Team Parent/Manager Duties
AYSO could not exist without dedicated volunteers like YOU, so thank you for taking on the very important role of Team Parent! Now what? The following information will get you on the right track so do not worry. You will find the time you put in for volunteering as Team Parent rewarding and fun. Generally speaking, the Team Parent’s duties and responsibilities are to do the administrative tasks for the team which will allow the coach to concentrate on coaching, the players and team development.
· List of Players – Make a list of all players and include their name, parents’ names and telephone numbers. It is a good idea to put a parent as contact in your cell phone as well. In case of an unexpected absence, you’ll quickly be able to call the parent. Always carry your cell phone with you. A play might miss a game because they have the wrong game time – Yikes!
· Email parents – Obtain each parent’s email address and send out a “Hey, I’m Team Parent” email as soon as you can. You will want to always keep parents informed of what’s going on. If the coach hasn’t done so already, be sure to let them know when practices are expected, how early they need to show up before the game, etc. Always include a signature at the bottom of your emails and always put your cell phone number. This way, parents won’t have to search for a previous email with your number – they can expect it to accompany your email signature every time.
· Team Roster – If your team decides to pass out snack at the end of games, you’ll be responsible for making a team roster and snack schedule. Begin by listing the scheduled game dates, location and time. Next, add the team player that will be responsible for bringing snacks that day. Before the first game, find out from parents whether any of the players have food allergies. If any do, let all parents know which foods they should avoid including as a snack. Snacks kids of all ages enjoy are: crackers, cookies, grapes, oranges, fruit snacks, jerky, applesauce or fruit cup (don’t forget the spoon), juice box, water or Gatorade. Older kids love sunflower seeds, nuts (again, check for food allergies first) and potato chips.
· Create your team’s website on Shutterfly.com – With today’s technology, staying connected with team information is easier than ever with Shutterfly Team Page. With Shutterfly, you can create a free webpage for your sports team where you can input the team’s practice schedule, game schedule, snack bar duty schedule, snack schedule AND you can post pictures of the game so all can relive the moments. Once this information has been entered into your Shutterfly Team Page, you are pretty much hands off with notifying parents of upcoming games and practices because Shutterfly does it for you. Please still have at least one paper copy of the Roster & Snack schedule. Why? Because even in this day and age, there may still be parents or grandparents that just don’t login to a computer or have a phone where they can receive email in order to get the game notifications from Shutterfly. Also, your coach may ask you information about a player and rather than taking ten minutes to look it up on your technology device of choice, it would be much easier to be able to pull it out of your coordinator book.
· Order your team banner – For soccer, part of the fun of playing on a team is making up the team name. Don’t let the team and coach wait too long to determine the name. Ideally, you want to have the banner ordered and received before the first game. After you’ve ordered the banner, let each player know what the cost per player is and collect for the banner. Most likely, you will also be responsible for bringing the banner to each game. Only first names on the team banner as per AYSO rules.
· Attend practices and games – Please make every effort to be at all practices and games. Usually, the coach will provide team information such as any scheduling changes, time to meet prior to the game, etc. It’s easier for the Team Parent to hear this first hand and send an email reminder out to those parents who have missed the practice. If you can’t make a practice or game, please let the coach know ahead of time but be sure to call him or her for any information that was given to parents so you can send out an informational email.
· Snack bar duty and referee tent – Sometime during the season, your team will be scheduled to work a snack bar duty shift. It will be your responsibility to politely recruit the parents to volunteer to help in the snack bar. You’ll have to let them know the date, time and required number of hours they need to be there. Most duty times require a certain number of adults over the age of 18 during the set time. Request for volunteers in person at the games, during practices and after the games during announcements. No open toe shoes or kids are allowed during the 2 ½ hour shift. All volunteer forms need to be filled out prior to the date of team duty.
· Picture Day – Picture Day tbd and the schedule for the day will be emailed to coaches and team parents the last week of September. You will need to coordinate picture day with your team. This includes picking up your team’s picture packets envelopes and passing them out to parents. Ideally, you will want to pass these out ahead of time and encourage parents to fill them out BEFORE they arrive at the field for their players’ pictures. It will be your responsibility to inform parents:
- Which package is included with their registration - this year’s package includes:
- Two 3.5”x5” individual photos
- One 3” photo button
- Four 2.5”x3.5” wallet photos
- One deluxe gold embossed memory mate folder
- One 5”x7” team photo
- To receive the included package, parents must complete a picture packet envelope and turn it in on Photo Day. If they wish to purchase additional packages, they must mark the additional items on the envelope and include payment.
- What they need to wear for pictures – usually full uniform (including cleats, shin guards, socks)
- Advise parents to arrive 30 minutes prior to pictures and indicate where everyone should meet. If you are new to Picture Day, enlist the help of the coach to determine the best meeting place and time. Once everyone has arrived, you will need to collect their order forms. Be sure to bring the banner with you for the team picture.
· Plan team party – There are tons of places you can have a team party, but Lamppost Pizza and First-Class Pizza have generously provided pizza certificates. Look for them in your folders, and take advantage of those!
· Purchase coach gift(s) – Purchase the coach’s gift(s) at least two weeks prior to end of season. After you’ve purchased the gift, let each parent know what the cost is per player (minus the coach’s child of course).
· Don’t feel you have to go it alone – You can absolutely delegate some duties to other parents who are willing to help.