Coaches

Coach Portal

Volunteer to Coach

All volunteer roles can be found in your AYSO profile. Simply log in and select a role you'd like to volunteer for this season.Questions? Contact [email protected].

Welcome to Coaching

Welcome to the 2024 Westchester AYSO Season!

This year we are celebrating 22 years in Westchester! Thank you for volunteering. We truly appreciate your commitment to the Westchester AYSO Soccer Program.

The following guidelines are in place to keep our children safe. It is always about the kids – their enjoyment, safety, and the life lessons they will learn from an AYSO program. It’s more than just kicking a ball around a field!
Please take a few minutes to read this carefully,
as it contains a lot of important information.

Important Items to Keep in Mind for Practices and Games:

Every Coach must register as a volunteer at www.westchesterayso.org. This will alert the AYSO National Office to run a Background Check based on the information you provided. Information on when Volunteer Registration is ready will be coming soon!

Safe Haven Training Certification / CDC Concussion Certification / Sudden Cardiac Arrest Certification
ALL coaches (incl. co-coaches) must complete the online Safe Haven course prior to the start of your first practice. This course only needs to be taken once, not annually.

This is a requirement – no exceptions.

If you are Registered as a volunteer (background check came back clean) and have completed the Safe Haven training, then you may begin practice. The following divisions can practice once per week only - 8U, 10U, 12U, 14U/16U - any day Monday thru Friday at the Community Center fields on a first-come first-served basis. The Playground, 5U and 6U divisions cannot host a practice during the week, no exceptions.

If you are playing the last game on that field for that day – we ask that you bring the corner flags, benches, game ball, garbage/clothing to the Soccer Garage. Let’s respect our fields and equipment.

Your first ‘practice’ should include a Parent meeting to cover the following topics:

Ask one person to be a Team Parent. The Team Parent can help with keeping the players/families informed of important information (i.e. Picture Day, snack list, etc.).

Let the parents know that if they plan to drop their child off for practice, that they communicate that to you. Please be stern in setting a pickup time. It is inexcusable for a coach to have to wait for the child to be picked up 5, 10, even 20 minutes after practice has ended.

Ask that all parents tell you whether their child will miss a game or practice – this will help you especially in planning ahead for games.

For Co-ed divisions, male coaches must have 1 adult female present at all practices and female coaches must have 1 adult male present. For single gender divisions, boys teams must have at least 1 adult male present and girls teams must have at least 1 adult female present. Refer to your Safe Haven training.

Shin Guards are required during all practices and games. If shin guards are not worn, the player will not be able to play. Periodic visits during practice nights will ensure this rule is enforced. It is for the safety of the players. Soccer spikes, which don’t have the toe cleat, are not required but encouraged. Any shoe with a toe cleat is prohibited.

Jewelry may not be worn during practices or games, cloth accessories are allowed. This includes earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings etc. Newly pierced ears is often tried as an exception to this rule – it is NOT, as there are NO exceptions to this rule.

Each player is asked to provide their own soccer ball for practice. The appropriate sized balls are: 6U & 8U requires a size 3; 10U & 12U requires a size 4; and 14U and above require a size 5. This is to enable the player to practice during the week at home.

Equipment Bag – Each team (8U and above) will be given 3 to 4 soccer balls, cones, pinnies, first aid kit (including ice pack), whistle, and goalie gloves, if requested. This bag stays with you for the duration of the season. We’ll do bag drop off on the last game day.

AYSO’s National Office has instituted the Coach Training Rule requiring all coaches/co-coaches to be appropriately trained for their division.

If you are unable to attend a practice or game, please advise [email protected]. Parents that are not registered volunteers are not allowed to oversee a practice or game. We will find a suitable replacement. If there is a parent on your team that would like to be your co-coach, please forward that information to Liz or Stephanie so we may communicate the responsibilities required (register as a volunteer, safe haven training, coach training).

We truly appreciate your commitment to the Westchester AYSO Soccer Program. The guidelines are in place to keep our children safe. It is always about the kids – their enjoyment, safety, and the life lessons they will learn from an AYSO program. It’s more than just kicking a ball around a field!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected]. We look forward to a great season!

Coach Manuals

Coaching Manuals

Below are links to previous released coaching manuals. These manuals should only be used as a reference for drills and team organization as there have been changes to AYSO policies since their release.

6U Coach Manual

8U Coach Manual

10U Coach Manual 2013

12U Coach Manual 2013

Intermediate Coach Manual

Advanced Coach Manual

Player Development Ratings

Player Development - Ratings

Coaches - This is vital in helping us create Balanced Teams, one of AYSO's 6 core principles.

