Manager's Handbook
Hello Coaches and Managers –
On behalf of the PSPL Soccer Board of Directors, we are pleased to welcome you to the PSPL and US Club Soccer. Our goal is to provide your players, team and club an exciting season of soccer.
PSPL is sanctioned by US Club Soccer. This is an organization created by and for competitive soccer clubs. US Club Soccer provides our insurance, our player passes and they provide a Player Identification Program for US National Teams as well as for college and professional teams.
US Club Soccer is our organization. Each US Club Soccer sanctioned club has one vote for the US Club Soccer Board of Directors. The US Club Soccer Board of Directors is made up of club representatives from around the country - each of whom must have at least an USSF A license.
Our partnership with US Club Soccer is beneficial because it allows our league and your club to operate flexibly, with player development as our focus. We strongly encourage you to use the flexibility offered by US Club Soccer Passes as a tool for your player’s development. We believe, when possible, you should use younger players from within your club when an older team needs players – rather than signing players from another club. We believe, when possible, you should use second team players with your first team, rather than signing players from another club. This is a common practice throughout the world and will help build club loyalty.
Another benefit is that you can sign player(s) to play for a season and he/she can experience what it is like to be on your team and in your Club.
We have created a Manager Handbook to provide assistance to clubs, coaches and managers as well as to ensure the Puget Sound Premier League operates smoothly and is a positive experience. There is a lot of information that will answer many of your questions. Please take the time to read it. We will be continually updating the handbook on-line. If you cannot find the answers to your questions in the handbook please feel free to e-mail info@pugetsoundpremierleague.com.
We wish you the best of luck!
Sincerely, The Puget Sound Premier League Board of Directors
Manager’s Handbook
PSPL Leagues
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Updated August 2015
I. OVERVIEW
All Clubs are expected to know, educate and ultimately accept responsibility for all new coaches and managers who they allow to coach or manage a team in their Club. Puget Sound Premier League cannot allow Clubs to stay in our League if they cannot control their teams, their coaches or their parents. The same standard that exists for clubs also exists for independent teams that are accepted into the league. All clubs and teams must meet the following requirements and agree to follow PSPL Rules and Directives.
A. Quality – Clubs and their teams must put players first in everything they do. They must be committed to striving for excellence across all spectrums of the game - from promoting competitive match play and good sportsmanship to securing proper fields and certified referees. Clubs must agree to provide the total soccer experience to their players.
B. Director of Coaching - Clubs must designate a named Director of Coaching listed on the Puget Sound Premier League website in our Club Directory. The Director must be willing to stay informed of team’s involvement in the Puget Sound Premier League Soccer Programs.
C. Fields - Clubs must have at least one high quality field (5 time slots) per eight teams. Teams traveling long distances deserve to play on decent fields! Newer clubs or those that have had difficulty providing decent fields must submit proof of fields before their acceptance in the league. Teams may ask that they play all away games.
D. Referees - Clubs must have enough licensed referees available to cover their teams entered in competition. Newer clubs or those who have had difficulty providing licensed referees must submit proof of fields before their acceptance to the league.
E. Administrator - Clubs must have a Puget Sound Premier League Administrator responsible for helping teams maintain their club and team information, including contact information, on the Puget Sound Premier League web site. Newer clubs or those who have had difficulty with their organization must provide an administrator with working contact information and attend a pre-season meeting before their acceptance to the league.
F. Good Standing - Clubs must be in good standing with Puget Sound Premier League and with US Club.
G. Independent Teams: The PSPL primarily promotes club-based soccer teams. The PSPL believes clubs are more committed and more capable of developing young soccer players over the long term. Clubs put players first. However, the PSPL welcomes independent teams on a case-by-case basis. Independent teams will agree to eventually join or form a club to remain in the league over the long term. They will agree to follow the rules and standards according to US Club Soccer and the PSPL. Teams must submit a completed PSPL Application found on our website. The applications should be emailed to info@pugetsoundpremierleague.com or mailed to PSPL, 10115 Greenwood Ave #232, Seattle, WA 98133.
