"Everyone Plays" with AYSO

The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) was established in the Los Angeles area in 1964 with nine teams. It was the dream of a group of devoted soccer enthusiasts who started the organization in a garage. Today, AYSO has more than 50,000 teams and more than 650,000 players. It also employs 50 people at its National Support and Training Center in Hawthorne, California.

Over the years, AYSO has created many valuable programs and concepts. Most notably, AYSO revolutionized youth sports with its "Everyone Plays" and "Balanced Teams" philosophies. In AYSO, each child who registers is guaranteed to play at least half of every game. To help create evenly matched games, all AYSO players are placed on new or "balanced" teams each year. These decisions are made based on each player's skill level and the overall ability of the team.

AYSO's five guiding philosophies are:

Everyone Plays
AYSO's goal is for kids to play soccer - so they mandate that every player on every team must play at least half of every game.

Balanced Teams
Each year AYSO forms new teams as evenly balanced as possible - because it is fair and more fun when teams of equal ability play.

Open Registration
The AYSO program is open to all children between 4 and 19 years of age who want to register and play soccer. Interest and enthusiasm are the only criteria for playing.

Positive Coaching
Encouragement of player effort provides for greater enjoyment by the players and ultimately leads to better-skilled and better-motivated players.

Good Sportsmanship
AYSO strives to create a positive environment based on mutual respect rather than a win-at-all-costs attitude. That is why the program is designed to instill good sportsmanship in every facet of AYSO.

For more information about AYSO, click here.