TEAM MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES

Below is a list of job responsibilities which the team manager needs to do, ask, or delegate out to willing parents,

The team manager is the liaison between coach, team and parents, i.e. correspondence, papers, schedules, etc.

Pre-Season

  1. Organize a phone tree first thing. The best kind that works, is where 4 or 5 people are designated to call 3 - 4 families under their name, i.e. Jones calls Brown, Cook, and Green.
  2. This way one person continues to call and is responsible to get messages through.

    Example:

    Jones 333-5555 Smith 555-3333 Baker 353-5353

    Brown 333-4444 Family & # Family & #
    Cook 333-2222 Family & # Family & #
    Green 333-1112 Family & # Family & #

  3. A team meeting should be held as soon as possible to meet the parents, players, the coach, to hand out information, and talk about the upcoming season. Schedules and maps come from the GVSA organization and usually don't arrive until the week prior to the season starting. Schedules can be obtained from the GVSA internet site –

www.westmichigansoccer.com (there is also a link to the Lakeshore United web page)

Check out MyTeam.com for its broadcast messaging system. It allows you to send a phone message to all your team members at one time.

3) Organize a snack schedule for regular games, tournaments are optional.
Usually one family brings snack and another brings drink for after the game.
Also a call during the week to the families bringing treat/ drink is a nice reminder.

4) Distribute Vision Design forms for sweatshirts, T-shirts, warm-ups, bags with Lakeshore logo. Forms and samples may be obtained from Tricia at Vision Designs 616-994-7054. Delivery of sweatshirts and T-shirts are generally 4 - 6 weeks.
Players are not required to have any extras but a bag is recommended for players to carry their equipment. Doesn't have to be a "Lakeshore United" bag.

 

5) You will receive Yellow GVSA Referee Report Cards, one for each of your games. You will need to fill in the player numbers on these cards, and either the team manager or coach will present one of these cards to the referee at the start of each game.

The home team supplies the referee with a stamped addressed envelope to send results in.

Half of the referee and linesman fees must be given to refs at the beginning of every game

(Elite division – home team pays full fees when playing teams that are not in the GVSA league, e.g. Portage, Kalamazoo, ).
You will receive a check from Lakeshore that needs to be cashed and the money correctly separated for payment to refs. Ask your coach if they prefer to pay the refs. Some do!

Presently the center referee is paid $26, and the linesmen are paid $18 each. You have three envelopes one for the center referee with $13 in it. Two envelopes with $9 in each envelope, these are for each of the linesmen. If one of the linesmen does not show up, do not pay volunteers, instead give the money to the coach and let him/her decide what to do with it.

  1. You will receive player registration cards. These should be signed by each player.

It is a good idea to write the player’s jersey number in the corner of the card. The cards are designed so that you can tear off one half of the card and give this to the player. The remaining half which has the photograph on it is to be kept by the team manager or the coach, and has to be presented to the Referee at every game.

It is a good idea to have the cards laminated and put on a key ring.

Make sure you bring the player registration cards to every game.

The referee will check coach and player registration cards before each game.

7) Equipment will be provided by Lakeshore, and from there you are responsible to bring to home games. Equipment includes one game ball, 6 flags, first aid kit and uniforms. There is one blood Jersey as an extra. Consult with the coach regarding the numbers on uniforms. There may be an assortment of different sized uniforms so that you can size to fit different players. It is desirable to have at least two pairs of socks when it comes to tournament time.

The original uniform may not be altered such as shorts or socks.

Black shorts and gold socks are standard Lakeshore requirement.

When Jersey’s are rented from Lakeshore United it is the managers responsibility to ensure that the Jersey’s are kept in good condition, and not worn by players outside of games and tournaments. Some managers prefer to collect Jersey’s at the end of each game and be
responsible for washing them. Other managers prefer to let the parents wash the Jersey’s and collect them at the end of each playing season.

Home game jersey’s are White/Black, and away game jersey’s are Yellow/Black. Home team changes jersey color’s when requested to.

