1. TEAM AYSO Making AYSO and Our Volunteers Successful
Welcome participants into the workshop. Make sure to mention that this workshop is for volunteers in all disciplines (Coach, Referee and Management) and all levels (Region, Area and Section).

2. Introductions
Introductions- introduce yourself, any co-instructors or special guests.
If there are only 10 – 15 participants in the workshop, have all attendees introduce themselves and their AYSO role(s) and how long they’ve been in that position. **Pay special attention to attendee introductions, so that if possible, you can call on people by name- based on the position the hold, when you want input related to a certain position.
If it is a large group, after the instructor introductions, ask participants to turn to someone they don’t know sitting near them and say their name, position and city/state that they are from.
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3. Overview In this session, we’re going to start with the basics:
Team AYSO - Who is on your team?
Recognize your role.
Learn how and why Area and Section staff play a vital role in the overall success of our Regions.
Learn tips to effectively communicate.
Inspire and motivate.
Effective communication with your team can have a major impact on your relationship with, and the success of your team.
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4. Part1 Your Role on “Team AYSO"
We each have a role on the AYSO team. What is yours? Let‘s explore this concept.
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5. What does that word mean?
Team
What does that word mean?
A group organized to work together.
A group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job or project.
A group on the same side, as in a game.
A number of persons associated in some joint action: a team of advisers.
Ask the participants what they think the word team means - what is your definition?
Gather answers - write on flip chart if you wish.
Show the definitions from various dictionaries which are listed on the slide. Be sure people really think about the definitions.
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6. Regional Board Members and Volunteers
Area Staff
Who is on your team?
Regional Board Members and Volunteers
Who is on your team?
The Area staff attendees - should be listing all various Area positions. They should also be listing the RC and their Regional counterpart(s) and others in Regional management within their discipline (i.e. for Area Coach Administrator, he/she should be working with the RCA, RCT, possibly Division Coordinators). For ADs, it should also include all Regional Board Members in each of their Regions, with the most emphasis on the RC. Write responses on flipchart if you wish.
Regional Board Members - For RCA - all coaches and trainers, for RRA - all referees and trainers, for RCs - ALL of the Region’s volunteers and all Area and Section staff in their discipline. Write responses on flipchart if you wish.
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7. What happens in the game of soccer when our players don’t work together as a team?
Ask this question - gather input. Write responses on flipchart if you wish.
Some potential answers are:
We aren’t as successful.
We don’t achieve our goals.
In AYSO, we risk not honoring our philosophies.
STRESS: We are no different than those teams of kids out on the soccer field. We all got involved in AYSO to offer the AYSO opportunity to the kids. That opportunity won’t happen if WE don’t work as a team.
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8. In your AYSO position are you a worker, a leader or a team player?
Gather answers. Tally the responses.
Then ask - Does anyone think that you should be all three?
Ask participants to give examples when they would be in each of the roles.
Yes, we need every volunteer to be willing to serve in each role.
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9. An effective leader serves in all three roles
An effective leader serves in all three roles. It depends on what contributions or attributes are needed at a particular time.
Just like on the soccer field, until you get to the upper divisions, or maybe even to college level and pros, you will spend time in multiple and varying roles.
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10. What do you feel the primary purpose of the Area and Section staff is?
Have students take a moment to think about that; perhaps even jot down their answers. Gather input - if a small group, get as much input as possible.
Gather responses from all levels of volunteers. See if there is a difference in perception of the purpose, between Regional and Area staff. Write responses on the flipchart if you wish.
Before showing the next slide, bridge the gap with the statement :“lets see if your responses match what we thought.”
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11. Area and Section Staff Support the Regional programs.
Provide “Lead”ership (guidance/direction).
Serve the local Regions.
Mentor the staff.
Train the volunteers.
Ultimate responses should be: Support the Regions. Provide “Lead”ership guidance and direction. Serve the local Regions. Mentor the staff. Train the volunteers.
Did we agree on these, even if in different words?
