AYSO Seeks Coaches and Volunteers

By STEVE GALLUZZO  |  Sports Editor

For decades, the American Youth Soccer Organization has thrived in Pacific Palisades. Region 69, which encompasses the Palisades, Brentwood and Topanga communities, has perennially received “Platinum” status as one of the finest regions in the country. But Commissioner Janet Anderson’s term expires on January 31 and the future of the organization remains uncertain amid permit issues and COVID-19 restrictions, combined with a paucity of volunteers over the last 18 months.

“The bottom line is we need more people to volunteer,” Assistant Commissioner Debbie Held, who served as commissioner from 1996 to 2009, said. “Janet’s term is almost up and someone needs to be named as her replacement, unless she stays on until the summer. She’ll still be involved, helping with permits and picture day.”

Held dedicates 15 hours a day as a volunteer and is trying to step back, but insists she will still be around to train new people and make sure tasks get done.

Certain field permits had to be re-done up to three times and were not completed until early November. The real challenge this season was trying to make a schedule for each age division without knowing if there would be a field to play on. Complying with ever-changing quarantine rules was another hurdle.

“This fall we had 135 teams and 16 coaches with two teams,” Held said. “The 60 combined 5U, 6U  and 7U teams didn’t require referees but 75 teams in the other divisions needed referees—ideally at least two from each team for a total of 150 to have full coverage of games. Some referees represent more than one team and not all referees are available every weekend. Lack of parent involvement has been significant.”

Held elaborated further: “We hosted 40 games each week and 13 of those games only needed a center referee from their team. Many weren’t covered by a certified referee.

“The other 27 games needed 27 neutral center referees and 54 neutral assistant referees every weekend. This season, most games didn’t have neutral referees. Parents covered their own child’s game. This is far from ideal and far from what this region was able to provide for its first 40 years. This lack of referees led to many teams not being included in playoffs. We insisted that all referees be neutral.”

Along with needing a coach, an assistant coach, and two referees per team, Region 69 also needs  parents to take on other major responsibilities to contribute to the success of the program. Positions include regional commissioner, assistant regional commissioner, division commissioner, coach administrator, referee administrator, treasurer, scheduling coordinator and more. Other responsibilities include picture day and distribution, uniform distribution, data input, field set-up and field equipment management.

Held and Anderson were forced to shut down Barrington Recreation Center this season because of unsafe playing conditions. They will be investigating options to renovate Barrington this year.

“We hope that the LAUSD permit office will be more timely about accepting applications and issuing permits or leases for next fall,” Held said.

Registration for the Fall 2022 season will begin in mid to late April and Region 69 sponsors a spring soccer skills program operated by AspireSoccerCoaching, which will be held March 12 through May 21 at Paul Revere Middle School.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Aspire did not conduct a program and in 2020 it was only able to provide Zoom classes.

Field space is still an ongoing concern. Region 69 conducted a winter and spring “practice only” program at Will Rogers State Historic Park last year, but no other venues were available beyond one hour per day at the Palisades Recreation Center. The region has 10 tournament teams that will be in action this month through early June, contingent upon field availability.

“At the present time we have Palisades High, Paul Revere, Pali Rec Center and Will Rogers,” Held said. “We hope to have Barrington Park next season as well as Kenter Canyon Elementary, Brentwood Science Magnet and Calvary Christian School. It’s a complicated application process.”

In 2013, Region 69 was named the top region in the United States, topping more than 1,200 other regions in 50 states. It has always been a Platinum region, meaning it received 90 to 100 percent of the total points in every category. Anderson credited her predecessors Ruben Smulovitz, Peter Fink, George Wolfberg, Rick Ruud and Held with laying the foundation and pointed out that having among the highest number of trained volunteers was a huge factor in the region’s consistently high rating.    

Held encourages parents to visit the Region 69 website at ayso69.org for more information. Palisadians can contact registration69@aol.com to get involved.