Coaching Policy FAQ
AYSO has once again taken a leadership role within the youth sports community by requiring that all AYSO coaches be trained at the appropriate level of the team they are coaching. With this requirement in place, beginning August 2010 with the U-6 division, every AYSO child will be ensured of the best possible soccer learning experience. Below are questions we anticipate and the answers to those questions. More will be added as they arise.
When will this coach training requirement go into effect?
Beginning August 1, 2010, coaches and assistant coaches in the Under-6 (U-6) divisions in all AYSO Regions will be required to have AYSO’s age-appropriate training when they take the field. Each year thereafter, the training requirement will extend to the coaches and assistant coaches in the next age division until, by the 2015 membership year, every AYSO coach and assistant coach at every level will be appropriately trained for the age division of the team they will coach.
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Will all coaches (head and assistant) be required to be trained?
Yes. All head coaches and assistant coaches will be required to have attended AYSO’s age-appropriate training, beginning in the 2010 Membership Year with the U-6 division.
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How will AYSO help my Region accomplish this?
To help coaches satisfy this new requirement, AYSO will increase its efforts to deliver this important training in more locations and more frequently leading up to the start of the 2010 membership year, and each year thereafter. Regions can and should look to their Area and Section Coaching staffs to secure additional support in staging this training.
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Will there be an online U-6 Coaching Course?
Yes. AYSO is already at work on an online training course for U-6 coaches which will provide full certification for a prospective coach when a live course is unavailable. The U-6 online course will be available as soon as possible but no later than March 31, 2010.
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Will AYSO coaches still be required to be currently registered AYSO volunteers and have AYSO Safe Haven® certification?
Yes. All AYSO coaches will still be required to be currently registered AYSO volunteers and have completed AYSO Safe Haven® certification.
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What about coaches who have been coaching in a Region for years and have not attended any training? Will they be granted a waiver?
No. Coaches with no training certifications will be required to attend the appropriate level of training, starting with those who will coach a U-6 team in 2010. Training is a benefit. It makes coaches – even long time coaches – better coaches. And better coaches make a more enjoyable experience for the players.
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If a coach is not trained will the Region have to cancel games?
Yes. The plan is that ample opportunities will be available to secure the needed training, including an online course, enabling even a last-minute volunteer to get the training that will make him/her more effective and will provide a better experience for the players and their families. All our members must know the importance AYSO assigns to properly trained coaches. For that occasional situation where the regular coach is unable to attend the game, another age-appropriately trained coach can serve as a substitute.
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We do not have coach instructors in our Region, what is my next step.
Call your Section or Area Coaching Staff. They can help arrange for the instructors to provide the needed coach training courses at a place and time convenient for your Region’s volunteers.
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Does the AYSO Coach Advisory Commission support this requirement that all AYSO coaches be age-appropriately trained?
Yes. Enthusiastically! Several years ago, AYSO National Coach John Ouellette assembled an advisory group made up of some of the best minds in the game. They studied the way in which players in countries the world over are developed, technically and tactically. From those sessions emerged decisions about the number of players on the field, the specific skills to be taught at each age group and the proper point at which to introduce tactical decision making. Today, the AYSO National Coaching Program, the only soccer training program in the country to be accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Coaching Education, is a bottom to top, incremental approach to teaching the game of soccer to kids. In 2005, the United States Soccer Federation published “Best Practices for Coaching Soccer in the United States,” a position paper on teaching the game that is essentially a mirror image of the principles and practices AYSO has advocated for years. The members of today’s AYSO National Coach Advisory Commission are products of that AYSO Coaching Program, success stories drawn from Sections all across the country who know personally the benefits AYSO coach training provides. They are excited for this opportunity to further spread the good word and will lend their support to the rollout. Why? It is the right thing to do for our kids and our game.
Read the USSF Player Development Guidelines
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How can my Region schedule age-appropriate coach training and AYSO Safe Haven™ certification?
To schedule age-appropriate coach training and AYSO Safe Haven™ certification contact one of the following:
- Your local Region Coach Administrator (U-6, U-8, U-10 and U-12 Training)
- Your Area Coach Administrator (Intermediate Coach Training)
- Your Section Coach Administrator (Advanced Coach Training)
Contact information for any of the these administrators can be accessed through your Regional Commissioner or by contacting the Coaching Department at the AYSO National Office (1-800-USA-AYSO) or via email to crissiehull@ayso.org .
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My Region already requires our coaches to be age-appropriately trained. Is there anything else we will have to do under this new policy?
No. Just keep up the good work! We know there are many AYSO Regions that have already adopted this requirement and there is nothing that would stop other Regions from instituting the requirement across all age divisions immediately. There is support at all levels of the organization to help get this done sooner than we have scheduled.
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