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12. How is the primary role of the RC and Regional Board different from the AD and Area Staff?
Have participants take a moment to think about that.
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13. Primary Roles – RC vs. AD
Manage the day to day running of the local program.
Guide the volunteers.
Train the volunteers with quality programs so the players have an experience that will enrich their lives.
Ultimately the RC and Regional Board role should be the same as the AD and Area Staff : Serve, support and lead the volunteers, players and parents. This is done by managing the day to day running of the Region, guiding the volunteers and training the players to play and our volunteers to serve.
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14. Key Points Why can’t an RC or AD lead alone?
What is necessary for them to achieve their goals?
Click and ASK: Why can’t an RC or AD lead alone?
Click and ASK: What approach do you take to accomplish success?
Answers should be any ideas that relate to: “Work as a team.” and “By being effective leaders.”
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15. And the answer is…….. Work as a team!
We are a team, we need to work as a team or we will not be effective or successful. Just like our teams out on the soccer field, we have to train together, get to know each other, communicate and work hand in hand in order to be successful. We teach that to our players, so now let’s apply that same approach to our AYSO positions.
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16. Know your job and fulfill it to the best of your ability!
Be effective leaders!
Know your job and fulfill it to the best of your ability!
Be effective leaders. Effective leaders don’t just order people around. Effective leaders take an active role in building, working, evaluating and communicating with everyone on their team.
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17. Regional Board Members
Part 2 – The AYSO Team
Parents and Spectators
Referees
Kids Zone ®
Everyone on the AYSO Team should support the players and the Kids Zone philosophies.
Coaches
Regional Board Members
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18. How well do you know the members of your AYSO team?
Ask this question. Get generic feedback (i.e. I don’t know them well, I know some well, etc.).
What kinds of things do you know about your “team”?
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19. Getting to know you… Getting to know all about you…
This slide has a short audio clip, make sure your speakers are on full.
Ask: Why is it important for you to know some personal information about the volunteers on your team and the Regions/ Areas that you serve?
Answers should come down to something similar to: How can you provide appropriate leadership, support, guidance if you don’t know about the situation of that person or Region/ Area?
Ask: What do you accomplish by knowing about your team members family/ career/ life situation? Answers should come down to something similar to: You will then have an understanding of the volunteer’s strengths and weaknesses, what limitations they may face, when they are available to talk, when they may need extra help i.e. a tax preparer will always be very busy in March and April, so maybe you need to offer additional assistance during those months; you need to be more understanding during those months that your volunteer doesn’t have much time to communicate or do their volunteer job, so may need some extra help and understanding. Knowing about a volunteer’s family also allows you to build a bond- you can ask how their job is; how the kids are, etc..
Ask: What do you accomplish or gain by knowing the Region or Area demographics, how they think/ operate and their uniqueness? Answers should come down to something similar to: Knowing the size of the Region, number of teams per division, etc will let you plan appropriately with and for the Region, know what things they need help with vs. what things that are handling well on their own.
Ask: How can you utilize what you learn about the volunteers that you work with to do your job more effectively?  
Ask: How can you utilize the information about your Regions/ Areas in your position to better serve those that you supervise and support?
KEY POINTS: Knowing those that you work with will build trust, respect, understanding, makes you part of their team when you know and care about what is happening, it opens up the lines of communication. By knowing the strengths, uniqueness and limitations of your volunteers and the Regions, you can customize your approach to work with them, set specific goals for yourself and for them. You will then know what they are and aren’t capable of.
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20. AYSO Team ADs and RCs - do you know?
Occupation? Busy time of the year? Work hours?
Married? Single parent? Significant other?
How many children? Do they volunteer?
How long have they been a volunteer?
What other positions have they held?
Preferred means of communication? , phone, text, etc.
Ask participants to answer honestly if they know these this type of information about their Regional Board Members or Area Staff.
Why is this information important?
Is there anything that should be added to this list?
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21. ADs and Area Staff Do you know?
Size of each Region?
Does the Region play short-sided?
Do they hold soccer camps? Who is their camp provider?
