This is written as a "coach" and parent... but mainly as a coach.
GREAT idea... horrendous "organization" and terrible support for the coaches and volunteers.
My wife and I signed up our oldest daughter for U6 (under six) soccer to get her into some team sports, we paid the various fees. Then we didn't hear much until the season was about to begin, basically got a last second email saying there was no team for her and if she wanted to play, I had to be a coach. Um, okay, great... I work two jobs but I'll kick in for my daughter, absolutely - even though I know NOTHING about soccer (played football, baseball and basketball though). This was a couple weeks before the season began so they said I had to go to a coach's training thing (about four hours) and there was one of the last ones left coming up the following week or so, so I went to that. That was helpful, they showed us the various goals to teach the kids and I especially liked how they emphasized that it's for FUN... no scores. My first red flag was when I asked, "Where do we buy the pennies (extra jerseys) for the kids and the other stuff?" I was nicely told it was out of pocket because it's volunteer-based. Then where does our money go when we join as a parent - no money to support the coaches...? Fortunately they end up having some extras on game day.
Okay, I'm trained, ready to roll... then the week after, we're told we need a coach's meeting to get the jerseys and go over some things. Awesome, I need info! So the meeting was scheduled with Gary, who oversees us directly. That was scheduled on a Tuesday (or Wednesday?)... a couple days before the big opening weekend the following Saturday. At the meeting, we were given the jerseys and forms that I needed the parents to sign. So, I had to scramble and get a parents meeting between then and the opening weekend. We were also told we had to sell raffle tickets to raise money. Okay, bring them back in two or three weeks? No, they wanted them returned by Friday morning. I'm supposed to organize a team meeting in a day, pass these tickets out to them, have them try to sell them within ONE DAY, then collect them that night then return them Friday morning? I mean, seriously? With an OUNCE of planning, then maybe. Oh, also, at the coach's meeting, I was told we need to make a banner for the parade. Banners take about a week. I had three days but got it done.
Opening weekend; it's a fun parade for the kids with their teams. The bummer is the pictures. The parade was around noon... our picture slot was 7am. I'm sorry but there's no way any kid is going to hang out for five hours on a hot day until the parade... the parents said either pictures or the parade - we opted for the parade and I took the kids' picture.
The games are played at Calabasas High School at the top of this huge hill you have to walk up. I'm fine with that but the older parents and other people struggled with that. There has to be a better location for these games. I saw way too many kids faceplant coming down that hill, onto the concrete path.
After all of that madness, it's all about the games. It's the fun part for sure, watching your kids run around. They have a skills coach who helps with the drills to get you going, then you take over, so that's a big help. The games are about 40 minutes with breaks, up to the coaches and parents. It sucked for our team because most teams had six kids... we were given five girls and one dad pulled the daughter... so we had four girls total and rarely did all four show up. So, we never really got to play as a team, always piggy-backing onto other teams. It wasn't bad though, they got to meet new friends that way.
One week, it was pouring rain all day and night before, leading up to the game. The parents were calling and emailing me, asking if the game was canceled, not comfortable with their kids running around on slippery grass. For the life of me, I couldn't get an answer from anyone at AYSO. We said forget it but apparently the games still went on.
At the end of the season, there are trophies and they ask for a list of the kids' names, which I provided and checked the spelling. Sure enough, one of the girls' names was spelled wrong. They told the trophy place and had a new thing made up but they wanted me to go get it.
Anyway - they try but it's just a mess behind the scenes and the parents could tell and they were getting irritated, venting to me about things they were dealing with. I didn't know it was volunteer-based. I don't know where the money goes but if they beg for volunteers and you get people like myself stepping up... you HAVE to help us! Next year, I'm definitely not putting my daughter in AYSO, after this experience.
On the last day (trophy day), they gave me some papers, thought it was a "thank you" of some kind... I looked, info for another AYSO fundraiser!? You're welcome...? read more
