Getting Ready for Fall Season?

Region 174 volunteers certainly are!! One of the great things about AYSO Region 174 is that it is run entirely by volunteers from this community.  If your child, grandchild, brother, sister, niece, nephew, or friend is playing soccer in our region, then YOU are part of our community of volunteers.  Without question, we all want our kids to have a great experience this season, and this requires YOUR participation.  As the season begins you will be informed of many different ways you can help our region provide a great experience for your child, many of which don’t take much time or effort but really make a difference when everyone chips in.

So when you get that call from your child’s coach providing information about the season, please let them know you’d like to help.  Here are some of the roles we are always looking for people to help with, and remember, we’re ALL volunteers so if we can do it, so can you.

Coach – we are still recruiting for coaches right now, so if you are interested in coaching please contact the appropriate division manager listed on the Board page of this site.  Becoming a coach is one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do.  We train all our coaches, so don’t feel you need to have prior experience or deep knowledge of the game.  You just have to like working with kids, have a positive attitude, and understand we are hear to develop kids as soccer players with great character and sportsmanship.

Asst. Coach – behind every great coach there’s a great Assistant.  It’s possible to coach solo, but many coaches find the experience more fun and efficient by collaborating with another volunteer.  Plus, your kids will get more one-on-one instruction when you’ve more coaches.

Team Parent/Banner/Candy coordinators – having a great team parent is often the critical ingredient to a fun season for your kids.  Team parents help organize the volunteer activities of the other parents, such as getting a team banner made, team roster, snack schedule, and a variety of other administrative tasks.  It doesn’t take a lot of time, but every team needs at least one, and asking the coach to do this will only take time away from being the best coach they can be.

Referee – our region prides itself on having a quality crew of referees every year, but every year it requires new volunteers to get involved.  Like coaching, we train all our referees so don’t feel you need extensive prior knowledge of the game.  The training is excellent and walks through all of the relevant laws of the game, from time keeping, to penalties, to off-side.  Once certified you’ll be an official regional referee (we’ll provide a uniform), and best of all you’ll be part of a fun and supportive group of referees who can teach and mentor you along the way.  By the way, we have an excellent youth referee program offering kids 12 and up the opportunity to ref the younger kids game (U6-U8).  It’s a great way to make friends, and most of the kids end up learning more about the game in the process.

Beyond these volunteer duties there are many other ways to help out, from painting lines, working in the snack bar, collecting trash, moving goals, to helping board members with coordinating all this activity.  Again, everything your child experiences has been provided by a volunteer, and every volunteer is created by people like you offering to help.  So please don’t be shy, reach out when you have the opportunity and let us know you want to help.

Thank You.