• Everybody plays
• Open registration
• Balanced teams
• Positive coaching
• Good sportsmanship.

All that follows is an expansion on these ideas.

1. The coach is the most important AYSO person for the kids: 

• You have the most contact. 
• You make it or break it for the kids. 
• The kids will have lasting memories about how you treat them.

2. Control the sidelines. 

• You are responsible for your own conduct, the conduct of assistant coaches, players and parents. Most of them take their cues from you. If you are yelling at the refs and players, they will feel that it is ok to do so. You need to set the example that all of the others will follow. Referees don't point out your coaching mistakes. So, do not vocalize referee errors.

3. How invested are you in the team winning? 

• It is not about you winning. It is about the kids having fun and developing their skills. When you see a coach screaming at the players, look to see if the kids being yelled at are having any fun.

4. How to coach a game. 

• Stay in the designated coaching area. As hard as it is, remain relatively quiet. 
• Don't choreograph the play. Let them play the game. 
• Do 80% of your coaching at practice. 

Your conduct, mandated by AYSO, is to be: 

• positive

• instructional

• encouraging. 

• Don't shout, "SHOOT!, SHOOT!" or "KICK IT, KICK IT!" or "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!" Offer minimal instruction to players who are away from the ball.
  

• Your objective must be to facilitate the development of players to play attractive soccer. Attractive soccer is the skillful / cooperative actions of ALL players on a team to maintain possession of the ball with accurate passes to each other using ALL areas of the field in a concerted effort to maneuver the ball toward the opponents goal and SCORE. If we are ultimately working toward well-paced ball circulation, then 1st touch (reception) ball control is our highest priority. Formulate your coaching methods with that technical skill as the primary objective. A well executed reception, turn and pass has much more value than a ball kicked with reckless abandon and no target in mind.
  

• Playing soccer is FUN. Children love free-play. It enhances the development of individual and cooperative DECISION MAKING, crucial to the flow of the game. Adults can help this development by not shouting negatively from the sideline. Shouting divides the player's attention away from the action on the field. Allow the children to make their own on-the-field decisions.

CERTIFICATION

Effective 1/1/2001, all coaches must be certified. Certification is earned by attending a coaches clinic:

• Youth Clinic (U6, U8, U10, U12) 

• Intermediate Clinic (U12, U14, U16) 

• Advanced Clinic (U16, U19)

If the region lacks enough certified coaches, there will not be enough coaches to coach all of our players and registration will be scaled back resulting in many players being turned away next year.