Organizationally,
AYSO is run by volunteers — from the local team parent and coaches all the way through the organization to the
National President and
Board of Directors. They are all volunteers with many elected and serving as voting
Executive Members.
Structure of the Organization
Regions, Divisions and Teams
The heart of
AYSO is the local region. A player and volunteer parent joins a region which is a local playing league. A player is put in the appropriate age and gender division and then placed on a team based on what is best to make as balanced (equal playing ability) teams as possible. The region is the group that manages the players registration and the parents assistance as a volunteer.
Regions tend to organize in a city, a school district, or a smaller geographic area. As much as possible, regions are sized to allow intra-regional play of teams within a closer geographic area. Often the geographic area a region draws from is defined by the fields they use to play and practice on. As fields are often owned by the school districts or cities, regions tend to be identified with these demarcations.
The parents and players are open to join any region they desire and regions and areas can group as they find convenient. So if players on one side of a state line wish to play those on the other, they can so choose to do so within the same region or area.
Areas
Regions are grouped together into Areas. In densely populated areas with lots of participation, an Area may be part of a county or a whole county. In more rural areas with less participation, an Area may be covering a whole state or parts of multiple states.
Sections
Areas are then grouped into Sections. There are roughly 14 sections in
AYSO within the United States. Often state lines form rough boundaries but
AYSO has no firm rule of geographic boundaries at any level of the organization. It is more based on historical and what is geographically convenient for the players and parents involved.
National Board of Directors
The administration of this single, nationwide, non-profit corporation is provided by the elected
National Board of Directors; one of whom is elected the
National President. The Board itself then decides on its other officers such as a Chairman, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary; among others. The directors of each section attend board meetings and are influential in the organization.
The National Board has standing and special commissions to help guide them on the many activities. Standing commissions cover areas such as Coaching, Refereeing, Management and Tournaments. Special ones are like those overseeing
eAYSO and other special functions. Instruction and Instructors are cross cutting and part of each of the above.
National Support and Training Center
Reporting to the Board and President is a small, full-time staff comprising the
NSTC staff (NSTC). This staff is run by the Executive Director
? who is appointed by the
National Board. The Executive Director
? and
NSTC staff are the only paid positions within the organization.
Voting Executive Membership
Just as there is an elected
National Board of Directors (each of whom is a voting executive member), each Section has an elected Section Director. And each Area an elected Area Director with each Region then having an elected Regional Commissioner. These Directors and Regional Commissioners form the
Executive Membership and are the voting
shareholders in the corporation.
The
Executive Members get together once a year at the National Annual General Meeting
? where they elect new Board members and the
National President as well as debate and vote on issues on how the organization is administered and operates its youth soccer programs.
Difference between
AYSO Regions and Club Leagues
A region is somewhat equivalent to a league in club soccer style. But unlike club soccer where clubs pool to form a playing league, a region first divides by age / gender divisions and then teams. A player joins a region. Players try-out for a team in Club and sometimes change clubs or leagues as the team moves around or the player looks for a better position to advance. The clubs form into leagues to get enough teams to provide some inter-club play of their member teams.
By grouping teams into divisions,
AYSO focuses on implementing its Balanced Teams and Open Registration tenets. They invite the individual player to join and then decide where they would best fit that player into a division. There are no demarcation of teams by skill (Major or Minor, Class 1 or Class 3, etc.). Instead, all teams are created with as equal playing ability and all players are given equal chance to advance their skill and have the same playing time. No bench warmers as everyone plays equally.
Big Box Store Analogy
AYSO can be viewed somewhat like a big box store. Each retail outlet (a region) is fairly independent and unique due to the local requirements and market. The store manager (regional commissioner) has much flexibility to setup the store (region) the way they see the need. As long as they follow the main five tenets
? and policies of the board. There is some intermediate (divisional) management to group geographic areas as needed for distribution of material, training, and the like. But most of the function, revenue, and activity is in the store (region). Unlike the box store though, the regional commissioners are
Executive Members and thus form the majority of the voting membership in the corporation. Regional Commissioners are also the shareholders.
References
External Links
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