Archdiocese of Seattle | Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry

If your question is not answered in our FAQ, use the “Contact” link on the top right of this webpage to e-mail CYO Athletics.

Play Like A Champion, Safe Environment and Lystedt Law

What training do I need to be eligible to coach?

1. Fulfill volunteer background check and paperwork at parish or school;

2. Be current with Safe Environment Program requirements;

3. Completed Play Like A Champion Today coaches training;

4. Completed Lystedt Law training;

What is Play Like A Champion Today ® (PLC)?

The Play Like A Champion Today ® Educational Series (PLC) is an innovative coach and parent education program that is transforming the culture of sports today. Based at the University of Notre Dame, Play Like A Champion Today® offers an athlete-centered, research-based approach to coaching and sport parenting by offering interactive coaches clinics and parent workshops.

What is the purpose of the PLC coaches training?

1) Help us recognize the spiritual nature of sports;

2) Train youth sport coaches to be effective ministers;

3) Promote the moral and character development of our youth;

Why do coaches have to attend mandatory PLC coaches training?

CYO Athletics believes that by participating in this training and implementing both what is learned in the session and what is contained in the associated manual, coaches will be empowered in their effectiveness beyond the technical aspects of sports, enhancing their ability to create and maintain the positive environment that will GROW their youth participants.

While many coaches have participated in the previously required Frank Smoll training or other coach presentations, we feel it is important that all coaches have the same training as they approach their role in CYO Athletics. While these other trainings, as well as those you may attend as a coach in other organizations, are excellent opportunities to grow as a coach, we see them as supplemental to the core training that we believe coaches obtain through PLC.

We realize that experienced coaches may not get as much out of the training as beginning coaches but at the same time are hopeful that participating in the training will reinforce and affirm values and concepts experienced coaches are already practicing and perhaps even give new insights, perspective or tools into building on what they already do as a coach.

When is the next PLC coaches training?

Training dates, times and locations can be found on the PLC page on our website.

Do I need to register for PLC coaches trainings?

Trainings not located at the Isaac Orr Conference Room will require a minimum of 15 coaches pre-registered. Please use the PLC registration form to sign up for trainings. Please submit completed forms to cyo@seattlearch.org with the date and location of the training you are attending in the subject heading of the email. We will notify the pre-registered coaches on Friday before weekend trainings if the training is going to be cancelled due to a lack of pre-registrations.

How come PLC coaches trainings are offered after the coaches meetings?

Although it is not an ideal time frame, we were asked to provide PLC coaches trainings after our pre-season coaches meetings, and they actually have been well attended in general since we started providing that opportunity. These are not the only PLC coaches trainings we offer however, and any parish or school willing to host a training may do so at a different time, as long as we meet the 15 pre-registered coaches requirement and as long as a PLC trainer is available. A parish or school interested in hosting a PLC coaches training should contact Scott Bailey at scott.bailey@seattlearch.org.

I am a High School student and assistant coach in CYO Athletics. What training requirements do I need to fulfill?

ALL coaches, assistant or head, high school-aged or not, are required to fulfill the coaches training requirements for CYO Athletics. The only exception is that coaches under the age of 18 years old are not required to fulfill the Safe Environment Program training for two primary reasons:
1. By Safe Environment guidelines anyone under 18 should never be left alone in a supervisory position in regards to youth;
2. The material in the training is not appropriate for youth under the age of 18 years old;
While the SEP training is not required, the basic principles and policies should be reviewed with any assistant coach under the age of 18 years old so that they are aware of how to protect children and themselves as volunteers.

I am helping with a CYO Athletics team. What constitutes being a “coach”?

Anyone who is involved in the capacity of team leadership or instruction at ½ the team practices and games is defined as a “coach” and is required to fulfill the training requirements for CYO Athletics.

What is Parent Like A Champion Today®?

It is a parent education program that compliments the PLC Sports as Ministry (SAM) initiative and PLC coaches training. Parents who attend PLC Parent Workshops will be empowered to positively motivate their children to succeed in sports and enjoy their athletic experience.

At the end of the workshop, parents should walk away with:

Techniques to become a “Champion Sports Parent”
An understanding of the current trends in youth sport
A recognition of the spiritual nature of sports
An age-specific nutrition guide for young athletes
A 66 page take-home manual to use as a reference during the sport season

A parish or school interested in hosting a PLC parent workshop should contact Scott Bailey at scott.bailey@seattlearch.org.

What is the Safe Environment Program (SEP)?

