AYSO provides Competitive Tournaments. To help coaches get prepared for these Tournaments, we here at Region 572 have put together this primer to help guide coaches through the required steps necessary to have a fun and successful Tournament experience. 

Preparation:

• Get Commitment early in the season:
• You will need committed players and parents
• You will need committed Referees
• Once you have a verbal commitment, get payment from parents
• Appoint a parent to take care of Hotel Reservations, collect money, and handle the paperwork.

Application:
It is important to familiarize yourself with the Tournament Rules, usually posted on the tournament website. Each Tournament has different rules and can change from year to year. For instance, The Fall Tournaments, allow guest players from other AYSO Teams within your Region and Age Group.  The number that you can have is dependent on the Tournament.  Teams for the Section games are comprised of players from any team in the Region, age requirements must be met and the players have to have been registered players for either the fall or spring season.  Guest Players from other regions have been allowed for the Section games in the past.  Read the Rules Carefully. 

Players: 
For your Tournament Roster you will need to provide Players name, Address, Birthdate, and AYSO ID#, this information is on the player form.  If The AYSO ID# is missing, contact our Registrar.  This document also requires the signature of our Regional Commissioner.

Coaches:
The team Roster also needs to include AYSO ID#, level of AYSO Coaching Certification for you and your Assistant Coach (Coach must have AYSO Coaching Certification for the Age Group coaching).  If you do not know your AYSO ID# Contact our registrar. If somehow you or your assistant coach do not have Safe Haven Training you must complete this before your Application can be approved.  You will also need to have a completed Volunteer Form.

Referees:
Every AYSO Tournament requires the participating teams to provide a referee crew, at least 3.  A referee roster needs to be completed.  This document typically needs to include Referee name, Address, Level of Certification, Years of Experience.  This must be signed by our Referee Administrator and Regional Commissioner. Teams U16 and UP Area Referee Administrator must also sign.

Fees:
Tournament Fees vary from Tournament to Tournament and Some Tournaments require a Referee Deposit.  The Region does not provide financial assistance for Tournament Fees.  However, AYSO tournaments require payment with a check from the region.  This means that your team must write a check for the complete Tournament Fees payable to Region 572 (our region) for the entire amount, The Regional Commissioner will then give you a check from the Region to send in with your application. 

Referee deposits are required to be written on a check from our Region.  Here again you will write a check to the Region and the Region will give you a check to send. Read the tournament rules carefully regarding what requirements you must meet in order to get your referee deposit back.  

Other Expenses:
Hotel rooms (be sure to include rooms for your Refs), Gas, Food are the big ones.  Soccer pins to trade with the other teams.

Tournaments vary from year to year; be sure to check Tournament web sites to see if they are holding the Tournament for a given year. Also, make sure that they are open to AYSO Teams from our Area (5E) and Region (572) or all AYSO teams.