Soccer starts, for real this time

• Find the Team Hub ayso13.org/team with schedules and standings
• Personalized family dashboard, ayso13.org/dashboard
• Teams playing at 8 am or 8:30 am at Victory Park send 2 parents at 7:15 to help set up. Sign up here.
• Teams playing the first game at other fields, send an advance squad to set up. Sign up here.
• Start hydrating yesterday.
• Double-check the schedule. It changed last night, and may change again.

Included with your registration, players in 6U - 14U may join Sunday Soccer, starting Sep 15 at McKinley School. From 3 pm - 5 pm, you can join a Skills Clinic, a Goalkeeper Academy, and small-sided pickup games. Parents, please sign your child in, and contact jonathan@ayso13.org if you can help out.

Get ready to play

• Dogs stay home
• Bring a shade device
• Shinguards are required for 6U and older
• No earrings allowed, not even covered. Wait until after the soccer season to get your ears pierced
• 14U games at PUSD Eliot moved to Blair or McKinley in the evening. Double-check the schedule.
• No dogs

Reminders

Players

Park your water bottle near the touch line, and you can get a drink whenever you want.

Write your name and phone number on your water bottle, your ball, and your backpack, and you might still have them in December! Bring lost & found items to the tent at Victory Park.

Parents

Dogs stay home. Regardless of size, dogs are not permitted at the field under Region 13's insurance policy and terms of the field permits. Region 13 is full of little kids, many are afraid of dogs, and even friendly, well-meaning dogs can knock over and injure a small child. 

The home team (listed first on the schedule) spectators should be on the North or West side of the field, and the other team sits on the South or East side. Neither team may on the ends of the field behind the goals, because it's distracting, and you are more likely there to catch a ball to the face. Remember to bring a shade umbrella!

How're those shoes fitting? Region 13's collection of previously loved soccer cleats and balls will be at Victory Park. Bring a pair of shoes, leave a pair of shoes, or take a ball home.

At Cornishon and FIS, please, please do not park in the community center lot.

If you have any concerns, or want to compliment a volunteer, use ayso13.org/feedback.

Coaches and Referees

Coaches and Referees who are fully certified may pick up uniforms at the clubhouse

• Wednesday, 7 pm - 9 pm
• Friday, 7 pm - 9 pm
• Saturday, 7 am - 9 am
• Verify your certification completeness on your inLeague Dashboard .

Referees for 6U, 7U, 8U, you referee your own game. Please arrive 30 minutes early to prepare. Younger teams won't be using game cards.

Referees for 10U, 12U, 14U

• Review the Scheduling Guidelines and self-assign for your teams responsibility via the Referee Scheduler on inLeague. 
• Please note a few late changes were made Tuesday night to some 12U and 14U games, changing these responsibilities.
• Remember to write your team's ID (e.g. B14U04) on the game card so your team gets credit.
• Use the QR code on the bottom to report results.

Team managers

Grandparents are always stopping by the tent at Victory Park to ask for directions to see their kids play. Every team manager should sign up for two hours per team as a field host or Picture Day Volunteer.

Team traditions are fun, whether it's cheer, a handshake, or secret code words.

Reserve tickets for a team trip to the LA Galaxy on Sep 21. ayso13.org/tickets

👉 Join the Region 13 Slack

Volunteers Of The Month

Lauren Stevenson and Mary Cholko joined the Region 13 board to organize the B6U division this year. Thanks to their hard work, confirming volunteers and monitoring training progress, Region 13 will include 18 teams of kindergarten-aged boys playing this year. Lauren writes, "My soccer journey began with AYSO (many) decades ago, and it is the absolute best feeling to re-experience the magic of the sport as a parent and coach. After agreeing to referee my daughter in U6, seeing the kids love and wonder of the game grow led me to try my hand at coaching the next season. Four years later, coaching AYSO soccer for both our kids is one of my favorite times of the year. Watching my own kids join teammates in laughter, making friends, developing skills, and learning to manage the complex emotions of sports is an experience I hope many other parents can have as well. I made the leap this year with my wife as Division Coaching Administrators, with the goal of sharing the joys of volunteering in youth sports with other parents and we hope to see our volunteer team grow. Have a great season everyone and see you on the field!"

Upcoming

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

What about the game schedule? Field availability changed suddenly, forcing a replan of the whole season. Volunteers are working to confirm field permits and publish the rest of the season schedule. 

Everyone Plays

In Region 13, every player is on the field for at least 3/4 of the game, and keepers (10U and 12U) are in goal for at most 2 quarters. In 6U-8U, everyone plays the whole game, unless they don't want to. Referees will note exceptions on the game card for followup by the coaching staff.

Coaching ideas

Remember

• 6U coaches are on the field
• 7U coaches may be on the field during September
• 8U and older, the coaches are in the Technical Area, off the field, unless called on by a referee

Ideas that worked last year at this time

• Before you can pass the ball to a teammate during a game, you have to feel comfortable that they will receive it. So passing is based on trust. How do you build trust among a team?
• Early in the season, focus on basic skills. Introduce choreographed plays that incorporate transitions, so that transitions will feel familiar. While it's tempting to start hot and win early by letting your best players to most of the work, with the 2 or 3 skills they're comfortable with, you'll be rewarded in the long run if you use the start of the season to set solid skill foundations across the entire team.
• Those skills, and trust, will take time to develop, so go ahead and allow your team to try the brute-force attack up the middle. That'll teach the defense to defend together ("compactness"). Pretty soon, the kids will discover that there are they move outside the beehive, they'll have more options when the ball shakes loose.
• Goals win games; defense and team culture wins the playoffs. Find the best practices for supportive team culture at keepgirlsinsport.com.
• 6U-8U, if one team is continually scoring, swap a few players (i.e., scoring team lends skilled players to the other team) to keep it interesting.
• In 10U-14U, cap the goal differential at 6. If the game is too lopsided, you can end the game, swap kids around, and play a scrimmage with the remaining time (and without referees).

Goalkeeper Academy starts Sept 15 during Sunday Soccer Skills Clinics. Until then:

• Bend with your knees, not with your back, to keep your face away from anybody else's feet.
• Start with your hands between your face and the ball, with elbows bent.
• Most goalkeepers will let the first 3 - 5 balls past them in a game situation. It's a learning process.
• Everyone flinches the first few times the ball rockets toward them. Desensitize this reflex by practicing it in slow motion: move the ball, in your hand, slowly toward the keeper while they rehearse orienting all the parts of their body to receive it.

Fun stuff

Arrange a team trip to the LA Galaxy for AYSO Night on September 21! Tickets are still available through ayso13.org/tickets. It looks like we'll be sitting in the shade at the south end of the stadium.

Order pizza through ayso13.org/pizza to pick up at Green St & Madison Ave in Pasadena, and a portion of each sale is donated to Region 13. 

There will be a Shake Shack dine-out night later this month. Stay tuned!

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