In 2002, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) drafted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in response to the crisis of sexual abuse of children in the Church. The Charter establishes norms for responding to allegations, promotes healing and reconciliation with victims and calls for the creation of safe environment programs in dioceses throughout the US.

Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People

How do I know if I need to complete any of the SEP requirements?

Contact your parish or school for your records. In addition, you may contact the Safe Environment office at sep@seattlearch.org for assistance. They keep track of the trainings you have already completed and which trainings are still required of you. If you know your log-in information, click here to log-in and see your obligations.

What is the Zachary Lystedt Law?

On May 14, 2009, the Washington State Legislature passed the “The Zachary Lystedt Law” HB 1824, directing the education of coaches, players, and parents on the recognition and management of concussions as well as establishing return to play protocol for all youth athletes suspected of or having a concussion or brain injury.

Please review the document below on the requirements of coaches, parents, and players of every participating CYO parish or school.

Summary and House Bill

(1).The new law identifies that all school coaches will have to take training on the nature and risk of concussions and head injury including continuing to play after a concussion or head injury.
(2). On a yearly basis, a concussion and head injury information sheet shall be signed and returned by the athlete and athlete’s parents/guardian prior to the youth athlete’s initiating practice or competition.
(3). All athletes suspected of suffering a concussion or brain injury will be removed from practice or competition and not returned to play until cleared in writing by a licensed health care provider

This affects CYO Athletics in that there are requirements for non-profit youth organizations using school facilities. Among them is that:

All coaches, players and parents of youth teams shall have similar training as outlined for school coaches, players and parents prior to the start of any practice;
While CYO Athletics will work to make this information accessible, Parish/School Athletic Directors should ensure that Coaches, Parents and Athletes have complied with the rules. For clarification, please call CYO Athletics at 206.654.4643.
More detailed information, forms and resources can be found on The Lystedt Law page of our website.

I already watched the Lystedt Law video, do I need to watch it again?

The Lystedt Law video must be watched every year. For CYO Athletics, our program year starts with Soccer in the Fall. If you have not watched the video since last September, you will need to watch it again.

CYO Officials

How do I become a CYO Official?

CYO Athletics is always looking for more officials, and CYO participants should keep an eye out for confident individuals with a passion for sports. It can be a great experience for high school and college students looking to work weekends and develop the skills to eventually work in higher levels of sports. Anyone interested in becoming a CYO Game Official should contact the CYO Athletics office by calling Scott Bailey at (206) 274-3128 or e-mailing scott.bailey@seattlearch.org

How old do I have to be to be a CYO Official?

In general, paid officials working for a referee association should be at least 16 years old. Exceptions may be made on a case by case basis. Volunteer officials working unpaid games at a parish or school will need to check with their parish or school for minimum age requirements.

How much does CYO Athletics pay officials?

Every referee association pays a little differently. Please contact Scott Bailey at (206) 274-3128 or e-mail scott.bailey@seattlearch.org to find out more information about pay for officials.

Registration

How do I register my child to play a CYO Athletics sport?

In CYO Athletics individual child registrations are done through the parish or school. The Archdiocesan office only registers the teams from the parishes and schools, and does not participate in the process of registering the individual child. Please contact your parish or school office and ask for registration materials or the Athletic Director’s information. If necessary the Athletic Director can then assist you in the proper way to register your child for the sport they would like to play. If your parish or school does not currently participate in CYO Athletics please fill out this online contact form (OYYAM questions), and someone will follow up with you.

How do I get a refund if my child decides not to play for a CYO Athletics team?

Just like registering a child for a sport, individual child registration fees are controlled at the parish or school level. The Archdiocesan office only collects payment for the team fees from the parishes or schools, and is not involved in the process of collecting payment for individual registrants. Different parishes and schools may have different protocols for refunding money. Therefore you will need to contact the parish or school Athletic Director for the program your child is involved with to inquire about refunds.

I see that CYO Athletics does online registration with SportsPilot, how do I register online?

Fields

What do I need to do as the coach of the home team playing on a City of Seattle soccer field?

Seattle Parks and Recreation, in looking for alternatives to additional user fee increases, has set some new guidelines for soccer field users. As the home team coach you will be required to:

Trained as a certified user to perform maintenance on city fields, by watching the required training videos shown at the coaches meetings.
Refresh the lines after each game on all non-synthetic fields in the goal boxes, corner kick areas, and the center line and circles.
Fill in rubber, rake, and roll after each game on all synthetic fields in the goal box and corner kick areas.

The supplies will be provided by Seattle Parks and Recreation in the maintenance sheds on site at each field. Failure to do this after each game will result in loss of use of these fields for CYO Athletics. No maintenance is required for practices, only for games.