Instructions for Coaches Regarding Individual Player Ratings
Coaches. Player ratings are important and the primary way that our AYSO Region 1438 can systematically promote balanced teams and better competition during our Saturday games. All Head Coaches must rate and input a numerical value of 1-5 for each assigned player and record the data onto the player appropriate player evaluation form. This evaluation form must be returned to the soccer shed at the season's close.

Guidance on rating individual players Each of your team players will need to be rated on an individual basis for the important task of balancing teams. Your task is to rate players with respect to the age appropriate technical skills expected at the division level they are currently playing in. The players ability to work with teammates and take direction can also be used to mark them slightly up or down the scale accordingly. Each player is unique and deserves some careful thought as to their specific rating! See “Concepts for Coaches” below for additional insight on rating your players.

Coaches, good soccer competition on the field starts and ends with what we do as coaches. All teams must have their player ratings in by End of Season! Thanks for coaching and thanks for helping the kids and families of Westchester Region 1438!

6U Player Ratings Criteria Explanation
6U Player Ratings Recording Form
8U & Up Player Ratings Recording Form

Concepts for Coaches to Consider Regarding Individual Player Ratings

Technical
Coaches will concentrate on the evaluation of players’ dribbling, passing and ball control abilities including: turning, shielding, vision, feints/fakes, balance and touch while dribbling; passing with accuracy, pace, timing and deceptiveness; and controlling techniques using various surfaces while maintaining eye contact with the ball and ultimately preparing the ball for the next move.

Tactical
Coaches will concentrate on the evaluation of players’ overall skills in developing tactical play including: field awareness; communication; leadership; awareness of organization and shape of play; ability to play on and off the ball; and ability to support, create options and make appropriate runs that support the attack or defense (see Tactical Evaluation Sheet).

Functional Attacking
Coaches will concentrate on the evaluation of players’ ability to maintain possession under pressure, create individual and team space, turn on a defender, recognize and take the direct route to goal, plus anticipation, preparation, decisiveness and timing when shooting.

Functional Defending
Coaches will concentrate on the evaluation of players’ defending control and balance, ability to establish appropriate marking distance, goal-side/ball-side position, ability to prevent an attacker from turning and tackling skills.

General Coach Resources

General Resources for Coaches & Players

SOCCER DRILL WEBSITES
The following sites have a great amount of free coach drill resources available to you! Also, don't forget that YOUTUBE is also your friend. There are several soccer drills available on YouTube!

* Soccer Drive: 500+ Soccer Activities
* Soccer Coach Weekly

SOCCER PITCH TERMINOLOGY

SOCCER COACHING GLOSSARY

* Attacker: The player with possession of the ball

* Advantage: Law permitting a referee to recognize a fouls but not call it and allow the game to continue if he feel it is in the best interest of the player who was fouled.

* Center Line: The halfway line drawn across the center of the field

* Chop or cut: A deliberate change of direction with the ball.

* Challenge: When a defender tries to steal the ball from the attacker.

* Chip: When a ball is kicked using a stabbing motion which lofts the ball over the opponents head.

* Collecting: The technique of receiving a ball from the air or the ground and then bring it under control to put the ball back into play.

* Corner Kick: A direct free kick taken from the corner. It happen when the ball goes across the goal line and was last touched by a defender.

* Cover: A defensive concept to help back up a fellow defender putting pressure on the ball.

* Cross: When a ball comes across the field from a sideline towards the goal.

* Direct Free Kick: A free kick that can be shot on goal without the ball being touched by another player.

* Dribbling: Using touches with your feet to control the ball.

* Far Post: The goal post furthest from the ball.

* Feinting: AKA fake. A deceptive move to fool an opponent

* Goal Kick: A goal kick is taken by the defending team when the ball goes over the goal line and was last touched by an offensive player.

* Goal Line/End Line: The boundary line at each end of the field where the goals are.

* Hand Ball: The INTENTIONAL use of the hands by a field player. The result is a direct free kick.

* Indirect Free Kick: A free kick that cannot score with out first being touched by another player.

* Juggling: The skill of keeping the ball in the air your feet and other various parts of the body.

* Marking: The defensive concept of guarding another player

* Offside: When a receiver of a pass is positioned on his opponents half of the field with less than two defenders between him and the end at the moment the ball is passed.

* One Touch Passing or Shooting: To pass or shoot on the first touch of the ball.

* Overlap: When a player runs around and ahead of the ball for a pass.

* Pitch: A soccer field.

* Pressure: Refers to a defender putting pressure on his opponent with the ball.

* Push Pass: A pass using the side of your foot keeping the ball close to the ground.

* Shielding: A technique where the player with the ball positions his body between the ball and the defender.

* Striker: A player whose primary duties is to work the attacking half of the field.

* Sweeper: A player positioned behind the fullback and in front of the goalie. He has the freedom to play on either side of the field.

