Welcome coaches - please read the following carefully as it covers many of the questions you may have about coaching this season. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact the WYSA Director Travel Program
. For a copy of the MYSL Coaches Handbook, click on the link below:
Contacts Contact information is available on the "Contacts" page but is listed here for convenience
- WYSA Website: www.westfordyouthsoccer.com - WYSA Director Travel Program: Stephen Jones - - WYSA Referee Coordinator: Paul Pickersgill - - WYSA Field Schedule Coordinator: Rebecca Carroll - - MYSL Age Directors: See MYSL Website - www.middlesexsoccer.org (Click on Board/Management tab)
- MYSL Game Schedules - www.middlesexsoccer.org(Click on Schedule tab)
Please refer to the MYSL website for your game schedule. You have to use the filter fields at the top of the page to specify your team. Select your age group for the League, and your team number for the Team. Then click the View Games button.
Contact your opposing coaches to confirm game times and locations at least one week prior to game day.
If you have any trouble contacting your opposing coach, please contact the WYSA Travel Director and they will follow up with the town’s travel coordinator for the opposing team
If it is raining, it is up to the home team to determine if the game will be played (some towns have turf fields and will play in heavy rain).
On rainy game days, we decide if our home games are playable by 7:30am and update our web site. If the fields are open you should play your game, if the fields are closed you must not play.
If it is raining on practice days, check the WYSA web site to see if the fields have been closed – if they have you must cancel your practices.
If a referee does not show up for your game, you do not have to play the game. Alternatively, you and your opposing coach may choose to appoint an emergency referee. If you do play with an emergency referee, the referee is official for the duration of the game and you’ll have to live with the game results.
Please make sure you confirm with your parents who will playing each game. If you do not have the minimum number of players you will forfeit the game. Although official standings will reflect a forfeit, coaches of each team may agree to play by sharing players or playing numbers down. Minimum number of players to play a match:
Gr 3/4 - Five (5) or more players
U12 and U14 teams require a minimum of 7 players to play a game,
Games are scheduled for Columbus Day weekend. Please make sure to check with families to ensure you will have enough players especially for this weekend.
You cannot reschedule a game for convenience – games may be rescheduled only due to weather cancellation, and school sponsored or religious events. See rescheduling a MYSL travel game below.
There are no games scheduled for Memorial Day weekend. Many teams attend tournaments this weekend, and all the referees are busy refereeing tournaments. We encourage you to take your team to a tournament too (see the notes below for how to do this).
If the coach you share your practice field with is playing a makeup game, they get the field and you will have to make do with any space you can find.
If a game is cancelled in progress (for a thunderstorm for example), that game does not count and must be replayed in its entirety (even if there were only a couple of minutes left to play). The safety of the players is paramount. The decision to cancel is solely the responsibility of the referee.
This is a game for the kids. You should set a good example for your players.
Do not under any circumstances argue with the referee. This includes showing obvious signs of anger (don’t throw down your hat or stomp your feet when you see a bad call).
Remember that the referees are kids that are learning how to be referees – accept that there will be bad calls. Please comment on the referee in your game report, both good and bad, this information will be used by the league for referee development.
Remind your players and parents to accept bad calls quietly. You are responsible for the behavior of your players and their parents. You should explain this to them before you play your first game.
As a rule do not discuss the game or any aspect of the game with the referee. While you may be trying to help the referee by pointing out a misunderstanding of the rules, this will often be interpreted as hostility.
If you feel that an important game was decided by bad refereeing, contact the WYSA Travel Director and we will work with you to file a protest. This happens after the game has been played.
Please avoid blowout games – if you are dominating a game, do not run up the score. In general we do not want to see anyone winning by more than four goals. While most towns have similar policies, you may encounter a coach that runs up their score, just accept this and do your best to encourage your kids.
You should write each player’s shirt number on your roster and make lots of copies before your first game. Because you may not have much time between getting your roster and playing your first game, you should ask all of your players for their shirt numbers now.
Before each game you will give the ref two copies of your Approved roster with the "Approved" watermark and the uniform numbers filled in. There must not be any duplicate uniform numbers. If you do have duplicates the numbers can be altered on the jersey with white tape. Failure to have these rosters with you at the time of the game may result in a forfeiture of the game. The referee will keep one and give the other to the opposing coach. If you do not have two copies of your roster, your team will not be allowed to play – the referees have been instructed to allow no exceptions.
The referee should write their name on the other team’s roster that they give you. You should make sure the name is legible and include it with any comments you make about your referee in your referee report (not the game report - see below).
Passcards are required for all travel coaches and also for all players U12 and older (during the Spring season only).
Failure to have the passcards with you at the time of the game may result in a forfeiture of the game.
Coaches should keep the players passcards. When your players line up for the referee, give each of them their card so they can hand it to the referee during check-in. The referee will hold the cards during the game and return them to you at the end of the game.
If a player receives a red card (ejected), the referee will keep that player’s card so they will not be allowed to play the subsequent week.
