Santa Monica AYSO

Region 20 of the American Youth Soccer Organization was chartered in 1972 to provide a fun community youth soccer program for the children of Santa Monica and the surrounding area. In AYSO, Everyone Plays! We emphasize balanced teams, fair play, good sportsmanship, positive coaching and player development. In Santa Monica AYSO, Everyone Volunteers! Everyone that makes Santa Monica AYSO Region 20 work is a volunteer: board members, coaches, referees, field painters, chaperones, and team managers. We need YOU to help make it work.

AYSO is an all-volunteer and child-centric soccer community. Our philosophies separate us from other soccer organizations: everyone plays, balanced teams, open registration, positive coaching, good sportsmanship and player development.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Referee and Coach training: starts early August (see below, in blue).  Please reach out to rra@ayso20.org (interested Referee/Assistant Referee volunteers), and/or rca@ayso20.org (interested Coaching volunteers)
• NEW 10U-14U players to Region 20–“observations” (only new players to Region 20) Everybody makes a team!: Aug 11 and Aug 18 (arcboys@ayso20.org or arcgirls@ayso20.org)
• LiveScan Fingerprinting: possibly 8/18 and 9/15 for volunteers working directly with young players (coaches, referees, etc.). Stay tuned. (Only if you haven’t had it donewith AYSO before)
• Teams formed: early to mid August (Coach or Team Manager will reach out  to you)
• Team Manager training: mid August (dtm@ayso20.org)
• Team Rosters released: August 24 (email respective Division Commissioners)
• Practice Schedule released: August 26
• First practices and uniforms: week of Sept 3 (immediately following Labor Day, mid-week evenings)
• Opening Day Games: September 7 (Saturdays only)
• Picture Day: late Sept
• Last day of Core Regular Season: Nov 16 (or Nov 23, if make-up day needed)
• Playoffs: Dec 7-8 (initial round(s)) and Dec 14-15 (semis/finals)

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Be a VOLUNTEER REFEREE or ASSISTANT REFEREE for your child’s team!!! All teams need to “recruit” parent volunteer CRs/ARs (younger divisions just need Center Referees) !!!   First you need to be a registered Volunteer in your Family Profile.  See Quick Link (above)  “STEPS TO BECOME A REFEREE.”  

Contact Gray O’Brien if you have any questions:  rra@ayso20.org

Refereeing was never so easy!!!  8U/10U/12U parent volunteer referees may referee (Center Referee or Assistant Referee) your own child’s game!!  Makes earning those “referee points” [for 10U and older teams] easy!

“Referee Points System”––all teams in 10U/12U/14U need to earn fifteen (15) referee points in order to be able to move past the initial round of end-of-season Playoffs. See Referee Points System info under drop down menu in REFEREES tab.

Center Referees: “certification requirements” for 12U and 14U games:

• 12U CRs must be “Intermediate Candidate” or higher (successfully pass the Intermediate Course after taking the Regional Referee course)

• 14U CRs must be “Advanced Candidate” or higher (successfully pass the Advanced Course after Intermediate certification)

Assistant Referees (AR’s): need to be trained as a “Regional Referee” by taking the basic Regional Referee training. See Quick Link (above) “STEPS TO BECOME A REFEREE.”      BTW, you can earn “referee points”  CR’ing and AR’ing at a younger age division (10U and up), if it’s more comfortable. 

Training:

First, make sure you re registered as a “Volunteer” in your Family Profile. Choose “Referee” as a Volunteer Preference, and submit that volunteer preference, complete Background Check…

At the 5/6/7U ages: you need a simple 1-hour Zoom Orientation, your yellow referee t-shirt and a whistle (which we will provide). You’ll also need to take a “Safe Haven” course required of all volunteers. Contact  rra@ayso20.org for the link and you’ll be good to go come Opening Day! 

At the 8/10/12/14U ages: there is a fair amount of “training” to do, including online referee training modules/quiz, and then attending an in-person classroom session. You must complete the online referee training modules/exam before attending the in-person session (especially if you are new to the game). Online material is accessed by logging into your InLeague account, and then going to “eTrainU/AYSOU.”  See instructions under “Steps To Become a Referee” tab at the top of this page.

Upcoming “In-Person” classroom sessions for Regional Referee training begin August 3rd. Classes are usually held at the Colorado Center “community room.” Some sessions will be held at Douglas Park Clubhouse (lawn bowling) in Santa Monica.  Check class offerings under REFEREE tab.

Self-Scheduling Rules/Guidelines (“DIBS”) apply:  There are guidelines/rules as to when folks are allowed to sign up for slots. It’s not just an open-season kind of thing  (until Tesdays at 9am…).  HOME team parents and AWAY team parents have certain “DIBS.” Please review the guidelines for detailed (possibly confusing) instructions. Incorrect self-scheduling might get you “bumped” off the schedule. Refer to the Self-Scheduling Rules.

AYSO 20 Online Training Sessions

Tune the skills and get the body moving. Check out the entire collection of online training sessions with Coach Brett of AYSO 20/ Coerver San Fernando

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