CYSA - Volunteers

CYSA Volunteers

Attention all parents:

CYSA never wants to say, "No" to any child who wants to play soccer but this year a familiar problem has unfortunately forced us to rethink this policy. We have 1,300+ kids on 103 teams. This means we need 103 head coaches and hopefully 103 assistant coaches. But as has happened too many times we find ourselves struggling to fill all of these positions. We, as a board, are seriously considering scaling back the number of teams and therefore the number of players for next season. This would enable us to fill every coaching position more easily.

However, if we cut back at all we would obviously have to say, "No" to children who want to play. Parents, WE NEED YOU TO VOLUNTEER. If you enjoy watching your kids play soccer, please consider helping us especially in the youngest age groups, Instructional, U6 and U8.

We often hear, "I've never played the game and I don't think I'd do a good job". There are several resources that you could take advantage of in order to increase your confidence. There are websites devoted to the soccer coach and many, many books written about coaching soccer. Often times these resources are written specifically with the novice in mind. In addition, CYSA offers free coaching clinics every year.

Please, next year when you fill out your child's registration consider volunteering to be a head coach. What could be better than being on the field with the kids? It's more fun than sitting on the sidelines. Trust me.

Mike Gillardi
VP of Recreational Soccer

As you complete your registration forms, please consider getting involved in CYSA as a volunteer. Our success- and our ability to make our program even better- depends on the involvement of parents and the community. It does not take a great deal of time for all positions. . If you check off one of the areas in the Volunteer Section of the Registration Form, we can contact you to give you further information. We will update information about the volunteer opportunities open on the web site throughout the year, so you always have the opportunity to sign on.
Get involved- and share in the fun!

Team Parent: A few people have asked what the position of Team Parent entails. Not much if you do the minimum requirements, but your role could expand to much more if you have the energy and time. The minimum requirements of the Team Parent are as follows:

Help the coaching staff with items outside of coaching such as distributing the uniforms, collecting emails of parents for the coach, handing out picture packets, calendars and pictures.
Distribution of Picture Packets to all players.
Distribution of Pictures to the team.
Distribution of Calendar Raffle Tickets.
Distribution of the CYSA News Letter.
Help sell Bag Tag's with player pictures on it.

As mentioned above, if you have the energy and the time we have more you or your parents on the team you represent could do to help us out. The following are some examples:

Setup and Cleanup every Saturday. I challenge each and every one of you to spend a minimum of one Saturday at the beginning of the day, starting between 6:00 and 7:00, or the end of the day 3:00 - 4:00, setting up or tearing down. Come see what we need to do as volunteers every Saturday. You would be amazed. We could use extra help.
Help with the Concession stand for a few hours on Saturday.
Other fundraising activities.
Help line the Fields from Thursday through Saturday. Yes, we do line the fields on our own. No town help.

As a Team Parent you shouldn't feel obligated to help with all items above -- spread the word to your parents on your team and get them involved. Ask each parent to give two hours during the season for one of the task above. See what they say. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Concessions: Ever bought anything from the concession stand? Those friendly people behind the table are all volunteers. Do you have an extra hour or two before or after a game? We could sure use your help selling the food and drinks. Even once or twice during the season would help. Please stop by the concession stand to get involved.

Joe & John 2005 John and Anna 2006 Joe & John 2006

Fields: The warm weather is just around the corner and we need help lining the following fields for the Spring season...Tucker, Cumberland Hill, JV and the Pit (at the high school) and the softball field at Tucker. They can be lined on either Thursdays or Fridays. We also need help setting up Tucker softball field on Friday nights (5:30pm) and Saturdays (7:30am), nets and flags must be put out. In addition, we need help at the high school, Tucker & Cumberland Hill setting up the other fields on Saturdays. We start around 6:30am. All nets & flags need to be set up & put away at the end of the day. Contact Mike Crawley at mfc917@cox.net

Coaching Volunteers: To all the parents who sit through all of the practices and the games and cheer for their child's team to score - have you ever thought of coming over to the other side of the field? This is the time to help out your child's team by volunteering your time to either be a coach or to assist a coach. You are always there anyway so why not help out? You would be helping out CYSA and your child. If you would like more information about coaching you can email the Director of Coaching. At the competitive level, CYSA will also reimburse certain coaching license fees. See the Soccer Rhode Island Coaches Education Program.