We welcome you all to the 5U Schoolyard soccer program here in Region 76!
We hope the program serves as a wonderful, fun, non-competitive introduction to soccer that will stoke a lifelong interest in and love for "the beautiful game" among your children.
The objective of the 5U Soccer Program in AYSO is to provide young players and their parents with a "pressure free" introduction to the beautiful and simple game of soccer. At this age, players should be exposed to soccer by playing simple, fun activities and games that require little or no practice, and minimal time commitment.
Unlike the rest of the divisions in Region 76, 5U does not use parent volunteers as coaches. All 5U sessions are run by our master coaches -- professional coaches from the AK Organization. We feel giving your children professional coaching as their introduction to the game is the best way to start them off on the right (or left) foot. It also is a wonderful way for those of you who wish to become future coaches from 6U onward to learn some fun drills and how practices can be run and structured.
5U is structured similarly to 4U. It is set up to be a fun introduction to the fundamentals and basic rules of soccer. Unlike the other divisions, there are no set teams in 5U. Instead you will be assigned a time slot for your session. Each week the field will be divided up into four equal grids, with each grid doing the exact same things under the guidance of one of our master coaches. A child doesn't have to go to the same grid each week. Just the same session time. The sessions last for one hour and are divided into two parts: a series of fun drills and games for the first 40 minutes, followed by a 20 minute scrimmage.
The scrimmages are played with even numbers of players and no goal keepers. Scores will not be recorded, and there will be little interference from grown-ups. The emphasis will be on applying what the players have learned during the teaching activities. We will not have competitive games, as forcing competition on such young players is counter-productive.
Please refer to our Program Page for more information.
All sessions will be held at La Cienega Park, located at 8400 Gregory Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90211.
Each child must come each week with shin guards, a number 3 size soccer ball, a refillable water bottle and either soccer cleats, turf cleats or decent sneakers. The Beverly Vista field is a synthetic turf field with little shade. So water and sun screen are very important.
The children will all receive league provided uniforms which consist of a reversible jersey, socks and shorts. The uniforms will be distributed just prior to your child's first session.
We will be doing our best to honor all friend requests in 5U. By default, we group 5U kids by school as well, so they can share their session times with their schoolmates.
For those who register and volunteered to "coach" upon registration, as mentioned, we don't have parent coaches in 5U, but the professional coaches often enlist the help of volunteers to help keep the balls and kids in their grid. If you are interested in volunteering to help out, you will need to become certified by following the steps on our Coach Certification Page. If you are already Safe Haven certified, you do NOT need to take the test again.
We hope this information helps you understand our 5U program and approach.
Looking forward to a lot of fun ahead.
Registered Users