9781422275986

GIRL POWER! In 1971, three California soccer coaches—Joe Korbus, Mario Maehabo, and Ron Rickleffs—decided to create an AYSO team just for girls, and the rest is history. Today, 40 percent of AYSO athletes are girls. While AYSO is the most recognizable name in youth soccer, there are a variety of different organizations that provide soccer coaching to young girls. Programs like Lil' Kickers and Soccer Shots provide soccer instruction and experience to pre-kindergarten and elementary-school-age boys and girls. These programs focus on building teamwork, agility, and conditioning skills while also teaching children how to play the game. One of the goals of these programs is to ensure that kids are learning that sports and exercise are fun. U.S. Youth Soccer is an organization similar to AYSO that helps millions of children learn the game each year. U.S. Youth Soccer has some leagues that are quite competitive. These leagues work to help children get college scholarships or work toward becoming professional soccer players. OPEN REGISTRATION VS. CUTS One of the key factors in many soccer programs for young children is open registration. This means that all children who want to play are assigned to a team, and they do not have to worry about being cut. Some youth soccer programs do require tryouts, but the purpose of these tryouts is simply to ensure that teams are balanced—meaning that one team does not end up with a lot of highly skilled players while another team ends up with a lot of beginner-level players. Youth soccer teams typically focus on helping kids learn the game rather than being ultra competitive. If children do become highly skilled, they often leave open-registration teams and begin playing with a more competitive soccer club. Club soccer typically involves some travel and is more expensive to play than open-registration soccer. If you're just starting to hone your soccer skills, it's a good idea to start with an open-registration team. This will ensure that you get plenty of playing and practice time to improve your skills and conditioning before you try out for a more competitive club team.

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