Soccer is not a high-collision sport, but head injuries happen in it — from aerial challenges, from collisions with other players or the ground, and occasionally from contact with a goalpost. Every adult around a youth team should be able to recognize a concussion and should know exactly what to do, because the response matters more than the injury itself.What…

Every season I get messages from families who are certain the team formation process is arbitrary, unfair, or rigged in favor of somebody's friends. I understand why it looks that way from outside. Here is what actually happens.Step One: Registration ClosesNothing can be built until we know who is playing. This is why the registration deadline is genuinely a deadline…

Offside is the most misunderstood law in soccer and, not coincidentally, the one adults shout about most from the sideline. Most of that shouting comes from a genuine misunderstanding rather than bad faith. So here is the law, in plain language, from someone who has explained it several hundred times.The Rule in One SentenceA player is offside if, at the…

Every August a group of families comes to select tryouts without a clear picture of what they are walking into, and by the end of the week some of them are frustrated for reasons that were entirely preventable. This is an attempt to prevent them.What Tryouts Actually AreFour evenings of sessions organized by birth year. Players are put through technical…

I have been around this association for eleven years, first as a recreational coach and now as president. In that time I have watched exactly one thing drive good volunteers away, and it is not the hours or the weather or the paperwork. It is the behavior of adults on the sideline.The Numbers ProblemYouth soccer nationally loses officials faster than…