Players without a passcard will not be allowed to play – the referees have been instructed to allow no exceptions. So be sure to give an assistant coach the player passcards if you will not be able to attend a game.
Passcards are made up in sheets, make sure your passcards have all been cut out of the sheet before your first game – otherwise if there is a red card, the ref will keep the whole sheet that includes the ejected player and all of those players will not be allowed to play the next week!
The day after each scheduled game, you will receive an email with a URL that you should click on to report your score.
When you report your scores you will be provided an opportunity to comment on the game. Comments are public for all to see. Please do not use this space to comment on the referee. Avoid words like dominating, destroyed, blowout, etc. Game comments might look something like this:
For a game ending in a 1-0 win: "A very even match between team A and team B, with many scoring attempts throughout the game. Team A was able to get a point in the xx minute giving them the win. Well played game on both sides!"
For a game ending in a 8-0 blowout loss: "Team A came to the match prepared to play and definitely played an impressive game. Many players put up points against Team B's defense in the win, while team B struggled to match the scoring. Overall, Team A had some talented players and we can't wait to meet this team again."
The referee report will be emailed separately and you will need to fill in the game ID to get the game information and the referee's name. At this point, you can comment on the referee's appearance and performance for that game. This is very important for the referee's to be able to improve their performance, and also for the league to understand any issues that occurred (such as an injury). We encourage you to enter both positive and negative comments. When you comment on your referee, you will need to provide the referee’s name. The referee is supposed to write their name on the opposing team’s roster which you will receive before the start of the game. Please make sure the name is legible before the game starts.
Players must be wearing a standard uniform. This includes a uniform shirt with a number, shin guards, and socks that completely cover the shin guards. There is some flexibility on shorts and socks, but the shorts must be maroon, and the socks must be maroon. Baseball cleats are not allowed (baseball cleats have an extra stud on the toe which is dangerous when playing soccer).
All travel teams wear the same uniform. Parents must purchase a travel uniform which they can use from season to season. Uniform sales dates will be posted on the WYSA web site www.westfordyouthsoccer.com.
No watches, earrings, or jewelry of any sort is allowed on the field. You cannot “tape over” earrings. The referee will not allow anyone to play until they have removed such items.
We encourage coaches to take their teams to tournaments. These are generally a lot of fun for the players. Click here for more information on WYSA's tournaments. You can find a list of tournaments on the Mass Youth Soccer web site: http://www.mayouthsoccer.org/tournaments/competitive.aspx.
Rescheduling a MYSL Travel Game
Rescheduling a game can only occur if there was a weather event which caused either the town or the referee to cancel the game. Lack of players due to vacation is not a legitimate reason to reschedule. Legitimate reasons may include graduation, sanctioned invitational tournament, school trip or religious activity. Coaches must provide significant documentation that fewer than 11 players (U14 and up), 8 players for U12 or 6 players for U10 will be available. In the event that a legitimate reason exists the MYSL Age DIrector must be notified at least two weeks in advance.
If you wish to request that your game be cancelled and you believe all of the above criteria are met, the procedure for requesting a cancellation is documented on the MYSL website in the document linked here:
Whether you are the home or away team, we recommend you work with the opposing coach to pick a mutually agreeable date/time before going through the official rescheduling process.
If you are the home team a few additional steps are required:
Before starting the official rescheduling process as the home coach, be sure to send a note to the field schedule coordinator (
, copying your WYSA age director and the travel coordinator, (), specifying your team number, the dates/times you are considering for your game, and the field you would like to use to verify that the field is available. Wait for confirmation that you will be able to have the field on the dates and times you requested before officially offering those time slots to your opponent in SportsManager
After your reschedule request has been accepted by your opponent and approved by the league, you will receive an email from MYSL with a subject line similar to the following:
APPROVED - Game #1234567 has been rescheduled to February 29, 2018
Forward that email to the field schedule coordinator (
, travel coordinator, (
), referee coordinator, (
) and your WYSA age director to confirm that the field is clear for you and that referees are properly assigned.
There are a few additional guidelines to keep in mind as you reschedule home games:
On weeknights, you should reschedule your game as late as possible in order to allow visiting teams to travel to Westford. Please start your games at 6:30 (or as late as sunlight will permit).
Choose your normally assigned practice night and field if possible to minimize the disruption to others.
Double-headers on Saturdays are possible, but make sure to coordinate with your WYSA age director and the WYSA travel coordinator before doing so. The league will generally only allow Saturday makeups immediately before or after scheduled games on the same field to ensure referee coverage.
The league is highly unlikely to allow Sunday makeups for Grades 3-8, so avoid considering these unless all other possibilities have been exhausted.
Remember that we only have access to one field at Nutting on weeknights during the spring season, which alternates every other year (front field, which is #1, in even numbered years - back field, which is #2, in odd numbered years). Both fields are available on weeknights during the fall season.
Westford Academy is not available on weeknights for makeups, nor is it available at all over graduation weekend.
