Team Managers/Team Parents are a huge resource for their teams. By taking over much of the off the field work from the shoulders of the coaches, they allow the coaches to concentrate their effort on the players.

Managers typically take on the jobs of handing out and retrieving jerseys, being a primary liaison with the club and/or parents regarding scheduling and similar issues, facilitating photo day, scheduling snacks and coordinating end-of-season team parties.

Age-Group Coordinators
Each division has an age-group coordinator. Feel free to use this board member for any advice and/or questions you may have. If you didn't meet them in the pre-season, their names are listed on our TPSC page and contact information can be found on our linked mysoccerleague.com website.

Communication
There are a number of ways to stay in touch with your parents/players aside from the old phone trees. Email, websites and voicemail are all new options for managers/coaches.

Make sure you have everyone's email addresses (and confirm that they actually check them). Set up a distribution list in your email software and use it regularly. The more you use it, the more people will check and read it.

If you, your spouse, or your child is web-savvy, you can use your Internet account to set up a personal webpage for the team. (Typically you would set up a 'username' for the team with one of the free extra email accounts that most ISP's offer with your master account. Then setup the webpage with that name's account. You can then delete or change it after the season.) Here you can put general info, schedules, contact information, last-minute notices and even pictures.

There are a couple of voicemail options. You can, of course, use your own answering machine greeting for last minute messages (rainouts, etc). Or, there are relatively low-cost hotline services available. One local one is Abe's Voicemail. It's $13.50 per month (less if you do automatic payments with a credit card).  It's nice to have if you think it'll save you from making a lot of last minute phone calls and it's very easy to use.  Please mention Kim Stibich's name to them if you sign up.

Abe's VoiceMail
visit their website for all pricing and services
http://www.abesvoicemail.com
or call them at:
435-8803

Club Website
DO (frequently) remind your parents of the club website, www.tiburonsoccer.org. Having them go there for schedules, driving directions, photo day information, equipment needs, etc will make your life considerably easier. Let them know that there are plenty of club photos there (and suggest that they email their favorites to us!).

There are some managers who have decided to stop handing out paper schedules entirely and go to team or club website-based information dissemination. After you've managed a season or two and experienced parents asking you for the fifth time for a copy of the schedule, you will recognize the value in "just pointing them to the web!"

Photo Day
You will want to make certain that each player on your team has received a photo envelope and knowledge of the correct time to arrive (20 minutes early) for the team photo. Also any special instructions (e.g. home vs away uniforms for competitive teams). At photo day, make sure that all players have their envelopes and checks and help with team check-in.

Snacks
Most teams work out a snack schedule amongst the parents. Oranges, popcicles, bag drinks etc are favorites. For rec games, the end of the game is the best time for snacks--players should be advised to bring their own drinks for halftime.

Team Parties
Most teams have some sort of end-of-season celebration. Whether a party on the field after the last game or Round Table Pizza party, this is a great time to wrap up the season and hand out trophies. As it is also the BEST time to retrieve club jerseys, make sure that each player knows to bring a t-shirt to change into. If you're planning to book Round Table or other such venue, you'll want to book early as other savvy managers will be on the phone even now!

Coaches' End of Season Gifts
This is a nice touch and perfectly appropriate for the coaches that have given so much of their time and energy for our children. Signed soccer balls or jerseys, mugs, plaques and photo albums are all things we've seen given to coaches (not required, just nice).

Problems?
Do talk to your age-group coordinators or any board members. That's what they're there for and will be happy to help.