Volunteer Information

AYSO is a volunteer-run organization. Coaches, referees and administrators are volunteers. In Redlands over 700 parents, neighbors, relatives and friends lend their time and talents so that each child gets a terrific AYSO experience.

AYSO’s volunteer foundation ensures that it’s all about what’s good for kids. It also makes AYSO very affordable. AYSO operates in a business manner, but volunteers ensure its “profits” are happy, healthy kids playing a sport they can enjoy for life.

AYSO has developed special training that helps parents who may have little or no soccer experience quickly gain the age-appropriate knowledge and skills they need to be effective coaches and referees. It also has unique administrative and management training. This ensures that each community program:

• Abides by the AYSO philosophies
• Offers a great AYSO experience
• Continues to grow, offering the AYSO opportunity to more children

It only takes a few hours to become qualified as an introductory-level coach or referee. But if you’re not able to commit even that much time, there are many small jobs you can help with. Even a couple of hours each season are an important contribution to your team and Region!

AYSO training doesn’t stop as long as you’re having fun. Referees, coaches and administrators have clinics, workshops and other advanced training available to advance their skills.

How Do I Become a AYSO Volunteer?

Referees

Referees are as critical to soccer as players and coaches. In AYSO, the game can’t be played if there aren’t enough referees. It’s most common for a volunteer to begin their AYSO referee career by refereeing their own child’s game. However, as they learn the rules, develop their own techniques for managing players, coaches and fans, and gain an appreciation for how important the role of the referee is to a fun, fair and safe soccer experience, they often find it very rewarding to expand their knowledge and experience through AYSO’s advanced training and certification process. AYSO’s referee training is considered some of the best in the U.S. and includes both in-person courses in your community and online opportunities. Soccer knowledge is a plus, but is certainly not required. The AYSO referee training will give you all you need to know to have a terrific experience on the field.

How do I become a referee?

You must first complete an AYSO volunteer application form and be approved as an AYSO volunteer by your local AYSO Region. This can be done by registering at eayso.org. Once you are approved as a volunteer, the training to become an AYSO referee is provided to you for free. You should contact the Region's Referee Administrator to get more information about the training schedule for referees in your Region. His contact information is on the board members page.

Coaches

All volunteer positions are important to providing opportunities for kids to play!  As a coach you get to see that impact directly, with the joy of the kiddos on your team, watching your players improve, and watching them grow as people.  Coaches are often one of the most influential people in players lives, which is why at AYSO a lot of our training focuses not only on the skills of soccer but the AYSO core philosophies and being Positive, Instruction, and Encouraging [PIE] as a coach.  To learn more see our coaching section.


AYSO Volunteer Instructions (and get that cool ID Badge)

Without volunteers there is no AYSO