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Mar, 2024

Registration closes! Now what?!

"I've registered. Now what?"

Once registration closes, the board has lots to do to prepare for the season ahead! Here's a sneak peek into the process once we close registration:

First, we review scholarship applications (new this year!) & award sponsorships. Then we register those players.

Next, divisions are set up & combined based on the number of players signed up in each age division. The board must make hard decisions - "Do we have enough players in this division or do we need to combine with another division?" "Is there a need for co-ed teams?" "How many will be on a team?" "Do we have enough for regulation play or will we adjust?" This part takes a lot of time & thought!

After divisions are set, we ask the system to auto-create our teams. It gives a great baseline start to our teams. However, we then have to go through each "team" the computer has set up & make sure it's equal according to gender, age & play ability. One of AYSO's philosophies is Balanced Teams & we take this very seriously.

Now that we have the teams together, we work on finding coaches. This part is tough at times because we can't have a season without our volunteer coaches - but we also know that people are busy, nervous about coaching, know nothing about soccer, etc. So THANK YOU to our coaches who have already signed up! If you have questions about coaching, please feel free to ask - it's fun & rewarding! And I promise you don't need to know a thing about soccer to start.

After coaches are found & assigned to teams, we begin the training process! Every volunteer must be background checked (it's actually a federal law) & there are some trainings to watch (painless I promise!). We also have coach clinics coming up so watch for those dates!

During all of this, the board is planning opening ceremony & coach/ref/player clinics, recruiting volunteers (& referees) for all sorts of areas, preparing fields, readying equipment, making concession menus, ordering shirts, doing our own trainings, learning safety rules & regs - AND SO MUCH MORE!

The main thing to remember is even though you might not hear a lot out of us for the next few weeks...we are still hard at work! Coaches will meet their teams April 6th. If you haven't heard from a coach by then, contact us & we will get you in touch with your coach.

Wooooo! That's a lot of information in one spot - but we hope it gives you an idea of what is going on now that you've registered your players and/or registered as a volunteer. We will be in touch very soon. Until then, stay warm & healthy & keep watching for more exciting details to come!