Certification Courses for Coaches & Assistant Coaches
Prior to every season and often in between seasons, we offer a series of certification courses for parents who wish to become coaches and assistant coaches. This is the beginning of your training, not the end. Participating in and completing the certification process is a requirement in order to coach. All coaches and assistant coaches must take Safe Haven and complete the age appropriate level of certification training for the teams they are coaching.
For your convenience, most of these courses can be taken online at ayso U.org
- Safe Haven (2 hours)* -- required for all coaches and assistant coaches
- U6 Course (2 hours)
- U8 Course (2 hours)
- U10 Course (2 hours)
- U12 Course (5 hours)
- Intermediate Coaching Course (15 hours)
Access a wealth of information from AYSO on the coach resource page -> www.ayso.org/For_Volunteers/coaches.htm
Link to fun drills and training games-> www.ayso.org/For_Volunteers/coaches/coach_training_games.htm
Incident Report Form
For any incident or accident on the field during a game or practice, related parties need to fill out an Incident Form.
Contact the Safety Director with any questions at [email protected].
The form should be filled out by a Coach, Referee or other volunteer (like the Safety Director or Division Head) for any of the following:
- Injuries
- Incidents -- threats or fighting -- any type
- Property damage
- Law enforcement summoned
Why Do We Play Small Sided?
First of all, what are Small-Sided Games? These are soccer games with fewer players competing on a smaller sized field. These are fun games that increase player involvement because fewer players are sharing one ball. Small-sided soccer is about what is best for young soccer players.
Here are some of the reasons we must guarantee that our young soccer players play small-sided games:
1. Because we want our young soccer players to touch the soccer ball more often and become more skillful with it! (Individual technical development)
2. Because we want our young soccer players to make more, less-complicated decisions during the game! (Tactical development)
3. Because we want our young soccer players to be more physically efficient in the field space they are playing in! (Reduced field size)
4. Because we want our young soccer players to have more individual teaching time with the coach! Less players on the field and less players on the team will guarantee this! (Need to feel worthy and need to feel important)
5. Because we want our young soccer players to have more involved playing time in the game! (More opportunity to solve problems that only the game presents)
6. Because we want our young soccer players to have more opportunity to play on both sides of the ball! (More exposure to attacking and defending situations)
7. Because we want our young soccer players to have more opportunities to score goals! (Pure excitement)
Please understand and honor what years of wisdom and experience (AYSO & FIFA) have taught us about how many players should be on the field for a particular age group. We marry that number with the right sized field to give all of our kids the best soccer learning experience that we can. In other words, please do not allow or support the interest of some to put more kids on the field than is prescribed here. If needed, a team can put less players on the field, but never more.
Balanced Teams
We depend on our coaches to provide player ratings to help us form balanced teams. At the end of each season, coaches will be asked to rate the players. Please refer to this document PLAYER RATINGS for details & instructions on completing this process.
Final Games