We truly appreciate having people volunteer. People volunteer for any number of reasons, and come from any number of places:

• Most of our volunteers are parents of current players
• We also have volunteers who, even though their children have left the program, continue to volunteer
• There are former AYSO players come back while in high school or college to volunteer
• It's great to see current youth players stepping up to be Referees, Youth VIP Buddies, Youth Coach Helpers
• Sometimes people just want to give back to the community by helping out

There are a few steps every person needs to do before they can volunteer for AYSO:

1. Figure out what role or roles you are interested to volunteer for.
2. Register as a volunteer. This involves logging in, selecting the volunteer role(s) and completing the needed information.
3. Get trained. Many courses are available online at your convenience, some are available in person. All are free.

There are many roles that you might consider. Our Volunteer Roles page has most of them. It's also very likely you already know what role you are going for.

Our biggest needs going in to Fall of 2023 would include:

• Registrar assistant - Rec
• Registrar assistant - Advanced Play
• Secretary
• Treasurer

We always need:

• Coaches
• Referees

Also looking for:

• Social Media Manager
• Purchaser
• ...Much more

Please consider the above positions, and review our Volunteer Roles page to see if something else comes to mind.

Some quick useful info:
Apply for Coach, Team Parent, or Division Coordinator under the player division.
Most other roles, to include Referees, are a Region Volunteer, even if they are focused or tied to a team.

Following are the steps in order to register. Once finished, you should be set to get screened and trained and prepare for a great season!
Registration is easy if you follow these steps. But in case you prefer, here is a registration video walkthrough.

1. Log into our www.ayso213.org website.
   If you don't yet have an account, you can create one. (The volunteer needs their own account, which might not be the same as the main account holder.)
2. Click on Volunteer from the left menu. Then click on the blue [Find Volunteer Roles] or [+Volunteer] button.
3. If you have a player tied to the account, it will show options for their division. Some roles, so as Referee are Regional, not based on their division. To see Regional Opportunities, scroll to the bottom, and click [Show All Available Opportunities]
4. (For Regional Opportunities) Find Region Volunteers, click on [View Divisions] then check Volunteer Opportunities.
5. (For Regional Opportunities) In the Region Volunteers 'program' you'll find Referee and other Regional Roles. You might need to click the small right-arrow > to find it. Click on the [Select] button.
6. Click Select, and then Sign up Registered User.
   If your spouse, child, or person other than the account owner will volunteer, choose Sign up a new users.
   Click the blue [Continue] at the bottom.
7. Enter any desired information. Any fields with a [ * ] are required fields.
   If you see something that looks like an error, please email [email protected] to let us know.
8. Click the blue [Continue] at the bottom.

*Instructions for use on mobile may vary slightly.

Most volunteer roles require several AYSO's Safe Haven courses. This is a great place to start. They are all available online, and give you a great idea not just on the training process but a complete overview of why AYSO is a great program. These courses only need to be taken once, so if you've done them in the past, you don't need them again. Additionally, to help protect the safety of the both the children and the volunteers, we do a background check, fingerprinting, and SafeSport.

Also, depending on the role, you'll need other courses as well. Some classes are available in person, some are held online, and some let you take the first portion online and finish up with a classroom session. (See below for Role Training.)

Your Volunteer Dashboard
When you are signed up in www.ayso213.org as a volunteer, you have access to your own personal dashboard that tells you the status of each item that needs to be completed. Log in, and click on 'Volunteer' at the left menu for your dashboard.
*At the top, there is "Important information from AYSO" with a small down-arrow at the right, which explains much of this as well.

1. Risk Status - our Background check through Sterling Volunteers. You should get an email with a link to the sterlingvolunteers.com website.
2. Concussion Awareness - AYSOU (top right of dashboard), then Training Library, Safe Haven (View Courses), CDC Concussion Awareness
3. Fingerprinting California Only - Email here (or to coach admin or referee admin) for a paid voucher and instructions. This is a very quick process.
4. Sudden Cardiac Arrest - AYSOU (top right of dashboard), then Training Library, Safe Haven (View Courses),Sudden Cardiac Arrest
5. AYSOs Safe Haven - AYSOU (top right of dashboard), then Training Library, Safe Haven (View Courses), AYSO's Safe Haven
6. SafeSport - The course titled SafeSport Trained. If you click on the dashboard [checkbox] and click Renew and Update, a direct link is provided.
7. Coaching License - you may or may not see this, depending if it's relevant.
8. Referee Grade - you may or may not see this, depending if it's relevant.

*Instructions for use on mobile may vary slightly.

All volunteers need to take care of basic Volunteer certifications and screening. Most of these only need to be done once, so you might already have some of them done. In addition to the basic certifications, most roles will have additional requirements. Some of these, such as Coach and Referee, will include AYSOU courses, either in person, online, or some combination. Visit our [Becoming a Coach] page or our [Becoming a Referee] page for more details on those two roles.

Many other roles might be as informal as a meeting or discussion. We will usually reach out to you when you apply for volunteer roles to give you further guidance or answer questions.