What you need to know...

Rain: Check ayso13.org after 4pm for the latest weather updates. Please do not use the fields if they are closed.

Practices: Back to normal for 10U, 12U, 14U for the Rose City Cup.

Note: The Rose City Cup matches previously scheduled for LDS and Cornishon are now at Victory Park. Yay!

To do: 

1. Answer a survey about the fall soccer league

2. Volunteers, RSVP for the holiday & award dinner on Dec 12.

3. Sign up to set up Victory Park on Dec 2

Call for nominations

AYSO works because people like you volunteer to make it happen. Three executive board positions will become open in the winter. If you're interested in contributing, or would like to nominate someone, please write to Terry at help@ayso13.org. 

• Region Referee Administrator
• Secretary
• Auditor

Thanks to Patrick (Regional Referee Administrator), DeWayne (Auditor), and Joanie (Secretary) for their many years of service to our community! 

Players

All 10U, 12U, 14U teams will play in the Rose City Cup, on Saturday, December 2, and Saturday, December 9. The schedule for December 9 will doubtless have to change, because some coaches could have two teams in the final.

Game Schedule

Brackets

Flights -- teams played different numbers of matches in the Fall League, so teams are seeded by points/match. Ties were decided by referee participation and sportsmanship, as reported on the game cards. The teams in the middle of most divisions are in a statistical dead heat. The purpose of the rankings is to give everyone a balanced first game. 

Parents

Answer the annual feedback survey to help Region 13 improve for next year.

Grad Series is full.

Winter Stars is open for registration. This is an informal pick-up style soccer program on Sunday afternoons for ages 5-13, for 8-10 weeks. It's great for players who enjoyed the fall season and want to keep playing soccer with their friends. Note: this is included free with Grad Series and All-Stars. You may not register for both.

Has a coach, referee, or another parent gone out of their way to help? Please send nominations to help@ayso13.org

• Coach of the Year
• Referee of the Year
• General Volunteer of the Year

Coaches

On the final Saturday of the Fall League, the lowest 3 ranked teams in B14U either tied or won against the top 3 ranked teams. The Fluffy Blue Unicorns even notched their first win of the season! Hats off to Coach Powers for patiently developing the team over the last three months. Anything can happen in the Rose City Cup.

Penalty shootout tutorial

If you think there's a chance of wining the A flight, keep Dec 16-17 clear for the League Champions Tournament.

Please review your player assessments. The average should be around 5 - 6, for team which finished in the middle of the standings.

Team managers

Spelling corrections for trophies are being distributed. If you need a replacement name plate for a trophy, please send details to teams@ayso13.org.

Medals for 10U, 12U, 14U will be distributed during the Rose City Cup. Winning teams go on, and losing teams get medals. There'll be a bin with trophies and medals at the fields -- take them before you leave! After the final game, please bring that bin to the clubhouse or to Victory Park.

Pictures will be ready in 2-3 weeks. They'll be emailed directly to team coaches.

Holiday & Awards Dinner

RSVP here. Volunteers (Coaches, Referees, Managers) are invited to the season-end celebration dinner on Dec 12 from 6 - 8:30 pm at the Pasadena Senior Center in Old Town. Music, drinks, tacos. Kids are welcome, and the more that come, the more fun they'll have. OK, it's mostly adults talking about boring grownup stuff, but everyone likes a taco party!

Volunteers are needed to help set up and clean up after the dinner. Please reach out to info@ayso13.org if you can help!

Volunteer of the Month

Thanks to Krista Copelan for stepping up this season as the Team Manager Manager. She says, I loved playing soccer with AYSO as a kid and it’s so rewarding to be a part of it again, now as a parent. I get to watch my kids play with friends from school, as well as make many new friendships too. I also get to volunteer and be a part of AYSO, which I hope as many families as possible try to do as well. There are so many opportunities, from coaching to referring, to volunteering at the Victory Park field tent or helping out on picture day. I realize I’m biased as the volunteer coordinator, but it’s always lots of fun!

