The coach meeting before the start of the season covers a wide variety of topics about the coach job: checklists and resources for coaches, volunteer protection, responsibilities, and more. Check out a copy of the Coach Meeting slides. The Coach Packet has further information.
This is an online class. It takes less than an hour. Click on this link to go to the training:
Go to online Safe Haven training
Coaches are at the heart of the AYSO organization, because as a coach
you have the most contact with the kids. Coaching requires that you commit
to two afternoons per week for practice sessions, plus the game on Saturday.
With the time that you should be spending preparing for practices and games,
this is a significant commitment of time. Palo Alto AYSO appreciates the
time that you have committed, and hopes to provide you with advice and assistance
to make your coaching experience a positive one.
The rewards come in the form of watching the kids have fun at a game or practice, watching their individual skills and teamwork improve, and there is also a great sense of accomplishment when you reach the end of a season and look back and see how far the team has come.
Coaches have to put in a lot of work during the course of the season: 2 practices per week, plus a game on Saturday, plus preparation time for each practice, plus general administrative work. Over the course of an 11 week season this is well over 50 hours of work. While there are other volunteer positions that require more time, coaching provides the greatest opportunity for you to have fun!
And for those who have "serious" jobs, there is no better way to regain your perspective than to watch a bunch of 7 year olds at practice.
There are generally three types of coaches:
The social coach wants to go out and have a good time. If the kids want to have fun at practice (and not work on dribbling for 40 minutes), that's no problem. The social coach enjoys meeting the parents on Saturday morning. This may be the case for some parent coaches who did not grow up playing soccer.
The task oriented coach is looking to see players develop their soccer skills over the course of a season. Many who have played soccer as kids and/or adults, tend to be somewhat task oriented, since they have the skills that they want to share.
The goal oriented coach wants to see results. Sometimes this means winning on the score board, but it can often mean that the coach wants to see the team show some level of improvement as a team.
Of course, most coaches have some degree of the three characteristics listed above, but if you have no soccer skills and just want to be a social coach, attending a coaching clinic will help you gain enough knowledge to get by. If you already have the soccer skills, but are scared of working with a group of kids, we will give you some ideas about running a practice and having fun.
I don't have the upper and lower limits on hand, but we have some fairly "senior" coaches who are still out there working with the kids, and we have a good number of young or "youth" coaches (under the age of 18). High school age coaches often provide terrific role models for the young players, and these coaches have typically grown up playing the game.
We do require that an adult (or at least someone over 18) be at every game and practice, but Palo Alto AYSO strongly encourages youth coaches. It's a valuable form of community service.
You sign up to coach at registration time when you register your child or children to play.
If you have a child that is already on a team which has a coach, just let the coach know that you are interested in coaching and would like to help. Most of our coaches will be delighted to use you.
The coach side of the organization is supervised by the Region Chief Coach
, with help from the Assistant Chief Coach. The responsibility of these
positions is the recruiting and training of the coaches for the individual
teams. The coaches in each age group will have direct contact
with their Division Commissioners, who are responsible for assigning coaches
to teams and for the formation of the teams.
Practice field assignment and coordination is handled by the Practice Field
Coordinator. This person allocates practice fields to the divisions,
sets up practice slots, and keeps on top of things like field closures
and day light savings time slot squeezes.
By the way, if you would like to find out more about the way Region 26 runs,
you could volunteer as an Assistant Division Commissioner. Most of you are probably aware
that the Division Commissioners put in a lot of work to make sure that the divisions are
run smoothly, and they can always use help.
See
the board list for contact information for all these positions.
Thanks!
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