A coach can be the most influential person in a child’s life. In AYSO, Positive Coaching is a fundamental philosophy because of the crucial role that a coach has. Coaching in AYSO is a chance to spend quality time with your own child but you’ll also provide an important role model for all the children on your team. In fact, the joy of coaching is so meaningful, that many AYSO coaches continue coaching long after their own children have moved on from AYSO. Soccer knowledge is a plus, but AYSO provides training and materials so that even a soccer novice can coach effectively by starting in the younger age divisions. Being a coach involves skills you probably already have in addition to specific soccer knowledge. If you are uncertain, try being an assistant coach. Your Region's Coach Administrator will be happy to try to match you up with somebody with a little more experience.

If you have any questions, please email your Region's Coach Administrator at [email protected].

When kids are surveyed about the top reasons they play sports, they respond (1) to have fun, (2) to be with friends, (3) for the excitement of competition, and (4) to learn new things. The top reasons they say they quit sports are (1) criticism and yelling, (2) emphasis on winning, (3) boredom and (4) lack of playing time. Notice that winning didn't make the top of their list!

Make sure to plan practices for fun and be careful with how you correct mistakes so they don't sound critical or like you are yelling at them. Emphasize one new thing you'll teach them during a practice and try to do drills with no lines or quick lines to keep them moving and engaged. 

1. AYSO Region 56 Ten Week Practice Plan
Click link to view the practice plan. While it was created for use with U8 and younger, there are several trainings that can be used or modified for all ages.
Use the link immediately below to access the practice plans.
CLICK HERE FOR AYSO REGION 56 TEN WEEK PRACTICE PLAN

2. Mojo
Mojo is a free app that allows you to communicate with your team, show practice, game and other events and allows players to RSVP attendance.
For coaches, Mojo also has several drills. The set-up and coaching points are set up as short videos. Find these drills by either downloading the app or searching "Mojo" on YouTube. The great part about the Mojo content is how they "gamify" the drills to ensure fun!
In the app, there is an option where the app will create a practice for you based on practice duration, players age and skill level.

3. The Coaching Manual
The Coaching Manual is an app that has a huge library of drills. The set-up and coaching points are set up as short videos. 
It can be overwhelming. One of the best ways to organize their content is to go to 'Locker' (at the top of the screen) and then to 'Season Plans' at the left. Then  press "+ Create a Season Plan". Follow the prompts and it will create practices for the season.
Use the link immediately below to access the Coaching Manual for free.
CLICK HERE FOR ACCESS TO THE COACHING MANUAL

4. ChatGPT
The newest tools will allow you to create custom practice plans with diagrams in no time. Examples may inlcude
"Create a one hour soccer practice plan for beginner/intermediate/advanced 7 year old girls focusing on dribbling. Include coaching points and required equipment."
"Design a 4-week soccer training program, one hour practice once a week, for 9 year old boys, focusing on attacking the net"
You can ask about dribbling/first touch, passing/under pressure, shooting/finishing, defense/defensive positioning/1v1 defending, offense or attacking, doing goal kicks/building out from the back, corner kicks, possessing the ball, etc

5. As you coach U10 and above, the field becomes a lot bigger! You'll still want to work on technical skills like dribbling, passing, trapping, etc. With the bigger field, you'll also want to work on positions and coordinating all the players to work together. There are as many opinions on how to do things as there are coaches but here are a few videos that we suggest to help guide you in coordinating your team to work together on a larger field. These are for 7v7 but work with 9v9 and 11v11. Don't be impatient - these ideas may take a whole season for you and for the kids to really understand! Even if you just are able to execute on the first video by season-end, that would be a success!

  (a) Build out of the back (from goal kick or winning ball back): View this video
  (b) Progressing through the midfield: View this video 
  (c) How to attack by your opponent's goal: View this video

• Line-up cards are only required for U10 and older divisions
• Log into your Sportsconnect account and the name of the team is in blue text next to your child's name. Click that blue text.
• This takes you to Team Central. Choose the "Roster" view and then pick the blue button "Edit Roster" to the right.
• Enter each player uniform number in the "No." field next to each player. When done, hit the blue "Update" button at the bottom of the screen.
• Pick "Print Team Line Up" just below where it says "Roster" and "Calendar"
• This will generate 4 line-up cards. Either press the printer icon to print or export to a differeent file type to save and print.

• Log into your Sportsconnect account and the name of the team is in blue text next to your child's name. Click that blue text.
• This takes you to Team Central. Choose the "Roster" view and then pick "Print Roster" just below where it says "Roster"
• This will take you to a list of field values you can choose. One will be the parent email called "Primary account email"
• Hit "Generate Roster" in the lower right to view emails and other fields you checked.

• For the Fall season, you do not need to order uniforms. The league will provide them
• For the Spring season, teams are responsible for getting uniforms. A team can use the uniforms from a prior season and only order new ones for players that need one or they can all get completely new uniforms. It's a chance to get a color and style all the kids want!
• Or you can ask the league if we have any uniforms left over from the prior Fall season.
• The best place to get new uniforms from is Score Sports. They can do new uniforms for the whole team or can match the color of existing uniforms. If you say you are from AYSO Region 56, they have our logo and know the National requirements concerning uniforms. Turnaround time varies based on how busy they are.
• The best contact at Score Sports is Janeanne Perez, [email protected]

• The coach (or anyone) opens the Mojo App and go to the 'Roster' at the bottom of the app
• You will see a team code listed. Provide that to person who wants to add their child and join your team
• Once the parents opens the Mojo app on their phone, they choose 'Join a Team' and follow the prompts

• Any current contact for the child opens the Mojo App and go to the 'Roster' at the bottom of the app
• Select your child from the list
• Select "Invite Contacts"
• Note - do not reuse the team code again or you will add your child to the roster twice

• Only people listed as a coach can do this for any player. Parents can do this for their own child only.
• Open the Mojo App and go to the 'Roster' at the bottom of the app
• • Select your child from the list
• In the upper right hand corner, select the three horizontal dots
• Select "Remove kid from team"