Upcoming

See more by subscribing to the Region 13 calendar. The board meeting is usually the first Thursday of each month.

Pictures of the week

Congrats to Region 13's teams in the finals of the Arroyo Seco Cup last wekend, G10U Plotkin, B10U Powers, and B10U Wierman. Did you know that any AYSO coach can get some kids together to enter a tournament? It's fun! Reach out to the NEXT team to find out how.

Two Pasadena teams face off in the final of the Arroyo Seco Cup. Thanks for the picture, Lacey, Susan, and Bridget!

Powers seems to be on a roll. Watch out, y'all! 

Rose City Cup

1. The schedule is at ayso13.org/rosecity and in inLeague.

2. Goalkeepers can play the entire game, so long as everyone present plays at least 3/4 of the game.

3. In the event of a tie on Saturday, go directly to a penalty kick shootout. Only the final matches on Dec 9 will have overtime.

4. The Referee Staff will be reaching out to volunteers with referee assignments so that all matches have neutral referees.

5. It's not allowed to rain.

6. Expect to get caught up in the excitement! 

Local Soccer Camps for the school break

If you're not in the final on Dec 9, Evolve Soccer is holding a camp on that afternoon, for girls born 2012-2017. https://evolvesoccerla.com/

LA Galaxy has camps, too, in Carson and in Glendale.

Corrections

A correction from last week's puzzler:

• If an attempt to play the ball fails, and leads to one player stepping on another, or kicking their legs or ankles, and the ball is still within the field of play when it happens, then a foul should probably be awarded. The referee will have to use her judgment as to who ran into whom.

Message from the Commissioner

Dear Region 13 Families,

I hope that your players had fun this fall season! A heartfelt thank you to all who made it possible for almost 2,500 kids to play soccer. There were many challenges this season, as there always are, yet I believe the fact that our kids got to play is the important thing from this season.

Speaking of challenges, one of the new things that Region 13 tried to do this season was to elevate the importance of Sportsmanship and Referee points. Sportsmanship is one of the core AYSO philosophies and is important for all who are on the fields—kids and grown-ups—to show that even when we compete against one another, we do so with integrity and respect. Referees are a key part of our program; without them, we cannot play soccer. 

Our goal in rolling out Sportsmanship Points this season was to incentivize teams to live up to our core AYSO philosophies and to also meet their referee obligations. We began this season by tying participation in the Rose City Cup to meeting these obligations. Things didn’t quite work out as planned, and in the end, Region 13 decided to invite all teams to the Rose City Cup. Why? The short answer is that we fell short in implementing this policy correctly, we did not anticipate certain challenges and did not have the people power to carry this change through. For that, I am sorry.

One of the criticisms of this policy was that players would be punished for the actions (or inactions) of adults. In general, AYSO stresses that we should not do this if at all possible. The problem though is that when a team does not meet its referee obligations, that hurts other teams in the program— through no fault of their own—and that is not fair to those teams. Likewise, if a spectator or coach shows poor sportsmanship, that also hurts the entire program, and worse, is a poor example for players.

So the key question remains: How do we get everyone to show good sportsmanship and meet their referee responsibilities? Region 13’s overall program and success relies on these things. In the coming months, the Region 13 administration will be assessing the fall season and making plans for the season ahead. If you would like to give input on these decisions, we’ll have some open dialogue sessions to discuss these issues.

To end on a positive note, I wish everyone playing this weekend luck, and whatever happens this Saturday, the important thing is for the kids to have fun and then come back and do it all again next year. These games belong to the kids, and they need to make their own decisions and learn from them. Let the coaches be the ones talking to the players. Let the referees control the flow of the game. In the end, whatever happens, remember those five magical words, "I love watching you play!"

Terry Takahashi 
AYSO 13 Regional Commissioner

P.S. I hope to see you at the AYSO Volunteer Holiday Party on Dec 12, where there will be tacos, brief speeches, and the winners of the even more coveted Best Team Name contest will be announced.

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