Call Susan Brondyke 786-0973 with equipment/uniform questions.

 

8) Fields change every year as to where games and practices will be held. Practice fields are the hardest to come by. Ken Tamke will notify the coaches of assigned practice fields. The schools and recreation teams have first priority over Lakeshore at school and recreation parks. Please remind your team to be courteous of that rule. If another team school or recreation team shows up when you are practicing, Lakeshore teams must move or maybe they will share. Also encourage families to keep fields during games as clean as they found them.

9) Team manager must also fill out a GVSA registration form so that you will be allowed on the field near coach, assistant coach and players. Team managers are now required to have a Risk Management card. Check with Jerry Hertel if you do not have one of these.

10) Tournament information usually comes out at the annual meeting. It is very hard to secure hotels with your entire team and needs to be done as soon as possible. There is paperwork for tournaments that will be given to you and a timeline to complete. Lakeshore Soccerfest is the
only tournament that each team must attend. Additional tournaments are the responsibility of each team, and you should get with the coach and parents to decide which tournaments your team will enter. The costs and paperwork for additional tournaments is completely up to each individual team, and the manager will usually take care of registration collection of tournament costs, and payment.

If you are travelling to a tournament that is out of state, check www.msysa.net for any registration forms that may be needed. It is recommended that teams playing in the Elite division find a more challenging tournament than Saginaw.

11) Complaints.

If the parents should have complaints regarding the coach, they should be strongly encouraged to go directly to the source. If the problem is larger, please contact the Director of Coaching Ken Tamke 682-0785.

12) Soccer Camps, this is optional!

Some teams discuss soccer camps and attending together as a team. Hope College offers an elite camp that is at the level of where Lakeshore players are. Last year, when eleven or more players from the same team signed up there was a discount. The coach is also welcome to come in.

13) Indoor Soccer, this is optional.

This is not a function that the coach or team manager is responsible for and players are not required to play, but it does help to keep the skill level up during those winter months. There are a good number of teams that have been playing Indoor soccer, some at the Soccer Spot in Holland and some rent local school/ church gyms



Before Every Game.

Make sure you bring the player registration cards to every game.

Make sure you have Medical Release Forms at all practices, and games. (.

VERY IMPORTANT

Confirm game time/ location with other coach and referee’s, (your coach may prefer to do this). Referee schedules can be obtained from Jerry Hertel 335-5812

Before each game, give the Referee or your coach, the following three items -

    1. The home team provides a stamped addressed envelope with the GVSA mailing address on it. The referee sends the game results in this envelope to GVSA.
    2. One of the yellow referee report cards filled out with your teams roster, and jersey numbers. .


c) Half of the total referee and linesman(s) money that is due.

Money should be in small bills, separated for each official.

(Elite division – home team pays full cost of referee fee’s when playing non- GVSA teams)

After the game, the coach confirms the result with the referee and signs the referee report card.
You must phone in the results of each game as instructed by the league guidelines.
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Book your tournament hotel rooms early, e.g. Saginaw hotels should be booked before the start of the fall season for the following June. Make sure you register the team by the due date, e.g. Saginaw is sometime around March.

Supply a roster to parents with player’s names, addresses, phone numbers, jersey numbers, and parent’s names. Snack schedule could be written on individual game schedules and handed
out.

At the end of season decide as a team what to give the coach for a gift. Some put in money for younger coaches and some have done gift certificates, It's whatever your team may decide.

Team Pictures are arranged through Al. Keuning Photography, 399-8099. You should call them at the beginning of the season to set up a time for photographs.

If you ever have any injuries on your team, it needs to be reported to Jerry Hertel within 72 hours in order to utilize the Lakeshore insurance through MSYSA. This is only necessary if individual insurance does not provide you with coverage.

The league is always short on referee’s. Please contact Jerry Hertel 335-5812 if you know of anyone who may be interested in being a referee.

We always need volunteers for the Lakeshore board, please contact any board member if you can help out.

Tony McConnell, 616-396-8045