Teams
- Players can request to play with friends or a particular coach
- Each team is required to have one parent volunteer as the coach
- It is highly recommended for the coach to recruit a second parent as assistant coach
- Other parents can support the team by organizing game-day snacks, end-of season party, etc...
Parent Coaches
The parent coach will have the following responsibilities:
- Attending a pre-season online coaches meeting for league logistics information
- Attending a pre-season in-person coaching clinic for a live demonstration of the activities involved with coaching
- Collecting the team's uniforms and distribution to the players
- Collecting the team's equipment (including cones, pinnies, first aid kit, etc...)
- Bringing the equipment to each game and practice
- (U6 only) bringing a pair of 'pop-up' goals to each game and practice and setting them up
- Managing the team on game day
Parent Referee
U6
Each U6 team is required to have (at least) one parent volunteer as team referee.
Note that this parent must be someone different from the team coach.
The parent referee will have the following responsibilities:
- Attending a pre-season U6 parent referee clinic
- Referee half of each game (the parent ref from the other team will do the other half)
- You are free to teach other parents what to do and let them referee
- These reference documents give a good introduction of what is involved (it's very simple):
U7 & U8
Each U7 & U8 team should have a parent who is willing to referee the game if needed.
Note that this parent must be someone different from the team coach.
Although we will aim to provide an official referee to each game, occasionally there are circumstances which do not allow us to do that (sometimes these referees are off playing in a tournament themselves, or doing their SAT test, etc...)
Pre-season U7/U8 parent referee clinics will be held before the season starts.
The modified laws of the game played for U7 & U8 can be found here.
Practices
Each U6, U7 and U8 team will be assigned a club practice session time on either Wednesday or Friday afternoon at a field within Sunnyvale.
This assigned day/time will remain the same for the entire season.
Coaches will have a limited ability to request either the Wednesday or Friday time slot on a first-come basis.
The practice field will be split into a number of smaller areas by cones. Each team will use one of these areas.
Each week, a practice plan with age-appropriate activities will be provided to the coaches by SASC Director of Coaching (DOC), Andrew Ransome, and posted to the
SASC website.
The team coach will run their session according to the practice plan.
Coach Andrew is available to explain and demonstrate each activity, and provide support as needed.
Note that each team's coach will always be directly supervising the players on their own team (i.e. they must always be present).
Coaches are free to organize their own practice session at another time and location. This is completely optional and could even be in addition to the SASC club practices. Please note that U6-8 parents have been given the expectation for practices to be held Wed/Fri, so you must make sure any other day is compatible with all team members first.
Check with the
SASC Recreational Director for City of Sunnyvale fields where we have permits.
Games
Each Saturday, teams will play their games at a city park within Sunnyvale.
At each park there will be multiple fields laid out on the grass, and teams will receive a
schedule shortly before the season starts via our communication / scheduling tool (BYGA).
This will provide the exact field and time for each week's game.
Game Day Coaching
On each game day, the coach is responsible for the following:
- Set up / take down of the goals
- For U6 the goals are the pop-up goals that the coach brings
- For U7 & U8, the goals need to be assembled/disassembled by parents
- First and last game of the day means the port-a-potty needs to be unlocked/locked
- (U6) Making sure a parent referee is available (not the coach)
- Getting kids on the field, and the game started on time
- Rotate subs periodically (everyone plays)
- Finish the game and clear the area in time for the next game to start on time
Overall - just let the kids play the game and have fun!
Coach Schedule conflicts
Note that the volunteer coaches will have an opportunity to provide the league any Saturday scheduling constraints they have before the schedule is published.
In particular, if a coach also coaches another SASC team in a different age group, we will make sure the games do not overlap.
Other 'noble' scheduling requests will be honored as best as possible (e.g. work commitments).
However, this is provided only to the coaches, and only in order to maximize their ability to attend each game.
It is not meant to allow convenience scheduling for individual players/parents and are not guaranteed.
