Thank you for volunteering to coach with AYSO Swartz Creek this season! We are extremely grateful to you for spending your time doing this and we know it'll be a very rewarding experience.

A few notes for you to help answer future questions:

·         We use an app called GroupMe to coordinate information and communications to all of our coaches. We have one group for 10u,12u,15u and one group for the younger ages.

·         The gate code for the lock on the front gate will be communicated to you via the GroupMe app. This allows you to get into the soccer field when the gate is locked. When you leave, if there are no other coaches present, please lock up.

·         Please be sure to contact your team as soon as you have your roster. I usually email and text. I use GroupMe to coordinate communications easily but there are other apps out there you can use as well. I gave up adding each parent in as a text contact after the first season I coached as it was too difficult and confusing.

·         We ask that you be patient as you may have to share fields this season for practices. Please also make sure your parents, grandparents, meemaws, peepaws, aunts, uncles, and good friends also know to use the parking lot respectfully on gamedays and not block the turnarounds. Technically, we’re not supposed to park near the median of the parking lot at all as it’s a fire lane.

·         Please also remind parents and visitors that we have a strict NO ANIMALS rule. This is for the safety of players and guests but also for the safety of our league – if we were to get sued we’d lose everything.

·         Please contact the coach of the team you’re playing on Monday or Tuesday of the week leading up to the game. I usually email, but you could text as well. We have a coach roster we share in the GroupMe group. Make sure they understand when and where you're playing and what color you'll wear.

·         Players and coaches are expected to show up 30 minutes early for each game so that everyone is present and ready to go.

·         Be polite and respectful to all referees. They are people and many of them are youth referees. We aren’t playing or scholarships.

·         If a coach or a parent causes trouble please let us on the AYSO board know and we will coordinate with the other team’s board to get the issue resolved. Do not engage, we value you as a volunteer and do not want you to have to waste your time.

·         It happens sometimes that a coach needs to reschedule a game. We ask that you only reschedule if it is a dire need. Message the other coach and find out when is a good time to reschedule (including weeknights) and then let us know when the game is happening so we can change the website schedule and book a referee..

·         Ask another parent or two to help be assistant coaches. It helps a ton – they can take half the kids in practice and do drills and you can take half. It is very difficult to keep the attention of an entire team.

·         AYSO provides online training that coaches are expected to complete. If you go into your own account on the AYSO website, click on Volunteer and then you’ll see the certifications you need to do.

·         Ask your parents to practice with kids in the yard at least one hour a week, preferably a half hour a day on fundamentals. It is difficult to teach and keep up fundamentals with only two hours a week of practice when you have so many other things to work on.

·         Inform the coach administrator of when you would like your practices.

·         The big green shed with the lawn mowers and other equipment has a door opener. The location of the door opener will be shared with you in the GroupMe.