Travel Soccer Manager Responsibilities

The travel soccer team manager plays a key role in assisting the coaches, by assuming responsibility for the administrative work, routine communication and accounts for the team. This guide to a manager's responsibilities should help new managers and coaches get started. Each team works a little differently, so these responsibilities should only be taken as suggestions. Coordination between manager and coaches is crucial. After reviewing this guide, the manager should discuss his/her role with the coaches and agree how to split the responsibilities.

Administrative Responsibilities

Registration : Coordinate registration paperwork, payment and submission to commissioner. Collect completed paperwork and checks from families and submit completed packet to the commissioner. When WYSL rosters and approved player passes are available, pick them up from the commissioner and give them to the head coach.
Uniforms : Organize uniform order by getting sizing information from parents, completing the form, collecting the checks and submitting to the uniform coordinator. Orders should be submitted via e-mail, with the checks and hard copy of the order dropped off or mailed to the uniform coordinator per the instructions on the order form. When the uniforms arrive, pick them up and distribute them to the team. Names on uniforms: Jerseys do not come with player namers on the back. If a team wants to have player names on their jerseys, the manager can organize this through Printwear Plus in Mamaroneck.
Team Roster: Prepare, distribute and maintain internal team roster. Provide a copy to the trainer in addition to the team families. Note that this internal roster is different from the official WYSL roster. (Both the manager and coach should keep copies of the official WYSL roster, which is needed for tournaments, permission to travel forms, etc.) For the team families, it is more helpful to have a roster which includes parent names and contact information. See Templates for an example.
Schedule: Prepare and distribute Game/Snack Schedule. Get game schedule from the WYSL website when it becomes available. Provide a copy to the trainer in addition to the team families. Although a schedule can be downloaded from the WYSL website, it is helpful to families to have a complete schedule which includes the dates/times/locations of practices AND games and also the snack assignments. See Templates for an example.
Guidelines for families handout: Coaches and managers may want to provide families with "everyting you wanted to know" guidelines. Coaches may wish to review these with families at the beginning of the season. A sample may be found in Templates.
WYSL Line-up Form: This form is required for each game. The manager should complete the excel form, and make a dozen copies for use during the season. A copy is in Templates.
Practice Times : Coordinate requests for practice days/times to the league person in charge (field master for outdoor space and the indoor coordinator for indoor space.) The league will prompt you for info on this via e-mail when it's time. Poll families re: availability, agree day/time preferences with the coaches and inform the league coordinator. Please keep in mind that availability is very limited, so it's best to understand when players absolutely cannot make a particular practice time and be flexible.
Organizing parent volunteers for "parking lot duty": Especially when the players are younger, if a coach cannot be at a practice when the trainer is there, the manager should schedule one parent volunteer per session. The task is to be on hand in case of an emergency or injury so that the trainer is not forced to take a child for help and leave the others alone. Additionally, these volunteers are there so that the trainer can leave at the end and if a child has not been picked up on time, there is someone to stay there until the parent or childcare giver arrives. Usually, this will not require more than one session per family per season.
Tournaments : Assist with tournament selection/registration and providing of info to families re: directions, game schedule, etc. If the tournament is out of state, the manager need to submit the completed Permission to Travel Form, along with required documents, to WYSL 40 days before the game/tournament date. See instructions in Permission to Travel section.
Score Reporting : Identify 2 parent volunteers to report the game scores on a weekly basis. Communicate names and contact info of the two reporters to the score reporting coordinator. The coordinator will e-mail everyone with clear instructions – you don't need to do anything until you receive her e-mail requesting score reporters.
Corner Flag Duty : Find volunteers for season set-up sessions and game day corner flag duty, which is once a season per team. Jim Hanley will e-mail coaches and managers assignments at the beginning of the season. He will follow up with a reminder the week your team is assigned flag duty.
Practice Jerseys: (optional). Some teams choose to buy practice jerseys for the team. Custom-designed T-shirts with player names and numbers are reasonably priced at Printwear Plus in Mamaroneck . Other sources are Bigtoe ( www.bigtoe.com) and Eurosport ( www.soccer.com).
Team Photo: In the fall, LJSL organizes a photographer to take team photos for both the rec and travel teams. Teams meet at the flagpole in Flint Park on the assigned day(s). The manager is responsible for setting up a convenient time for the team. In the spring, and in cases where the fall dates don't work, the manager may want to have a parent take a team photo before a scheduled game. This is often more convenient for the team. In this case, the manager should make copies of the photo for distribution at the end of season event. (Suggestion: it's nice to put the photo in a photo card labeled with the team name and season.)
End of season party: Organize. Find a family willing to host this fun event! Money may be contributed from team funds, via a special collection.. Another easy and successful format is to have a team funds cover certain items (e.g. the entré) and assign families to bring drinks, paper goods, side dishes and desserts.
End of season gifts: Gifts for the coaches and manager are generally given at the end of the spring season only, although it is up to each team to decide what is most appropriate for that team. Either the team manager or another parent on the team collects a small amount per family and handles the purchase of the gifts. Some teams choose to include an amount for gifts in the season fees.

