational Coach of the Year and Arsenal Coach of the Year. His roots in soccer and the community run deep — he played Arsenal and High School soccer in Helena growing up, earning All-Conference recognition his junior year and achieving All-State honors his senior year of high school as well as playing on a state champion Arsenal team.

Beyond his contributions on the field, he is a CPA with over 25 years of experience, specializing in working with nonprofit organizations. Married with three children, all of whom have been passionate soccer players, he is committed to fostering a positive and inclusive environment for youth development in soccer, ensuring that our organization thrives both competitively and organizationally.

email: Nate McCarthy