Team Parent Responsibilities
- Help your coach: Your coach also is a volunteer with a lot of responsibility. Ask her or him how they need support.
- Ask families to volunteer: There is a lot to do for a team and you are not supposed to do it all! AYSO Region 56 is an all-volunteer organization so please ask parents on your team to help out. We may have info from each family's registration that indicates what they are willing to volunteer for.
- Uniforms: Ask someone to pick up uniforms when they are ready. Uniforms include pink socks for October when we recognize breast cancer awareness month. It is optional to each team if they wear them in October.
- Soccerfest Volunteers: Ask parents to sign up as volunteers at soccerfest. The link to sign up is at the EVENTS - - > Soccerfest tab on this website
- Team Photos: communicate scheduled time for your team during Soccerfest and pass out any order forms. A link to the schedule is at the top of this page.
o For Fall 2025, the free league package includes one 8x10 team and individual collage photo, four wallet size and one button
o You do not need to fill out a form for the free league package. Only use the form for purchasing additional items
- Auction Basket: Make sure someone makes an auction basket for your team and coordinates delivery prior to Soccerfest.
o Details for forms and where and when to drop off the completed basket are in the team parent packet
- Sponsorship: Make sure someone owns getting a local business to sponsor your team. Though not preferred, divide the amount among the families on your team if you cannot find a business. Sponsorship checks can be dropped off at the tent during Soccerfest or can be mailed to the the address at the bottom of this webpage. Please remember to write the age divison (ie U7G, U12B) and the coach name on the check, not just on the envelope. Please make sure it is printed clearly.
o U5 thru U8: $195
o U9 thru U14: $235
o CLICK HERE for a letter you can share with a sponsor as a receipt.
- Snack Bar Volunteers: The snack bar is located at Peterson and is powered by volunteers and if each team can offer help for 1-2 shifts per season, it should cover the season.
o The link to sign up for the snack bar is above
- Trophies and Yearbooks: Toward the end of the season, ask someone to pick up your team's trophies and yearbooks. Every player receives a trophy or medal.
- Team Banner: Have someone design, order and pick up the team banner. Some teams make their own banner. Have someone who will set up the banner prior to each game. Note that banners are optional but most younger teams do them.
o Keep the banners fun and colorful
o Include the names of the coach, assistant coach, team parent and sponsor
o For safety, only include each player's first name on the banner. Do not incldue first and last name, first name and uniform number, or photo and uniform number.
o Here are vendors teams have used in the past: CLICK HERE
- Field preparation: If you are the first game of the day for the field you are on, there will be a sun icon next to your game in Matchtrak. Your team and the other team (if they are a Region 56 team) partner to set up the field. That includes putting out corner flags (U9 and older), setting up bownet goals (U5, U6, U7) and re-lining the field with the paint machine and spray paint. Make sure you do not load the spray paint in the machine before you get to the grass so you do not accidentally put paint on any blacktop. Also make sure the sun is at your back. If you try to paint lines facing the sun, the lines are less visible and will not be straight.
- Field Breakdown: If you are the last game of the day for the field you are on, there will be a clock icon next to your game in Matchtrak. Your team and the other team (if they are a Region 56 team) partner to set put away equipment into the storage bin. That includes putting away corner flags (U9 and older) and breaking down bownet goals (U5, U6, U7). If you see paint machines or spray paint was not put in the storage bins, please do that too. If you are one of the last games not just on your field, but the entire day, please lock all storage bins, porta-potty and gates. Refer to the FIELD tab of our website for photos for where storage bins, porta-potty and gates are located at each site.
- Snack Schedule: Assign each familiy a game for them to bring the team a snack. How simple or fancy the snacks are is up to you and your team. You can enter each family responsible for snacks next to each game in Mojo.
- Set up team parties!: Whether you want to do pre-season parties, during the season parties or post season parties, these are great events for kids and parents to get to know each other.
- Yearbook photos: Have someone take lots of photos at practices and games in the first couple weeks and then have them download them in the link above for possible inclusion in the yearbook. We need photos so early in the season so there is time for a yearbook to be made and printed
Register as a Volunteer
Since you will be a visible person to the players on the team, AYSO needs you to register as a volunteer and to complete required training. Doing so both ensures the community our kids stay safe and it covers you by AYSO's insurance. To learn the steps to register, use the questions and answers in the Volunteer Central slide to guide you through.
Mojo Team Communication Tool
Mojo is one of many great team management communication tools. This is the tool AYSO Region 56 uses but it is not mandated that you use it. Also, Mojo will often market for you to pay money to upgrade - however, you can use Mojo for free and are under no obligation to upgrade to their premium option.
Mojo allows a team to populate practice times. For most teams, the league will populate game times in Mojo. When we can not populate games or if a game is edited, you can inptu games in Mojo. Mojo also has a Chat feature for communication to the team with important information. Last, the league can send notes to coaches or to the entire community through Mojo Chat. There are other nice features Mojo has for coaches and can be found on the COACH tab. Please note that MatchTrak is the official source for your game schedule - if games are changed after they are initially populated in Mojo, you need to manually update Mojo.
Mojo allows for up to three coaches and the advantage of being listed as a coach in Mojo is that you can edit information in it. You can ask the coach to make you a 'coach' so you can add notes to games, such as which family has snacks for a given game. The coach just needs to go into Mojo, select the Roster option at the bottom of the screen and then select your child's name. Then they choose your name and select "promote to coach".
If you need to add a child to your Mojo team, remove a kid from your Mojo team or add a parent, please see the COACH tab for instructions.
Volunteer Points
In the U9 and older divisions, there are end of season playoffs and each team needs volunteer points to participate. A team needs 80 total volunteer points (at least 40 points need to be earned by refereeing games).
o By attending the pre-season Team Parent meeting, you earn your team 7 volunteer points
o Snack Bar: There is a snack bar at Peterson and each shift your team signs up for earns 2 volunteer points. You can sign up any number of times.
o Referee - see Referee tab for details on how to become a referee and details of how to earn referee points
Game Day!
There are two things to remember for game day.
Be Positive, Cheer Players and Respect Referees: As a volunteer, please partner with your coaches and be good role models for positive sideline behavior. Almost every game is great support for our kids and proper respect for our volunteer referees. We need your help in the few instances each season when spectators lose perspective.
Weather: Everyone has their own opinion on whether there is too much rain. If the fields are safe, games will be played in rain. We cannot answer individual questions on weather and game status. The league will make decisions at the start of the day about games. If weather becomes really poor during the day, the referee will decide safety for U9 and older games and the coaches will decide safety for U5 to U8 games.
If there is rain, the only official way to know if a game is postponed or cancelled is to go to Matchtrak. A coach will get an email if it is cancelled. There is no indictor in Matchtrak and is there an email that will confirm a game will be played – if there is nothing saying it is postponed, it will be played.