New/Potential AYSO 1046 Coaches:
Here are some FAQ’s about coaching a soccer team in AYSO 1046
#1. How much time is required to be a Team Coach?
Actually if you already plan to attend practices and games, then the extra time needed to be the team coach is very small.
The coach’s main job is to organize the team and delegate tasks; you don't have to be there for everything. All AYSO volunteers need to fill out a volunteer form, provide references, a photo ID, and answer questions on the volunteer form. They also are required to take a safe haven class (typically 45 – 60 minutes online). This gets you qualified, from there coaching classes are offered, typically 120 minutes for U6/U8 classes and around 3 – 4 hours for U10/U12 (and these are optional). You must attend a coach meeting at the beginning of the season (about 2 hrs), pick up team uniforms, and call your players, and for U8 and older teams, pick a practice location and time. All coaching supplies are provided by the league. U5 and U6 teams practice and play on Saturdays, so your typical time commitment is about 75 minutes per week, U8 teams practice once per week (your choice of weekday evening) for 60 minutes and the games last around 60 minutes (there also can be setup/teardown time depending on the scheduling), so around 2 to 2.5 hours per week for U8 teams. U10’s and up normally practice 2x per week and games last about 1.5 hours, so typically more time for older divisions.
Soccer is a team sport and we coach as a team, also! When you have your initial team meeting, don’t let the other parents leave without choosing an assistant coach and a team parent. If you cannot make it to a practice or a game, your assistant and/or team parent normally can. So its very important to get that early commitment right up front, for an assistant coach(es) (your backups) and team parent (snack schedule, call players in case of bad weather, organize the end of year team party) so your time commitment doesn’t get out of hand
#2. I really can’t be a coach, I travel too much for my work.
Many coaches must travel for work and they still turn out to be great coaches. Many coaches have full time jobs, they volunteer in other organizations, they have many family commitments and they still turn out to be great coaches! Those assistant coaches and team parents really can help, See #1.
#3. My schedule is very tight during the week, how can I fit in a soccer practice with all my other commitments?
For U5 and U6 players, there is no practice during the week! Just show up on Saturday and that’s it!. For older players, the Team Coach picks the practice night and location based on what is convenient for them. The division coordinators can work to resolve practice conflicts with the players, so pick a night (or 2) that works for you and the rest will be resolved.
#4. How can I do this job? I don’t know anything about soccer.
We offer free coaching clinics. They are fun, fun and fun! We teach you the fundamentals of the game in ways that are age-appropriate for you to teach your team. The U6 and U8 rules are very simple, they don’t even goalies! The kids feed off enthusiasm, so come out with a positive attitude and your team will have a blast.
We keep our teams small (only 6 player max on a U6 teams) so they are easy to coach, we don’t have complex offensive and defensive squads, every player plays every position at the younger ages, it makes the game much easier to teach and much more fun to play.
Even with training and small teams, coaching can seem like a daunting task. We are putting a program in place to pair up new coaches with a "veteran" coach (both teams practice together). This would happen for at least the first 3 weeks. After this, the veteran coach would continue to be there as a mentor and a sounding board. The pairing will be based on practice schedule. Even if the age groups are different, the "veteran" coach would still be a valuable guide.
#5. Why me? Isn’t somebody else better qualified? .
Coaching children in the U5, U6, and U8 divisions is much less about knowing soccer and much more about knowing children. Some of our best long-time coaches began as moms or dads at U5, U6 or U8 telling the kids, “Yay! Kick the ball that way! Hurray!” with huge enthusiasm and a natural positive attitude. Children who are surrounded by “Yay for you!” on the soccer field LOVE to play soccer. When they love it, they play it better and with more zeal!
MOMS! This means, YOU, too! Coaching can be a great parent-child bonding experience, we love dads who coach and we love MOMS who coach. Please volunteer to give it a try!
#6. I’ve never heard of a situation where an AYSO player couldn’t play because of a lack of coaches, why the big deal??
We’ve turned away very few kids in the past because of a lack of coaches, and all of those were very late entrants. But, we’ve had to ask coaches to coach 2 teams and sometimes to take more players than what is optimal for their age group. We want every parent to seriously consider coaching, and to keep our team sizes small, we need lots of coaches, 150 to 200 for a typical season. If every team gets 2 or 3 coaches initially, that’s great, but if we don’t have enough coaches to support the number of players then we can’t provide the best experience for our kids.
#7. I can coach but I hate building team contact lists, snack schedules, planning parties and that kind of stuff.
Get a team parent! If you know a parent of a child on your roster, call them first and see if they'll do it, otherwise at your first practice/parent team meeting, make it a stipulation for you coaching the team that you'll do it only if someone volunteers to be the team parent and you're not leaving that night until you get one.
Team Parent's Corner
By Emily Cohen
Too often, coaches try to take everything on themselves, from creating the team roster to checking player availability to organizing carpools. That's simply too much to handle for someone whose primary focus should be making sure the kids are having fun, learning soccer skills and ensuring everyone gets equal playing time.
So, what is a coach to do? Delegate, that's what! Here are the top five things you should have your team parent or manager do from the get-go. And don't be afraid to ask them to do more! Treat them like your right-hand man-or woman-and you'll be rewarded with a more enjoyable, organized coaching experience.
1.When your team roster comes out, have your team parent verify all parents' contact information - especially cell phone numbers and email addresses!
2.Activate your Shutterfly (http://www.shutterfly.com/ayso/) team share site and designate your team parent as an administrator. The Shutterfly team share site will allow your team parent to put a calendar together for games and practices, send parents automatic notifications when the schedule changes, coornidate the snack schedule and more!
3.Have your team parent handle the snack schedule or have them designate another parent. This is a perfect thing to offload-and they can do using online tools as well.
4.Uniforms don't fit? Need another jersey? Ask your team parent to interface with the league and your team parents so it's a coordinated effort-and your team gets everything it needs. (they can email our 1046 uniform director at uniforms@ayso1046.org
5.Remind your team parent to start planning early for the end-of-season team party. They can even designate another parent to be the party planner. Thinking ahead means no last-minute searches for trophies and pizza parlors! (more details)