H. Zero Tolerance: The PSPL will be enforcing a “zero tolerance” for players, coaches, and parents who violate FIFA Law 12, or who behave in a manner that causes unacceptable and questionable actions that violate the spirit of fair play. Clubs need to realize that the “purposeful” use of an “illegal player” – either not registered or too old – puts the league, the team manager and its coaches at risk – both for liability and secondary medical insurance coverage. Furthermore, this type of “purposeful” action is a “breach of faith and honor” against all PSPL teams.
II. League Rules
III. Financial Policies
IV. TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES
A. Scheduling:
i. The home team (age groups U-11 to U-18 in the PSPL Leagues, all teams in the Inland Copa leagues) is responsible for obtaining fields and referees for their home games on the date specified by the league.
ii. For the fall PSPL league U-11 to U-14 games are scheduled on Saturdays and U-15 to U-19 games are played on Sundays. Home teams may change their games to a different day as long as it does not effect double header games and the other team agrees to the change.
iii. If a given date does not work for the teams involved than it is the responsibility of the team managers and coaches to work together to reschedule the game to a mutually agreeable date. In the event that an agreement cannot be made, the league office may impose penatlies against both teams up to and including fines and/or sanctions for future participation in the PSPL leagues.
iv. All games must be completed by the end of the season, or within one week of the season ending.
v. It is the home team’s responsibility to post their scheduled fields and times as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours before the game. This is done by logging in to their team page and providing the field and game time. Once the date, time, and location have been negotiated, teams are expected to abide by the final schedule. For more information on scheduling guidelines including double headers please see rule 502 in the League Rules.
vi. Referees: each team is responsible for scheduling referees for their home games, a center referee and two assistant referees are required for U-11 to U-19. A center referee is required for U-8 to U-10. A list of referee associations by area and a link to the website can be found on our website.
B. Team Information:
i. The PSPL will post a club directory. It is the responsibility of the administrators of the club or team to keep all the information in the directory current. General contact information, and contact information for the coaching director must be listed.
ii. It is the responsibility of the team managers and coaches to keep current contact information on team pages including at least one phone number. Teams not having up to date contact information put their team and clubs participation in the league at risk.
C. Communication: Teams should respond to a team’s communication within 24 hours – except Sundays. It is expected that all teams will be use email as a primary source of communication.
D. PSPL Support It is not necessary to contact us unless you are not receiving communication from your opponents or you have reached an impasse. This should be rare. Please notify info@pugetsoundpremierleague.com of any “kicked back” email addresses.
It is expected (unless it is an emergency) that teams have enough players in their club to play regardless of injuries, illness, or players missing for various reasons. Please remember that you are allowed to use players from your club from younger teams or second teams in case you are short of players.
E. US Club Cards:
All players, coaches and team managers must have current US Club cards.
i. Managers and Coaches: must complete the risk management process through US Club. To do so visit the US Club soccer Home page www.usclubsoccer.org click on the programs tab and click on risk management tab.
ii. Players Cards: To order player cards you will need the following:
1. An electronic copy of each player’s birth certificate, preferably in pdf form. Passports are also valid
2. A digital photo of each player. This is not required but is much easier then attaching photos to the cards later on. Jpeg is the file format of choice but they will accept other formats. Please read the instructions when ordering the cards.
3. A credit card to pay for the player cards
4. A US Club team account (please contact your club registrar if you do not have one)
5. To order the cards log into your account through the US Club website. Click on the player management tab and follow the instructions. There are tutorials to help one through the various steps.
F. Concussion Compliance – Each player and parent must read and sign the Concussion Compliance document found on the PSPL website. The team manager must collect and hold onto the documents for the team records. This needs to be updated each year.
G. US Club Medical Release – A Youth Player Registration and Medical Treatment Authorization form must be completed for each player and submitted to the team manager. This form can be found on the US Club Website under the Registration tab, under General Forms.
H. INDEPENDENT TEAM REGISTRATION
As stated above, teams that are not part of a club must submit a completed PSPL Application located on the left hand side of the home page of our website. On the form the team should state why the team is independaent and not part of club and provide basic information as to where the team is from, the fields that it will use for games and referee association it will be working with to schedule referees. The Competition Committee will review the request and respond when a decision within 10 days. if the team is granted entry into the leage the next step will be registering with US Club as a leage team. For more information on the this please refer to Number 4 on our Frequently Asked Questions, located on our home page.
VI. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
B. League Rules
G. Protest Form