2026 Fall Coaches Meetings
We are currently in the process of contacting all coaches for the 2026 fall season with roster information. Once you receive your roster, please reach out to your team and begin organizing for the upcoming season, which begins the week of Aug. 22-23. You may begin practicing at your earliest convenience. Please see additional details below in the Practice header.
All coaches are asked to attend one of the two available virtual coaches meeting below. Important information for the upcoming season will be discussed. To be clear, only one meeting needs to be attended – the two options below are to give you options. If for some reason you cannot attend either, please contact lysarecdirector@lysa.org to get the latest coaches deck and additional details.
- Sunday, Aug. 2 at 8 p.m. – Click here to join meeting
- Sunday, Aug. 9 at 8 p.m. – Click here to join meeting
Coaches Needed!
LYSA is a parent-led organization. Coaches and parent volunteers are always needed. To sign up as a head or assistant coach, adults should register themselves as a volunteer here in addition to registering their child as a player (if applicable).
- Coaches of each team will set the practice schedules/location. LYSA assigns teams based of geographic location so that practices will be near your home in most cases.
- No experience is needed to coach. We have a great coach curriculum to get you started (see below!).
- All head coaches will receive a reimbursement of 50% of their child’s registration fee at season’s end.
Coaching Requirements
- Coaches and assistant coaches are required to complete a background check and take the SafeSport training as required by KYSA! You cannot be placed on roster without completion of both.
- Please let LYSA Registrar Lois Stephens (registrar@lysa.org) where you intend to practice. There are a lot of neighborhood parks that can be utilized. Teams are built around the practice site and parents find it difficult to travel 20-plus minutes to practice in rush hour traffic.
- Also remember that parents have other responsibilities and find it difficult to get to practice before 5:30 p.m.
- Most importantly, do not promise a player that they can be on your team. Returning players get to return to the teams they were on in the fall season. Next priority would be a sibling of a player on the team (if there is room).
- Children of coaches may play up if their parent chooses to head coach. Siblings may play up (if space allows) to the older sibling’s team. No promises will be made to any parents or coaches concerning playing up.
- No promises will be made concerning being on a particular team or with a particular coach. If room allows we will try to accommodate, but there will be no guarantees made.
Coaching Information
Background Checks
Once assigned a team, coaches will be sent an email containing a link for each. All coaches must submit the background check and complete the training to coach. This applies for both head and assistant coaches.
SafeSport Training
Preventing abuse in sports begins with awareness and how to recognize the red flags of emotional, physical and sexual conduct, and then what to do if abuse occurs.
The online 90-minute SafeSport course covers the following topics in-depth and provides pre- and post-testing component:
- Mandatory reporting
- Sexual misconduct awareness education
- Emotional and physical misconduct
All coaches must complete this course prior to the season. The training can be accessed through your GotSport account. You can also create an account to the US Soccer Learning Center at learning.ussoccer.com.
- Click Coaching Education at the bottom of the page, then click Courses at the top.
- Click Supplemental Courses, and then click SafeSport.
- Log In/Sign Up to complete this course.
Roster Formation
- Fair & Balanced: As our registrar builds rosters each season, the most important thing is to make the team rosters in each league as fair and balanced as possible. We do not hold a draft like other recreational leagues might. We look at birth dates to get an even ratio of ages on each team per division. We also try to balance player experience.
- Location: We ask for geographic locations during player registration so we can try and also group teams by which side of town they live to make practices more convenient for all. There are larger and less older teams, so those get spread out more than the younger/smaller teams. Late registrations are typically not able to be accommodated for this.
- Coach Requests: Sometimes these are the most difficult requests for us to accommodate because most of our long-term coaches receive many more requests than there are spaces on the roster. We hope you understand that, again, we can’t guarantee to accommodate all requests.
- Friend Requests: Any requests to play on the same team with another player can be fulfilled if both players request each other in the registration form. We cannot guarantee it, but this gives you the best chance so that we can accommodate the request.
- Practice Night Requests: We are glad to be able to give you the opportunity to request practice days. We cannot guarantee we will meet all requests, but it’s best if you list more than one option.
Team Communication Options
The coach or team manager for each team should set up a way for everyone on your team to communicate as a group. A group text, or apps like GroupMe work well. There are also free apps available to do team communications and also show all of your team schedules for practices and games. TeamSnap and Heja are apps that work well for this.
Assistant Coaches
The sidelines are limited to two coaches for games. If you have an assistant who will be helping you on the sidelines, notify the LYSA Recreational Director. Anyone coaching practices/games must have background checks run and be assigned to the roster.
Proper Equipment
Shin guards required: All players must wear appropriately sized shin guards to practices and games. Socks must cover shin guards.
Cleats optional: Be advised cleats make for better footing on the field. Baseball clears are not permitted. A baseball cleat has a spike at the front edge that is hazardous in soccer.
Ball: All players should bring an appropriate size ball to every practice and game.
- 4U–8U: Size 3
- 10U–12U: Size 4
- 14U–19U: Size 5
What If I/My Team Can't Make a Game?
Rescheduling for reasons other than weather is nearly impossible. Because of the number of teams, referees and other moving parts, coaches must do everything they can to play the game as scheduled even if they themselves can’t be there.
Requests to schedule games five days or less from the scheduled date will likely not have an official booked.
If you feel you absolutely can’t play a game, you must notify the LYSA recreational director via email at lysarecdirector@lysa.org. The opposing team must consent or else it’s a forfeit.
Rescheduled games for reasons other than weather must be clearly communicated by the coaches/coordinators for both teams’ parents.
