Please realize that everyone wants you to enjoy the games.  This page is provided in an effort to assist you and your player in gaining the maximum benefit possible from the soccer match. Below are some simple rules you should observe.  Please consider them carefully.  Our coaches have been advised to ask parents to follow this code of conduct at games and practices. 

• Support your player. Please do your best to attend practices, clinics, and games.  Your player’s skills will improve only with practice. Remember to pick up your player on time. Make sure your player arrives to activities with proper equipment, water, and dressed for the weather. 
• Do not shout instructions to your player. This will cause confusion and may result in erroneous play on your player’s part. The coach has instructed your child on how to play. If you shout instructions, your player will probably try to please you and the coach at the same time. In trying to do two things at once, the player may fail at both. 
• Cheer for your player when they successfully play the ball. However, remember your player is a member of a team. Let the other players know you support them. Refrain from disparaging or degrading remarks. 
• “Suffer in silence” whenever something occurs that goes against your player’s team. A display of anger may inflame a delicate situation resulting in embarrassment for you or your player. Some adults embarrass their players by making a spectacle of themselves. 
• Always be a gracious competitor. Remember that the adults supporting the other team are equally enthusiastic about their team’s success. 
• Do not run up and down the sidelines.  Find a comfortable place, ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE FIELD FROM THE PLAYERS, to sit down or stand and enjoy the match. 
• Do not shout insults at the referee. Adults should NOT communicate with the referee. The referee has the power to stop the match if the crowd becomes discourteous. To have been the cause of such drastic action would be a humiliation to you, your player, and the team.  
• If your team loses, adopt a positive attitude.  Compliment your player for good plays and effort. Ignore the mistakes. Your player will be happy you noticed the good qualities over a loss. 
• Remember — your player will forget about today’s game. Next week they will probably have forgotten the score.  However, both of you will remember that you had a good time playing the most popular sport in the world.  
• No pets are allowed at the soccer fields at any time. 
• All non-playing minors must be supervised at all times.
• Absolutely no alcoholic beverages are permitted at any soccer game – home or away. 
• Don’t be a sideline coach or referee. Paxton Youth Soccer coaches and referees are adult volunteers. They volunteer their time to help make your player’s soccer experience a positive one. They need your support, too. That means refrain from coaching or refereeing from the sidelines. In a volunteer organization like Paxton Youth Soccer there is always an opportunity to take your interest in coaching or refereeing to the next level and become one yourself! 

Coaches must ensure that adults are thoroughly familiar with the code of conduct that is expressed in these rules. Remember — the referee has the authority and responsibility to eject a coach from a game if they don’t keep proper spectator control. 

We want to ensure that games are fair, positive and enjoyable experiences for all of the children and adults involved. A soccer game should be friendly and unifying – a spirited social and athletic occasion for players, coaches, referees and spectators. To clarify expectations of coach conduct, we jointly expect all coaches to conform to this Code of Conduct:

• Before, during and after the game, be an example of dignity, patience and positive spirit.
  
• Before a game, introduce yourself to the opposing coach and to the referee.
  
• During the game, you are responsible for the sportsmanship of your players. If one of your players is disrespectful, irresponsible or overly aggressive, take the player out of the game at least long enough for them to calm down.
  
• During the game, you are also responsible for the conduct of the adult spectators of your players. It is imperative to explain acceptable player and adult behavior in a preseason meeting.
  
• Encourage adults to applaud and cheer for good plays by either team. Discourage them and you may need to be forceful and direct from yelling at players and the referee.
  
• During the game, you are also responsible for the conduct of spectators rooting for your team.
  
• During the game, do not address the referee at all. If you have a small issue, discuss it with the referee calmly and patiently after the game.
  
• If you have a major complaint, or if you think the referee was unfair, biased, unfit or incompetent, report your opinion to your League. Your reactions will be taken seriously if they are presented objectively and formally.
  
• After the game, thank the referee and ask your players to do the same.

We stress two points:

Referees – especially young and inexperienced ones – are like your players and yourself, in that they need time to develop. You can play an important role in helping them to improve by letting them concentrate on the game. You can help by encouraging them, by accepting their inevitable, occasional mistakes and by offering constructive post-game comments. On the other hand, you could discourage and demoralize the referees by criticizing their decisions, by verbally abusing them and inciting – or even accepting – your own players’ overly aggressive behavior.

Your example is powerful, for better or worse. If you insist on fair play, if you concentrate on your players’ enjoyment of the game and their overall, long term development, and if you support the referee, your players and their adult spectators will notice. If you encourage (or allow) your players to play outside the rules, if you’re overly concerned about results, and if you criticize the referee harshly, your players and their adult spectators will also notice.