Thanks for your patience in waiting for your team assignments. All parents should be notified by their coaches no later than Thursday. If you have not heard from a coach, please email your division commissioner.
Practices start next week and the first game is on Saturday September 6th. The kinder league has no weekday practices and they play at JLS from 3 PM to 4 PM starting September 13th.
In addition, to our standard divisions, we also have a VIP division for those kids who are physically handicapped but still want to play soccer. This is our third year for this division. The division chair is Charles Malone who is doing an awesome job. He is looking for volunteers. The VIP division plays on Sunday afternoons at Hoover Park. If you would like to help out or know of someone who could help out, please let us know.
For those of you that are new to AYSO, each team will have two practices per week and a game on Saturday (Sunday for U16 and U19). Practice times are usually one hour in the younger groups but the actual time will be up to the coach. The coach will also determine the start time.
For those kids in U12 and up, there will be a regional tournament at the end of the season followed by an area tournament. The season is 11 weeks long, finishing off on the weekend before Thanksgiving. The regional tournament is usually on the first weekend in December. The area tournament is the following weekend.
This year we are looking at new tool to help out with team communication. It is called UpToUs and was developed by a soccer coach in Palo Alto. Please check it out. We are leaving it up to the coaches to decide if they want to use it or not. To get the software, go to http://www.uptous.com. UpToUs incorporates everything a team needs in one place, including parent directory, an announcement system, a shared calendar, photo sharing, a volunteering organizer (snack scheduler, team roles, etc.) and more. We recommend that coaches and parents use it for their teams. If you have any questions or requests for additional features, please feel free to contact Yuval Spector (Email: yuval.spector @ gmail.com , Phone: 650-292-4802).
Boys and Girls Under-7 and Under-8 (6 and 7 year olds) play their games 4 to a side, with 10 players on the roster. For the Saturday games, each team divides into two "mini-teams" and plays the other team's "mini-teams". This format was piloted in 1998 and 1999 and has been a regular part of the program since 2000.
Why? This is part of a trend within AYSO and elsewhere to match the game format to the age and development level of the children. Our region has emphasized the small-sided game as a teaching system in the youth coaching clinics in recent years. Coaches who have used the system at practices have reported great success and an enthusiastic response from the kids. The following observations motivate this format.
On any given game day the players do not switch between mini-teams, but the makeup of the two mini-teams will likely vary from week to week.
Each of the two mini games needs one referee. We ask that each team provide two referees. Only one from each team is needed each week, but we like to have 2 trained referees
in case one is absent. Games are "self-assigned", meaning the referees at the game will decide who will referee each mini game. Referees must attend a 3 hour clinic to be
properly certified at this level. If you are already certified, a refresher clinic is strongly recommended. Clinic information can be found at http://www.ayso26.org/ref/clinics.html.
As mandated in the FIFA Laws of the Game used worldwide, no player may wear anything considered dangerous to themselves or any other player. This includes all jewelry.
We run into problems every year with players with newly pierced ears who do not want to remove the studs. Referees are instructed not to let them play unless they remove them; covering them with tape is *not* an option. The best solution - wait until the end of the season to get the piercings.
The game format in U9 is similar to U7 and U8 (see http://ayso26.org/divisions.html#U9), except that the two mini games are played on slightly larger fields with 5-a-side. There are ideally 12 players on the roster.
For the Saturday games, each team divides into two "mini-teams" and plays the other team's "mini-teams". This format was piloted in 1998 and 1999 and has been a regular part of the program since 2000.
On any given game day the players do not switch between mini-teams, but the makeup of the two mini-teams will likely vary from week to week.
Each of the two mini games needs one referee. We ask that each team provide two referees. Only one from each team is needed each week, but we like to have 2 trained referees
in case one is absent. Games are "self-assigned", meaning the referees at the game will decide who will referee each mini game. Referees must attend a 3 hour clinic to be properly certified at this level. If you are already certified, a refresher clinic is strongly recommended. Clinic information can be found at http://www.ayso26.org/ref/clinics.html.
As mandated in the FIFA Laws of the Game used worldwide, no player may wear anything considered dangerous to themselves or any other player. This includes all jewelry.
We run into problems every year with players with newly pierced ears who do not want to remove the studs. Referees are instructed not to let them play unless they remove them; covering them with tape is *not* an option. The best solution - wait until the end of the season to get the piercings.
U10 is a big step up from U9, as we move from using laws of the game that are substantially modified for the younger children, to the standard laws of the game, with slight
modifications due to the reduction in field and goal size (yes, we use the offside law in this division!). The games are played 7-a-side with rosters of 10 players.
We use the standard diagonal system of refereeing in this division, with three referees. Referees are parent volunteers from the teams playing. The home team must provide a trained center referee. (Failure to do so means the home team forfeits the game.) The two assistant referees who work the sidelines may come from either team; it is therefore
recommended that each team have at least two trained referees. Under-10 Rules and refereeing are described in more detail in the Referee section of our web site,
Under-10 Rules page (see http://www.ayso26.org/ref/d5regs.html). At this level, referees must take the Basic Referee class. Referee training from U9 is *not* adequate for this level! The class schedule can be found at http://www.ayso26.org/ref/clinics.html.
