As part of its mission, FIYA is committed to assisting its member schools with the formation and development of a strong athletic program.  FIYA strongly recommends that each school maintain an athletic director or coordinator (“AD”) to handle the administrative aspect involved with afterschool youth sports.  While the exact role and responsibilities of the AD may vary from school to school, we offer the following main suggestions.

The AD should:

• be familiar with the contents of our Regulations Manual so as to understand all of our policies and procedures;

• regularly check our calendar of athletic events so as to be aware of all important dates and deadlines;

• maintain regular communication with FIYA including attending all mandatory meetings;

• share important information about the season with its coaches, players and parents;

• ensure that its coaches are properly trained and certified;

• be responsible for finding knowledgeable coaches for its various teams and assisting its coaches with developing a practice schedule that starts AT LEAST TWO WEEKS PRIOR to the team’s first game;

• assist the coach with having tryouts several weeks prior to the start of the season;

• ensure that its teams have the appropriate sports equipment, a first aid kit, and school sports uniform with a set of pennies of a different color as a backup;

• when the school is used as a host facility, work with FIYA to ensure the playing facility is set up appropriately in accordance with FIYA guidelines.

Most importantly the AD should work hard to create an environment where fun, sportsmanship, and good character are emphasized more than winning and losing, and ensure that its players, coaches and parents maintain proper perspective about the role of the sports program at the school at all times.