Silent Saturday Dates

Fall 2024: October 5, 2024

What is Silent Saturday?

Let's always encourage and support our players while they are learning and playing the game, but for this one Saturday, "Mum’s the Word."

Silent Saturday is used in AYSO Regions throughout the country. Its main purpose is to allow kids to just play and have fun. Silent Saturday is a throwback to the old schoolyard days when kids would congregate after school and on weekends just to play all day, without regard to who was winning and repercussions for poor play and decision-making. Coaches are requested to communicate and reinforce this with spectators!

The objectives of Silent Saturday are:

To emphasize that the game is about letting the kids have fun and play.
To show that kids can play well on their own with limited instruction.
To help the few parents and coaches who feel they must provide constant direction, understand how disruptive it can be.
To give players the chance to trust their skills and instincts without sideline input.
To encourage leadership skills among the individual players as they have the unique opportunity of giving their own instruction on the field.
To encourage a sense of true teamwork as the players must learn to rely upon one another and communicate with each other accordingly.
To support our volunteer referees, both youth and adult, by eliminating sideline interference and comments.

While the vast majority of adult verbal participation is intended to be positive and constructive, the fact of the matter is that the games have become so loud that players often have difficulty hearing and communicating with each other on the field. Taking one week off from any verbal interference, may help adults gain perspective on just how loud they've been in the past.

Guidelines

Spectators

We request that you cheer and support all players. Therefore, cheering for positive accomplishments (after a score, a save, or other action) is encouraged. However, spectators shall not coach and/or direct any comments to the players, referees, or coaches. This means spectators shall not be yelling while the ball is in play. There are additional ways to cheer such as clapping, shaking a pom pom, twirling a rally towel or even get creative and make a sign with your child’s name on it. AYSO policy does not allow for horns, whistles, or noise makers of any kind at any time.

Coaches

· U6 and Younger – These age groups are still learning and need a lot of guidance from their coaches. So, these guidelines do not apply to these age groups.

· U8 – This age group may have played before but still need a little guidance. For the coaches, please try to use one or two-word directions, more positionally directions like “spread out” - “drop back” - “move up” – Do not use words like, shoot, pass and dribble. These are the things we want them to do without direction.

· U10 and Above – Your coaching moments are before the game, half time, or with the players on the bench. For those on the bench, coaches should provide direction on playing strategies for when they enter the game. Coaches shall not provide any direction – verbal or non-verbal – to the players on the field. During active play, coaches should be evaluating the performance of their team and decide on coaching points to be discuss at halftime and for the next practice. When we allow the players on the field to communicate and make decisions, they learn from each other.

Players

While on the field, players are encouraged to communicate, to support and provide direction to each other. Thus, to improving their game play. Substitute players on the bench should communicate with their teammates on the field as well. Substitutes are the 12^th players on the field, and they see the game from a different perspective. Learning to use your voice as a player from the touchline is a huge tool to help their team.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not the coach telling the players what to say, this is the players watching the game and verbalizing what they are seeing to their teammates.

Referees
For this special day, referees are asked to monitor the spectators and coaches' adherence to these guidelines and to offer gentle reminders if the recommendations are not being followed. Continue to verbalize often during the game as you normally do. You are there to help the players have a safe, fair and fun time.

Why Silent Saturday?

his anecdote was excerpted from the "Now What?" section of AYSO's weekly "Hey Coach" email newsletter. Re-posting it here might help to enlighten everyone on what "Silent Saturday" really is supposed to be about. Hopefully it gives coaches ideas on helping their parents also understand what it's about.

"My Region has decided to implement Silent Saturdays as a way to reduce the loud noise on the sidelines and parents are upset! They think their children enjoy the loud sideline noise and cheering. They don’t understand how Silent Saturdays helps the kids. Now What?"

Answer: Silent Saturdays were designed to eliminate the epidemic of parents and coaches yelling instructions from the sidelines. An easy analogy is if you were in the middle of a task, would it help to have someone screaming at you and telling you what to do? No, so why is this acceptable on a soccer field? Parents need to understand the spirit of Silent Saturdays, which is to allow players to make decisions and learn the game. After all if the child doesn't make their own mistakes, it will hinder their development in the sport. If parents think their children are confused and don’t know what to do without sideline instruction, that's an indication that players haven't been allowed to make their own decisions. Players will learn the game by making their own decisions, learning from their mistakes and continuing to play.