Idaho Storm Soccer Club

What does a Team Manager do?

The role of the team manager is to help alleviate some of the workload on the coaches by handling, or delegating some of the smaller tasks associated with organizing the team and serving as a line of communication between the club registrar and the parents.

It is STRONGLY recommend that the mindset be that the team manager is responsible for getting OTHER parents on the team to do the work rather than doing it all himself/herself.

Really the only hard requirement is that IYSA requires us to background check the managers (more details on that later). Sometimes coaches don't mind handling some of the tasks, so it is up to the individual coaches and managers to operate as a team and divide up the work. Below are some common ways the team manager could help the coach.

Help the club registrar/treasurer

Occasionally the club registrar will need documentation for a player, or the club treasurer will need to collect payment from a player. The team manager could help the registrar and the treasurer by serving as a line of communication with the parent in case normal communication methods fail.

Setup the nets/flags

The D3 league requires that each team is responsible for setting up one net and 2 corner flags for the games. The club will provide each team with a net and corner flags. The team manager could help the coach by arranging to get the nets from the club and recruiting parents to bring the net/flags to the games and perform the setup and tear down as well as communicating with the club if any replacements are needed.
The parents should setup the net/flags at least 15 minutes before the game so that the coach has the option to involve shooting in the team warmup. There could be a couple of parents assigned to always handle the nets/flags, or it could be done on a rotating basis.

This will help the coach focus on warming the team up and preparing them for the game, as well as reduce the amount of gear they have to carry around the fields.

Setup the team bench/shelter

It is very useful for the team to have a team bench for the substitutes to sit on and a shelter to protect them from the sun. or wind, or rain. The exact equipment provided by the club may vary depending on the team. The team manager could help by recruiting parents to bring the bench/shelter to the games and set it up prior to the game as well as communicating with the club if and replacements are needed. There could be a couple of parents assigned to always handle the nets/flags, or it could be done on a rotating basis.

This will help the coach focus on warming the team up and preparing them for the game, as well as reduce the amount of gear they have to carry around the fields.

Recruit parent ARs

At the U10, U11, U12 age groups the D3 league will assign center referees, but will not assign assistant referees (the ones on the side lines). Each team is responsible for providing one AR for the game. The team manager could help the coach by recruiting parents to volunteer as the AR. It is recommended to have several parents who are willing to serve as the AR on a rotating basis.

Ideally the parent who volunteers to be an AR has at least a basic understanding of the laws of the game and will report to the ref before the game rather than waiting in their car until the coach hunts them down. The team manager could also communicate to the club if there are parents who are willing to be a AR, but need training on the laws of the game.This will help the coach focus on warming the team up and preparing them for the game.

Team roster/players cards

The D3 league requires each time to have 2 copies of their IYSA approved roster and players cards for all of the players on the team. The club registrar will prepare the roster and player cards.

The team manager can assist the coach by working with the registrar to obtain the roster and cards, and then have them on hand at each game. This will help the coaches focus on warming the team up and preparing them for the game.

Tournament check in

If the team chooses to go to tournaments, the tournament organizers will often require a team official to go through a check in process. The exact details of the process might depend on the tournament. The team manager can help the coaches by working with the tournament organizers to complete the check in process, and communicate with the club registrar for any documentation that the tournament might require.