As mandated in the FIFA Laws of the Game used worldwide, no player may wear anything considered dangerous to themselves or any other player. This includes all jewelry.
We run into problems every year with players with newly pierced ears who do not want to remove the studs. Referees are instructed not to let them play unless they remove them; covering them with tape is *not* an option. The best solution - wait until the end of the season to get the piercings.
The game format in U12 is essentially the same as U10, with the full laws of the game. The main difference is that the games are played with 9 to a side, with rosters of 12. The U12 fields are full size.
There is a major change in the way referees are assigned in the U12 division. Parents are no longer allowed to be the center referee for their own child's game. Parent referees may be assistant referees, however, for their own child's game for any age group.
Since parents are no longer allowed to be center referee for their own child's game, we expect the referees to help out by refereeing games their children are not involved in. We
depend on this, otherwise we would not have any referees**! The referees are assigned to games by a scheduler. The scheduler will typically assign a referee to be the center
referee to a game before or after their child's game, and then assign them as assistant referee to their child's game. Referees are asked to input their preferences into the WYS
system at the beginning of the season (how many games per day, centers or lines, days available, which divisions), and the scheduler uses this information to make compatible
assignments.
Referees at this level are expected to have at least the Basic Referee training, and at a minimum attend a refresher clinic each year. Referees who have had at least a year of
experience at this level are encouraged to attend the Intermediate Referee course. Clinic information can be found at http://www.ayso26.org/ref/clinics.html.
**People ask each year why we can't simply bring in other referees and pay them. The problem is - there aren't any! Most referees in Palo Alto started out in AYSO. The ones working for other clubs are over-worked, and, indeed, many of the experienced referees in AYSO also help out with the other clubs because there is such a chronic shortage of referees. Besides which, AYSO is an all-volunteer organization and paying referees would violate AYSO National regulations. AYSO has to be self-sufficient regarding referees, or the program just won't work.
As mandated in the FIFA Laws of the Game used worldwide, no player may wear anything considered dangerous to themselves or any other player. This includes all jewelry.
We run into problems every year with players with newly pierced ears who do not want to remove the studs. Referees are instructed not to let them play unless they remove them; covering them with tape is *not* an option. The best solution wait until the end of the season to get the piercings.
In the upper divisions we play with the full laws of the game, on full size fields with 11 players a-side. U14 teams play on Saturday mornings against other Palo Alto AYSO teams,
while U16 and U19 teams play on Sunday afternoons against teams from neighboring AYSO regions, with travel to neighboring cities occasionally.
As in U12, parents are not allowed to referee their own child's game in U14 and above, except as assistant referee. We expect referees to help out by refereeing games their
children are not involved in. We depend on this, otherwise we would not have any referees**!
In U14, referees are assigned to games by the U14 referee coordinator. The coordinator will typically assign a referee to be the center referee to a game before or after their child's game, and then assign them as assistant referee to their child's game. Referees are asked to input their preferences into the WYS system at the beginning of the season (how many games per day, centers or lines, days available, which divisions), and the assigner uses this information to make compatible assignments.
The U16 and U19 games, since these involve teams from other AYSO regions, are scheduled by the AYSO Area coordinator, and referees are scheduled by the Area referee coordinator.
The Area referee coordinator uses the same WYS system to do assignments, so preferences need only be entered once to referee any level of game, whether U12 or U19.
It is strongly recommended that referees upgrade their qualifications to referee in these divisions. Clinics for the Intermediate and Advanced referee badges will be available in the fall. Please check the web site for details. At a minimum, all referees should attend a refresher clinic at the beginning of the season. The clinic schedule can be found at http://www.ayso26.org/ref/clinics.html.
**People ask each year why we can't simply bring in other referees and pay them. The problem is - there aren't any! Most referees in Palo Alto started out in AYSO. The ones working for other clubs are over-worked, and, indeed, many of the experienced referees in AYSO also help out with the other clubs because there is such a chronic shortage of referees. Besides which, AYSO is an
all-volunteer organization and paying referees would violate AYSO National regulations. AYSO has to be self-sufficient regarding referees, or the program just won't work.
As mandated in the FIFA Laws of the Game used worldwide, no player may wear anything considered dangerous to themselves or any other player. This includes all jewelry. We run into problems every year with players with newly pierced ears who do not want to remove the studs. Referees are instructed not to let them play unless they remove them; covering them with tape is *not* an option. The best solution - wait until the end of the season to get the piercings.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN U7 and U8:
GAME FORMAT in U7 and U8
How Does It Work?
REFEREES
BODY PIERCINGS
WHAT TO EXPECT IN U9
GAME FORMAT in U9
How Does It Work?
REFEREES
BODY PIERCINGS
WHAT TO EXPECT IN U10
GAME FORMAT in U10
REFEREES
BODY PIERCINGS
WHAT TO EXPECT IN U12
GAME FORMAT in U12
REFEREES
BODY PIERCINGS
WHAT TO EXPECT IN U14, U16, and U19
GAME FORMAT in U14, U16, and U19
REFEREES
BODY PIERCINGS