Do they have EXTRA or VIP programs?
What are the Regional struggles and successes?
Does the Region have their own instructors?
What else should they know?
The key points on the previous slide still apply. Personal information is important.
Each Region is different. The AD should know the “personality” of each Region.
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22. Key Points Knowing those on your team will:
Build trust, respect and understanding.
Make you part of their team.
Open the lines of communication.
Allow you to customize your approach to work together.
Allow you to set specific goals that are achievable and realistic.
Go over these points with the participants.
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23. Part 3 – Effective Communication
So, now that we’ve gotten to know our AYSO Team, hopefully that will put us on the road to positive and effective communication. But, it doesn’t end with just getting to know one another. How we interact and communicate with those that we work with, has a huge impact on how we work together as a team and how successful our team can be.
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24. The RC is refusing and has all sorts of excuses.
Scenario # 1
The AD is asking an RC to submit the Regional Assessment Program which is long overdue.
The RC is refusing and has all sorts of excuses.
This scenario will require some adlib role play. Do this scenario twice. The instructor can be the AD. The RC can either be a co-instructor or a participant. Pre-arrange who will do this with you so you can talk through it briefly. Preparation will make sure that the role play will achieve the desired outcome.
In the first approach the AD is questioning why the Region is late. The AD offers help by attending the next Regional Board meeting to work on it together. The RC responds well to the positive attitude.
The second time the AD should be demanding, exasperated, demeaning, and rude. The RC reacts negatively to this approach.
Thinking of how you have interacted with your teammates, which approaches are most similar to your approach to similar situations in the past?
Does either scenario bring you to a conclusion that sometimes we could say things differently, and have our message received in a much more positive way?
What effect does how our message is received have on our relationships and the outcome of what we’re asking for?
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25. Scenario # 2
from Area Referee Administrator to Regional Referee Administrator: I am ing to find out why you guys haven’t held any referee training courses this year. We’ve gotten complaints in the past about your Region’s referees, so you really need to do something about this and get them trained.
Put up this scenario and then ask how it could be improved?
Could the wording be changed?
What other method of communication could have been used?
The instructor and the co-instructor or participant can role play an alternate approach to this communication. The new approach should be positive and much more encouraging.
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26. Scenario # 3 If time allows…..
The instructor and co-instructor should rehearse this scenario beforehand. The alternate option is to ask one of the participants if they would like to role play. Quickly give them the scenario of the Coach’s response and tell them to adlib the rest. Only use this if time allows.
AD approaches a U 8 boys Coach as he is walking off the field after an inter-regional game and says that she isn’t happy with the way the Coach ignored all the parents who were screaming at the Referee. “Have you been trained?” “You don’t seem to know much about the game.”
The Coach is shocked. He is a new Coach who was recruited after the season started and he is trying his best. No one told him about dealing with difficult parents in his training. Yes, he did attend the U 8 Coach Training.
What would have been a better time to deal with this situation?
What if anything should the AD have said?
Who should the AD have tried to contact first? ACA or RC
Who should have handled this situation? ACA or RC
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27. Wrap Up Recognize your role on the team.
Know the primary roles of Regional, Area and Section staff.
Know your teammates and how to utilize the information to become successful.
Effectively communicate with your team for positive results.
All of this will allow you to inspire and motivate yourself and your teammates to do the best that you can.
Have we helped you with each of these?
Utilizing these approaches should help build your team; inspire and motivate your team; and therefore allow us to achieve our ultimate mission of “developing and delivering quality youth soccer programs”.  This will result in success and growth for our Regions and all of AYSO.
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28. You can enrich children’s lives if you:
Build your team.
Inspire and motivate your team.
Communicate in a positive and effective way.
This will result in success and growth for our Regions and all of AYSO. 
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29. Stress to the attendees: RESPECT- that is what this entire workshop centers around. Respect others, the positions and roles volunteers have taken on. Respect the duties & responsibilities that you promised to fulfill when you took on your current positions/ roles .
Thank participants for attending.
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