Practices (for 5U and Older)
You may practice as soon as you are ready. Please aim to get at least two practices in before your first match.
The number of practices is up to each coach within the following limits:
- 5U/6U: UP to two per week in preseason. One per week during season. Limit to one hour each.
- 8U–19U: Up to two per week. Limit to 90 minutes each practice.
Coaches must not leave practices/games until all children have been picked up.
A soccer goal is not a prequisite for a good soccer practice. As coaches, we can conduct sessions in a space no bigger than half your field size. All you really need is a patch of grass, some cones and you’re good to go. LYSA encourages its coaches to pick a suitable practice site convenient to them. Please see the Lexington Parks Map above for possible locations.
Specific LYSA fields at Masterson Station Park may be available for use. These must be reserved with LYSA. During Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the LYSA Adult League has priority on the 11v11 size fields.
FCPS elementary, middle and high school grounds may only be used with permissions. Additional information is needed for coaches to reserve via an online reservation system. For more info, contact Grassroots Director Todd Bretz at grassrootsdirector@lysa.org.
Scroll below for helpful practice videos!
Pregame
Teams can warm up on their half of the field 20–30 minutes before each game.
Families should be on the opposite sideline from players and coaches during 8U and older games. There should not be any coaches or parents behind goals in 8U and older leagues.
Field Safety
Inspect all practice and game surfaces every session!
- Coaches should check the fields you practice and play on for anything dangerous, especially glass, large rocks and other sharp objects. You can ask for parents’ help.
- Note any uneven field conditions and your practice site and be wary of them.
Soccer goals are dangerous!
- Children must not be allowed to hang on or play in goals. Coaches and parents must order their children off the equipment when spotted.
- Inspect the goals at your practice and game fields for damage, deterioration, sharp edges, missing connection or anchor stakes. Goals needing repair should be reported to league directors.
- Portable goals for practice fields should be anchored to the ground or counterweighted.
No pets at the LYSA game fields. Service dogs are allowed.
Playing Time and Positions
All LYSA Recreational League players must play at least 50% of the time.
Players should rotate into all types of positions during the game. You must not have players that play only striker or defense. Move them around. They will be better players for it!
U10–U19 can settle on two to four goalies. Remember, there are no goalies in U5, U6 or U8.
Basic Rules
- U5–U6 are 3v3 with six period segments.
- U8 is 4v4 (no goalies and indirect free kicks) and four 12-minute quarters.
- U10 is 7v7 (penalty kicks and direct kicks allowed) with two 25-minute halves.
- U12 is 9v9 (offsides and slide tackles allow) and two 30-minute halves.
- U14 Mixed is 11v11 (heading allowed) with two 35-minute halves.
- U14 Girls is 8v8 (heading allowed) and two 35-minute halves.
- U16 and U19 is 11v11 and two 35-minute halves.
Score Reporting
Coaches (or a designated volunteer on the team) are asked to report scores after each match for age divisions U8 and older. This helps LYSA at the end of the season with tournament placement as well as understanding the league competitiveness throughout the season.
Lopsided Matches
An intentional effort, in every age division, should be made by coaches to keep scores from getting out of hand:
- If you are up by five or more, you should make it difficult for your team to score.
- Direct your team to work on other parts of their game like keeping possession, passing, holding position, playing out of the back, switching the field, etc.
- Tactics like moving younger/less dominant players up front, requiring multiple passes/touches before moving forward and/or playing short a player are all ways to reign in games.
- The goal difference will not be more than four a game for keeping of standings.
Keep Coaching Terminology Simple
What is the structure of every soccer game?
- Attacking
- Losing the ball
- Defending
- Winning the ball
U4–U5–U6
- “The ball is playing with me. I am playing with the ball.”
- Shoot, pass, dribble
- Steal the ball
- Protect in defensive area
U8
- “Playing with my friends!”
- Spacing, support, attack
- Make defense compact
- Keep defense compact
U10
- “Playing as a team!”
- Create a 2v1 & 1v1
- Change point of attack
- Pressure, cover, balance
- Outnumber opponent
U12
- “Playing my role and position on the team.”
- Change the pace
- Switch positions
- Mark the player/area
- Stay involved
U14–U16–U19
- “Executing and being the best I can be for my role and position on the team.”
Overall, the beauty of football is that it requires intelligence, skill and character. If we are not training players to manage themselves, space and the ball in context then we are not training them for a match.
Play, Practice, Play
DEVELOPMENT | RESULTS |
Avoid placing too much emphasis on the result of the game. | Success requires a long-term approach and commitment. |
The priority should be to develop skills and abilities and to have fun! | Players need to be put in the best possible environment to succeed. |
Develop improved skills with the ball to improve confidence and comfort. | Development and winning do not have to happen independently. |
Develop intelligence to promote faster decisions and better awareness. | Our desire to win at all costs often comes at the expense of player development. |
No laps, lines or lectures!
Skills Clinic
For those seeking additional training, NEDO Soccer Club will be running six skills clinics throughout the year for U12 and below. These clinics are completely voluntary and a benefit to playing with LYSA.
Each clinic will be a 60-minute non-contact session dedicated to specific individual skills to help develop players’ individual ability. NEDO Soccer Club will be running these sessions this fall.
Sessions will be Mondays at Masterson Station generally starting at 6:30 p.m. Please see the schedule below.
- U5 & U6: Aug. 24 & Sept. 21
- U8: Aug. 31 & Oct. 12 (Oct. 12 starts at 6 p.m.)
- U10 & U12: Sept. 14 & Oct. 19 (Oct. 19 starts at 6 p.m.)