Communication

Establish e-mail routine with families: Let parents know that they need to check their e-mails regularly for the latest team information. It is helpful to get families to routinely check their e-mail for team news every Thursday or Friday night (or any other day of the week that the manager chooses), and whenever there is any question about field closures.
Weekly e-mails: Provide weekly e-mail to families, reminding them of practice time/location; game time/location; directions to the game and snack responsibilities. Coordinate carpooling or car caravanning as appropriate. Directions to fields can be found in the WYSL handout, or on the WYSL website. Mapquest is another source of more specific directions from Larchmont/Mamaroneck to a particular field address.
Last minute changes: Communicate any last minute changes in practice/game times via e-mails and phone calls. If using e-mail, request that parents reply so you know that the last minute message has been received; this also reduces the number of follow-up phone calls the manager has to make. Remember to call the trainer on his/her cell phone with any last minute field closureinformation, so that they know on a timely basis.
Silent Sunday: One Sunday a season is designated by WYSL as Silent Sunday. Let families know when Silent Sunday is; the week before, remind families to respect the "rules" for Silent Sunday.
Sending announcments, polling team and keeping track of responses: The manager routinely sends out announcements, polls the team and communicates responses to the coaches for things such as: availability for tournaments, rescheduled games and practice time preferences. An easy way to track responses is to use a team checklist form. Hint: it is very helpful to prepare a team checklist form at the beginning of each season. Print out several copies and use this checklist to keep track of responses from families for the numerous questions that will arise during the course of a season. See Templates.

Team Accounts

Budget : Develop a budget for the season and determine how much each family should contribute. Should a family need a scholarship, coordinate with coaches and commissioner. Fees should include costs of items such as:

• trainer

• underdome (especially in the winter off-season)

• tournament and state cup registration

• practice jerseys (optional, only if the manager is organizing this initiative)

• misc team expenses (including items such as goalie jerseys and gloves or team party)

In addition to collecting for identified team expenses, many teams choose to collect a small additional amount per family ($25 or so) to cover unanticipated team costs. This is often handy when extra underdome time may be needed or an additional tournament opportunity arises, etc.

Note: money for uniform orders and registration are best handled separately, with parents making checks payable directly to LJSL.

Collect money from families. Checks for items other than registration and uniform should be made out to the manager or the coach, whoever has decided to be responsible for holding the team funds.
Payment: Assuming the manager is holding the team funds s/he should make all required payments for the items listed in item #1.
For trainer fees , track the dates of the actual trainer sessions vs budget sessions (i.e. note any rained out sessions so the appropriate amount is paid.); agree dates with the trainer and make payments per the contract.
At the end of the season , if there is a team balance and movement out of the team, refund departing families with their share of the balance, if significant. Otherwise, the balance can be carried over to the next season. The team may also choose to use a portion of the funds towards an end-of-season party.

Sample Templates