AYSO COACH TRAINING EQUIVALENCY POLICY

At the present time the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) does not have a reciprocity equivalency agreement with any other soccer organization including the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) or the English Football Association (FA). However, AYSO believes it is an important issue that must be explored and have opened an avenue of discussion regarding same. Therefore, a coach training equivalency policy has been created for all coaches who hold a valid coaching license issued by US Soccer and AYSO will explore options regarding other soccer organizations.

AYSO and US Soccer both conduct coaching courses and issue coaching licenses to candidates who successfully complete a coaching course. The United States Youth Soccer Association (USYSA) also issues coaching licenses; however, the licenses issued by them are only sanctioned by US Soccer since the courses are conducted by individual state associations such as Cal South or Utah Youth Soccer Association. AYSO has reviewed the entire US Soccer coaching program curriculum and has established the following procedure for coach training equivalency.

In order to be eligible all coaches must:

• Be a currently registered AYSO volunteer
• Have AYSO’s Safe Haven and the AYSO U-6, U-8 and U-10 certification or online coaching courses on their training record in eAYSO
• Produce a copy of their US Soccer license
• Only US Soccer “E” licenses issued after January 1, 2012 will be accepted for AYSO Intermediate Certification.
• Only US Soccer “D” licenses issued after January 1, 2013 will be accepted for AYSO Advanced Certification.
• Produce an up-to-date coaching resume that will be reviewed by the AYSO National Coaching Advisory Commission
• Be recommended directly by the Regional Coach Administrator or Regional Commissioner of the Region in which they will be coaching – email recommendations are accepted
• Notification of requests will be sent to the Area Coach Administrator and Section Coach Administrator for review. Reasonable objections to the request may be made to the National Coaching Advisory Commission, and a notification of a “hold” on an application for review will be sent to the applicant, the Section, Area and Region. Objections will be reviewed by the National Coaching Advisory Commission with input from the Region, Area or Section and the applicant.
• Not be on any suspended coaching list of any youth organization for any reason
• Understand that if they desire to become an AYSO Coach Instructor, they MUST fulfill all instructor requirements (see AYSO instructor matrix) by taking the Introduction to Instruction and the Coach Instructor Course. Request for special consideration due to extensive coaching/training degrees etc., must be submitted to the National Coaching Advisory Commission.
• Note: Section Coach Administrators or Trainers, Area Coach Administrators or Trainers or Regional Coach Administrators or Trainers, are not eligible for coach training equivalency consideration. 

All applicants for coach training equivalency consideration that hold a USSF license and have met the above eight requirements, will transfer at the following AYSO coach level:  

• “A”, “B”, “C” licensed coaches will be documented as an AYSO Advanced Coach – eligible to participate in the AYSO National Coaching Course
• Coaches with a “D” license issued after January 1, 2013 will be documented as an AYSO Advanced Coach – eligible to participate in the AYSO National Coaching Course.
• Coaches with an “E” license issued after January 1, 2012 will be documented as an AYSO Intermediate Coach.
• “F” (YM1 or YM2) licensed coaches will be documented as AYSO U6, U8, U10 and U12 coaches, eligible to participate in an AYSO Intermediate Coaching Course All documentation must be submitted to the Coaching Department at [email protected].

Adopted by the National Board of Directors – 3/23/13 
Effective – 4/1/13