What do I need to do as the coach of the home team playing on a City of Seattle baseball field?

Seattle Parks and Recreation, in looking for alternatives to additional user fee increases, has set some new guidelines for baseball field users. As the home team coach you will be required to:

Trained as a certified user to perform maintenance on city fields, by watching the required training videos shown at the coaches meetings.
Get to the field a minimum of two hours before game time to make sure the field is playable due to rain, or any other conditions which might make the field unusable.
If the field is unusable contact the umpires association two hours ahead of time to cancel.
Litter pickup
Game day chalk lining of infield
Preparation of pitching mound
Hand raking of the baseball infields
Place bases for play and store after use
Water infield

The supplies will be provided by Seattle Parks and Recreation in the maintenance sheds on site at each field. You will not be required to drag the field as this will still be done by Seattle Parks and Recreation. Failure to do perform these tasks for each game will result in loss of use of these fields for CYO Athletics. No maintenance is required for practices, only for games.

How do practice fields get assigned?

For soccer and baseball CYO athletics is only involved in distributing City fields to the programs that use them, and not allocation past that point. Fields are allocated to those programs based off of what CYO Athletics receives from Seattle Parks and Recreation regionally.

How do game fields get assigned?

CYO Athletics receives fields for scheduling games in two ways. One, from various parks and recreation departments, and two, from the parishes and schools.

City Parks and Recreation Departments:
- The fields we receive are based off of historical use in each city, as well as blocked scheduling. There are always more users than field space available in each city, so parks and recreation departments will allocate many of their fields based on historical use. Below is the City of Seattle’s policy on historical use, and the considerations involved.
  - Priority Access for youth
  - Protect fields from overuse
  - Prioritizes among groups/organizations – locations/times
  - Provide equity with age groups and sports seasons
  - Allow for new field sports
  - Allow for new field sport organizations
  - Local before Citywide
  - No guarantee of same field year to year
This is the same for all users, and thus explains why CYO Athletics consistently schedules games and practices on certain fields and not others. Fields we do not use are very often allocated to another user who has those fields.
Below is why the City of Seattle schedules users with blocked time.
- Block scheduling allows for Seattle Parks and Recreation to schedule historical users in advance and know field availability for expanded programs.
- Block scheduling allows Seattle Parks and Recreation to “see” openings that enables them to schedule new sports and underserved groups.
- Block scheduling was enacted in 1980 due to the pressures of massive growth in adult and youth sports like they are seeing once again currently.
- Parishes & Schools:
  - Parishes and schools in our program which have fields at their facility are sent a “Field Request Form” prior to each season with the days and times of the upcoming season. Athletic Directors return these forms to CYO Athletics with the dates and times their field is available, and what level of games can be played on their fields. We then use this information in our scheduling process.

How can I help to improve fields in my neighborhood?

There are a variety of ways to help improve the quality of fields in your neighborhood. Though required by Seattle to repair and maintain fields after each game, game day maintenance is just one way to be good stewards of the facilities in our care. Please contact your local parks and recreation department for further information on how to become involved.

Also contact Friends of Athletic Fields to find more opportunities to get involved http://www.friendsofathleticfields.com/.

Scheduling

Why do schedules come out so late (close to the first game)?

The timeliness of schedules posted is based on the following factors.

Registration deadlines for each sport are roughly four weeks prior to the first games of each particular season. This gives us the maximum number of teams we will schedule, and the 1^st stage of scheduling begins with this information.
Field and gym request forms, which provide facility availability for scheduling, are also due at the same time as registrations. These forms are provided to CYO Athletics by both the individual parishes, and various City Parks and Recreation Departments depending on the sport. Scheduling either cannot begin, or is delayed until these forms are received.
Team drops and changes in facility availability cause late schedule re-working, and thus delays in posting the schedule to the public.
After the drop deadline, scheduling can take an additional week and a half, and is not complete until the week prior to the first games.
Posting an accurate and complete schedule is one of our highest priorities, in order to minimize changes to the schedule once it is posted, and allowing families to plan their lives around their game schedule.

What are the team registration deadlines?

The registration deadlines are in place to make sure we are receiving accurate information on the maximum number of teams we will be scheduling. Parishes and schools are not allowed to register teams after the registration deadline has passed. Adding teams past this deadline results in division and schedule re-working, and thus delays the process. Teams looking to add past the registration deadline may be placed on the waitlist.

What is the process for being placed on the late registration waitlist?

