OFFLINE

OUR PROGRAMS

First and foremost, AYSO provides a recreational soccer program for children ages 4 ½ through 18. AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) is a national organization with 650,000 registered players and 200,000 registered volunteers. It delivers programs through individual units called Regions. Riverside is Region 47. The regions are grouped into Areas and Sections. Riverside belongs to Area 1-R, the other regions of which are in Riverside County. Area R in turn is part of Section 1, which covers Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire all the way to Nevada, as well as parts of Nevada.

In Riverside, our program has over 5000 players and operates our primary season which begins on the Saturday after Labor Day in September and ends in mid-December. OUr secondary program runs in the spring.

Although we play in Riverside, we accept registrations no matter where you live.
AYSO PRINCIPLES

AYSO was founded on six key principles which affect every aspect our program. They are:

Everyone Plays!
Open Registration
Balanced Teams
Positive Coaching
Good Sportsmanship
Player Development
The last two speak for themselves, but the first three need some explanation:

"Everyone Plays" means that every player on every team must receive a guaranteed amount of playing time. The national minimum is half the game, but in our region we require a minimum of three quarters, with some exceptions.

"Open Registration” means that we accept every player who registers, provided we have space in the relevant age group. Although we evaluate players, the only reason we do this is to assure “Balanced Teams” by assigning players to teams that we strive to make as even as we can.

"Balanced Teams" are not so important when the children are 5, 6 and 7, but once they reach the age of 8 years old, they are playing on larger teams and fields and balance becomes critical. The result is that, at this age, we generally do not grant or even consider requests for players to play together or to be assigned to a particular coach. Teams are put together every year – they do not continue on from one year to the next.
VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

At the regional level, AYSO is an all-volunteer program. All of our coaches, team administrators, program administrators – everyone is a volunteer. Unlike Little League or basketball, we do not pay referees – they too are volunteers.

Participation in AYSO cannot be made conditional on your volunteering but unless nearly everyone volunteers to do something, we would not be able to function.

We offer extensive training programs for all our volunteers, especially coaches and referees.
TEAMS, GAMES AND PRACTICES

Teams are divided into groupings by age called divisions. The youngest division, U5, spans one year; all the other divisions span two years; except the oldest division, U19, which spans three years.

Age is determined on July 31 before the season begins. A player must be at least 4 years old on that date and cannot have reached the age of 19.

Practice locations and times are determined by the team coach. Generally practice are twice a week.

Games are played on Saturday at the Ab Brown Sports Complex. Note in U14 and above team may be scheduled night games during the week.
WHERE DO WE PLAY?

All of our games are played at the Ab Brown Sports Complex and practices take place at public parks or schools in Riverside.