* Tackling: Using your feet to steal the ball from an opponent.

* Touchline: The lines at the side of the field.

Managing Lop Sided Games

Best Practices

Avoiding Blowout Games
Coaches should do their best to manage potential blow-out situations in your games. Opposing coaches along with referees should work together to help each other manage the potential blowouts versus doing nothing at all.

At no time should managing the game to avoid a blowout be confused with blaming or penalizing the team that’s winning. We simply want the players to have a positive game experience so they’re coming back for more soccer.

Why Try to Manage?
There are always new ways in which we can challenge the players who are winning and potentially raise the competitive balance in order to at least try to raise the quality of the experience for all players involved.

Competition and winning are both important elements in sport, in soccer, and in our league. But also important is kids enjoying soccer and coming back for more soccer the following practice and game.

What Can Be Done?
When a single team is dominating another team and basically scoring at-will, here are some among many other steps that can be taken to proactively avoid a blowout game:

Observe
Does the game appear to be getting out of hand? Is one team dominating the game? Are they scoring at-will while the opposing team isn’t able to come close to scoring at all?

Communicate
Don’t wait- if a game appears as though it’s becoming lopsided or “out of hand,” both coaches as adults in the room should talk at halftime or just before that next kick-off. Discuss with each other and with the referee so that everyone’s on the same page.

Positional Change
If a team is dominating the opposition, the winning coach should consider positional changes such as having their best scorers playing defense or goalie.

Formation Change
Formation, aka changes to System of Play can sometimes effectively balance the competition on the field. If your team is dominating in a lopsided game- are you playing 3 forwards? Consider dropping down to 2 or 1 forward/striker. Consider adjusting your formation to a less attacking and more ball-possession system.

Change the Challenge
If your team is winning and scoring at-will, challenge your players to accomplish new goals on the field such as more passing, or shooting with their weaker foot, or scoring only from outside of the penalty box. Challenge your team with a 3-pass challenge, where your team doesn’t shoot at goal until they’ve first made 3 passes as example.

Add A Player on the Field
As example- if the score differential is 5 goals or greater, consider at the next kickoff, quarter break, or halftime break discussing this option with the referee and the opposing coach. The losing team may want to add an extra player on the field in an attempt to balance the game. We don’t want to take a player off and deny everyone playing. But if the opposing coach is okay with it, adding a player on the field may balance the competition on the field.

Everyone STILL Plays
Please stick to the tenets of Everyone Plays and do not penalize an effective scorer or player by “benching” them. See positional changes & challenge above as the proper way to manage a blowout game while still playing all of your players an equal amount.

WHAT TO AVOID

Do not tell your team you want them to stop playing so hard because the score is too high.
Do not tell them to stop scoring. This is no fun for anybody.
Do give them additional challenges that make it harder to score. This keeps all the players in the game on both sides and provides an opportunity to teach additional game skills appropriate to each side.

Coaching FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I access my Team Page?
A: In order to view your Team Page, you must be logged into the AYSO Region 1438 Blue Sombrero portal with the username used when you selected to be a volunteer coach. This username must be associated with the account used to register your child. Only team members may view the Team Page. If you do not have a username that is associated with the account used to register your child, the Primary Account holder can invite you to be an Additional User on their account. Accept the invite, create a new username, and use this username to select to be a volunteer coach in the account that was used to register your child. This will link your volunteer registration to your child's registration and you will be assigned to the same team. Open your Team Page from Team Central on the website, or the red "Visit Team Page" button in the Volunteer tab in your account.

Q: How do I use my Team Page?
A: As a Coach or Team Parent, you will have access to update your Blue Sombrero Team Page, which can be viewed by all members of your team. The Team Page will be your tool for scheduling, communicating with your team, and posting game results. Your team roster, contact information of parents and volunteers and schedule is loaded on your Team Page after your team is assigned. The game schedule is auto-posted to your Team Page Calendar. Click on the Calendar tab and create "Other" event to add practice schedules to your Calendar or create a Task Sign Up(such as snack scheduling). Send communications to all email addresses associated with team members' accounts using the Discussions tab.

Q: Is there a Mobile App for my Team Page?
A: Both iOS and Android phones have free Blue Sombrero apps. Encourage your parents to download them and use them as the mobile app feeds directly from the Team Pages and is the most accurate source of information. The Blue Sombrero Mobile App is available at the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Here is the help guide for the app.

Q: How do I enter Game Scores?
A: To enter game results, log into your account or Dick's TSHQ app and navigate to your team page. Click on Calendar, then Results. Record game attendance by marking a player "Absent" in the notes.

Helpful Links:

Team Calendar
Team Discussions
Input Game Results
Team Page Settings
Upload Team Photos & Videos

Website Manager

Westchester AYSO Region 1438