Any parish/school wishing to add a team after the registration deadline is placed on a first come/first served waiting list for that particular grade and gender. If a team drops after the registration deadline, the waitlisted team then has the option to assume the schedule of the dropped team. If no teams drop, the waitlisted teams will not be added to the schedule.

What is the drop deadline, and why is there one?

The drop deadline has been created to discourage dropping teams, originally registered, as they create changes to the schedule and thus cause delays. Team drop deadlines, are roughly two weeks after the registration deadline, and prior to the season beginning. Teams who drop on or prior to the drop deadline will not be charged the registration fee. All teams who drop after the drop deadline will be charged the full registration fee to CYO Athletics.

Why do I have to travel so far for my games? Why can’t I just play games in my area?

Unlike some city or select programs which where the teams exist and play only in a certain region of the City, the Archdiocese of Seattle CYO Athletics program has participating parishes as far north as Everett, as far east as Snoqualmie, and as far south as Federal Way, and in some cases Tacoma. The very size of this program thus requires a need for increased travel.

CYO Athletics divisions are divided out regionally as much as possible based off of the teams registered per grade and gender. Sometimes the divisions cover a large geographic region. This is can happen for several reasons, some of these are logistic, and some of them are philosophical.

Some schools have more than one team in a division. When at all possible we will put them in different regional divisions. This is why certain teams in certain divisions don’t necessarily play the nearest schools geographically. Athletic Directors can make a request to CYO Athletics to place their teams in the same division, at the time of registration, and on the registration form. An example would be St. Vincent de Paul in Federal Way having two teams in 5^th grade boys basketball, and preferring their teams play each other, to minimize travel. We would then put them both in the same division. This is not usually done because Athletic Directors have found there can be a lot of taunting by the winning team, which disrupts classroom dynamics.
Many parishes/schools in the south end are grouped together with parishes/schools on the Eastside. There are rarely enough teams registered in any given division to form divisions with these programs in just their particular region, and thus they are grouped together. Since the main concentration of parishes competing in the Archdiocese of Seattle CYO Athletics program are located in north or central Seattle those programs are grouped together, thus leaving the Eastside and south end schools to be combined. When enough teams register in a certain region we group those teams together to prevent as much travel as possible.
In basketball and volleyball, middle school teams are separated by talent level to create the best experience possible for the kids on the court. If there are enough teams in AAA, AA, or JV divisions we separate them by region, but this depends on how many teams register.

What are the parameters you deal with in scheduling?

Below are some of the parameters/pitfalls CYO Athletics deals with when scheduling a sports season.

On average CYO Athletics schedules roughly 1300-1400 games per season in soccer and basketball, and 700-800 volleyball games per season.
Many times forms submitted by the parishes/schools to CYO Athletics, to begin scheduling, are not submitted on time, or have inaccurate information. This delays the process, or causes CYO Athletics to change the schedule during the process which creates gaps, or alters where we must place certain teams.
CYO Athletics works to make sure each team has at least 3 home games in a 7 game season, and 4 home games in an eight game season minimum. Sometimes those home games are not always at a parish/school’s home gym depending on other factors listed below.
In soccer, and in other sports, many Parish/School Athletic Directors have requested the registration deadlines not be any earlier. The feeling was they would not have enough time to get all their information together to assess the proper amount of teams they would need to register due to when information is given back to them by the parents of their communities.
Some parishes/schools do not have registration deadlines prior to CYO Athletics’ so as to provide accurate numbers at the time they are required to register teams. This eventually results in waitlisted teams which may or may not get into the schedule, or dropped teams.
Some schools only allow their teams on their field or in their gym.
Some schools require their team starts and ends the day at the gym, or is every other game.
There are a number of gym-less and field-less schools CYO Athletics must schedule into other gyms, wherever there is available time.
In order to accommodate parishioner parking for Mass on Saturday or Sunday, access to gyms or fields may be restricted leading in and out of those times.
Catholic high school speech tournaments and entrance exams during basketball, where all 6^th-8^th grade games need to be scheduled on Sundays or late on Saturday night. This forces the younger grades to play on Saturdays, or Sundays where we can fit them.
Catholic high school facilities are available only Sundays.
Some schools will have more than one team in a division causing CYO Athletics to manually manipulate the schedule so these teams do not play each other.
Coaches who coach more than one team and request travel time (case by case, if accommodations are even possible)
Parishes/schools that provide only four days in their gym on which they have to be home, and away on the other 3 or 4 games. This does not work if the schedule puts two of these teams, against each other on the same day they both have to be at home.
Parishes/schools will give us less gym time per day than the number of teams needing to be scheduled, or less time per weekend than teams needing to be scheduled. This forces CYO Athletics to schedule the younger grades’ “Home” games at another site as the older grades receive preference.
Fields pulled year to year, and sometimes during the year after the schedule has been made due to renovations.
In soccer, the oldest grades are scheduled first, which leaves only the available fields with a lot of time left for the younger grades.
In basketball, CYO Athletics is required to block games together so referees are more likely to show, as the association has trouble scheduling referees for one game. Thus one game blocks of time at a gym become essentially useless in 5^th-8^th grade. In addition there is a different level of referee for 8^th graders than 5^th graders, so CYO Athletics must make sure there are two older grades back to back, and two 5^th grade teams back to back in the schedule.
In volleyball, CYO Athletics places the order of games in the schedule based on the net heights, so the gym monitors make the fewest number of changes. This is why when a team cancels their game at a gym, CYO Athletics is forced to move all the games after it, instead of simply taking the last game of the day and moving it into that time slot.

Why do I have to attend mandatory coaches meetings?

We want every coach on the same page, to hear the same uniform information from CYO Athletics in regards to procedures, expectations, trainings needed, and philosophy. For new coaches this provides the opportunity to ask questions about rules and procedures. We show a training video required by the state legislature on head injuries, which must be seen every year, as well as videos by Seattle Parks and Recreation for soccer and baseball maintenance. Coaches can hear any rule changes, or manual changes which may have taken place within the last year.

If I have a basketball team in 6th-8th grades, how do I know if it is Varsity AAA, Varsity AA or JV?

6^th Grade Basketball

One Varsity – regionally divided.

One JV – regionally divided.

7^th Grade Basketball

JV – Regionally divided (you decide whether your team is varsity or JV).

AAA Varsity – the top eight teams from the year before based off of success from both the regular season and the playoffs.

AA Varsity – Everyone else who is varsity – Regionally divided.

8^th Grade Basketball

JV – Regionally divided (you decide whether your team is varsity or JV. For multiple teams you may have more than one varsity, but not more than one JV)

AAA Varsity – the top eight teams from the year before based off of success from both the regular season and the playoffs.

AA Varsity – Everyone else who is varsity – Regionally divided.

Where do I find directions to the field or gym where my game is scheduled?

CYO Athletics has a list of all fields and gyms on our Directions to Field and Gyms page. This page is organized alphabetically, and requires you to scroll down to find the field or gym you are looking for. We find our directions by typing the name of the field into a web search engine and mapping it on the Internet. This would be another way you could find the location for your game.

If I have an odd number of teams in my division, why do some teams have 1 less game than others?

CYO Athletics schedules generally have 8 game days (7 game days for 1-3rd grade soccer, and 5 game days for Kindergarten soccer). We are limited when we schedule a season to only schedule games on these 8 game days. When a division has an odd number of teams (for example, 9 teams), there will be one team on each game day that will not have a game, because the odd number of teams results in one team having no opponent they can play. In the example of 9 teams, there will be four games on each game day, with 1 team receiving the “Bye” each week. Across an entire 8 game-day season, this will result in 8 teams having a “Bye” and one team being scheduled 8 games. For the one team that recieves an 8 game schedule (this team is randomly generated by our electronic scheduler), their first game of their season will be a “Non-counting” game.

How do I know if my game on the schedule counts in the standings or is a “non-counting” game?

If your schedule has 8 games, the first game on the schedule does not count in the standings for your team. If your first game is against a team that only has a 7 game schedule, the game will still count for your opponent, because all 7 games in their schedule will count in the standings. Every team has 7 counting games, and these 7 counting games are always the last 7 games each team plays during the regular season.

In the basketball schedule, most of the boys’ games are on Sunday and most of the girls’ games are on Saturday, but why are there times when girls play on Sundays and boys play on Saturdays?

By default, we schedule Girls on Saturday and Boys on Sunday for basketball, with the following exceptions:

1. If we run out of gym time on Saturday then some games might have to be moved to Sunday, and vice versa.
2. If there is a speech tournament on Saturday, then the 6th-8th grade games (girls and boys) will be played on Sunday. Because of this, we certainly will not have enough gym time on Sundays to fit the 4th and 5th grade boys, so we will have to move them to Saturday.
3. If there is an entrance exam for one of the Catholic High Schools, then all 8th grade games will be played on Sunday. Because of this, we will likely not have enough gym time on Sundays to fit the 4th and 5th grade boys, so we will have to move them to Saturday.