Step-by-step Instructions to Starting Your Own USYF League

By David Knopf, Futsal World Editor

There are many services, objectives and qualities that separate United States Youth Futsal from other futsal organizations, local, national even international. Our organization enjoys close working relationships with U.S. Soccer and U.S. National Futsal Team Coach Keith Tozer (himself a USYF league owner).

It also offers a Futsal I.D. Program for the best youth players, sponsors educational opportunities for coaches, boasts leagues owners with national futsal team backgrounds and provides an information outreach that includes a blog, a strong Facebook presence, timely Web site updates, as well as this Futsal World newsletter.

Those are all advantages for our league owners, but nothing is more important to them when they’re starting out than the hands-on direction provided by USYF Director of

Click on the link below to watch John Sciore discuss futsal in a TV interview.

Development John Sciore. John, a successful league owner himself – his Gateway Futsal in St. Louis has more than 200 teams and several facilities – helps prospective new owners from their initial inquiry, through a USYF Affiliation Kit he developed and step-by-step phone and email consultation as the owner develops a league. (See John talking about Gateway Futsal in this TV interview recorded late last summer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAajoO8Kl9k&feature=youtu.be&t=13m28s)

With John, it’s more than a pep talk. Although he offers encouragement, he uses his own personal experience to guide new owners through the process of a) finding a facility; b) recruiting teams through contact with area soccer clubs and coaches; and c), as important as any step, locating and training U.S. Soccer-licensed referees.

As an organization, USYF provides each league with a Web site, an Online registration program for players and coaches and insurance to protect your league, personal liability insurance for owners and major medical coverage for players and coaches.

And with his marketing background, John provides new owners with 11 marketing tools, including his Zero to 100 Marketing Plan, a trademark-protected blueprint for quickly taking a new league from no teams to 100.

Otto Orf, a former professional player and U.S. National Futsal Team veteran, operates a very successful USYF league in Ohio. Otto had this to say about the affiliation and organization support he received:

 “In our first year we used the online registration system of another company.  We switched to USYF and the service has

been unbelievable. Their set-up was simple and very professional, but prompt response and assistance has impressed me the most. Our membership will grow faster and our league is certainly better with USYF.  As a former player, huge fan and proponent of futsal, I recommend and will assist anyone who decides to join our group and bring the USYF to their community.”

With more than 40 leagues in states from Massachusetts and New York, to Florida and California, USYF has been a pioneer in assisting new owners as they develop professional and profitable organizations.

If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about affiliation, we suggest you read the detailed information below and send a request for a USYF Affiliation Kit.

You can submit your request for the kit at http://www.usyouthfutsal.com/startaleague/benefitsofaffiliation/index_E.html.

And should you decide to join us, you’ll have John and other members of the USYF management team to guide you along the way.  

Many of your questions will be answered in USYF's Advantages of Affiliation, reproduced below:

Have a Futsal Operation or Just Starting One?
USYF is Uniquely Qualified to Help You

Experience                                                                                                                                                   

USYF boasts many of the largest youth futsal leagues in the United States. The USYF leagues in Kansas City, St. Louis, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Richmond, VA and South Jersey have been among the largest leagues for a number of years. Additionally, USYF has continuing to add leagues, bringing the total to over 40 leagues across the country.

USYF has a successful track record of helping local league owners start and build their leagues!

Leadership Team and Support staff - Success Starts at the Top                                                              

From the bios of the leadership team in the "About Us" section of the site, USYF leadership demonstrates its knowledge of soccer and futsal. They are also accomplished business people.

The Super F League was founded by former US National Futsal Team members Jon Parry and Peter Vermes. John Sciore, Director of Development, helps new and experienced league owners with a personalized approached and one to one attention.

Jon and John have over 30 years of combined experience in running futsal leagues. This is experience gained from actually doing the work of organizing, marketing, and day to day operations of managing futsal leagues and events

Our experience, dedication to our League Owners and our passion for the game, makes us uniquely qualified to help you succeed!

US Soccer Affiliation                                                                                                                                   

USYF is the only national – based futsal league sanctioned by US Soccer. As an affiliate of US Soccer, your futsal league will have instant credibility within the local soccer community. As an affiliate, you will also benefit from the US Soccer referee structure that exists in your area.

USYF financially supports US Soccer programs such as MNT, WNT, National Futsal Team and the Youth National Teams.

USYF Leagues are fully insured to protect your business from liability issues.

USYF and US Soccer - your partners in success!

Insurance - Protection for participants, Facility and You                                                                        
USYF leagues have liability insurance for facilities, major medical for coaches and youth players, and personal liability insurance for league owners, staff and volunteers. In today’s lawsuit environment, you need to protect yourself as a league owner. We make that easy to do.

USYF helps you to protect your futsal business!

Locating and Training Referees                                                                                                                 

As an affiliate of US Soccer, USYF will guide you in finding a pool of qualified referees to officiate your league. As an affiliate of US Soccer, you will be able to tap into the qualified futsal referees in your area. If none exists, USYF will show you how to access your state referee association to secure qualified futsal referees from the outdoor referee pool.

Qualified referees will assure your league of a good reputation! 

Securing Fields                                                                                                                                           

We will teach you the how-to’s of finding suitable courts to play your league and tournaments. We can help you in negotiating terms and reviewing items you will need to take into consideration in selecting facilities. The USYF name and its success will give you credibility as you meet with facility owners.

Finding an appropriate facility takes time and you may need help!

Marketing Tools

Techniques to Advertise your new league league                                                      

Whether you are in an area where there is no organized futsal, or you are in area that has established futsal and indoor competitors, we can help you. We will help you to develop marketing material that educate and motivate area coaches to play in your league. As a league owner with SFL, you will have access to numerous marketing strategies and tools, such as:
 

• Zero to 100 Marketing Plan™- learn how to go from 0 teams to 100 teams - quickly
• Brochures – Save hundreds of dollars on creating a brochure from scratch. You can use our market-tested brochures that can be easily modified to suit your league
• E-mail marketing campaign –Distinguish yourself with a series of emails designed to move teams to your futsal league
• Inexpensive signage - Market to where your prospects play each week
• How to get the “buy-in” of coaches, players and parents to play futsal
• Learn about our Top-down – Bottom up™ marketing technique
• Scripts to use in marketing on the phone and in person
• The FACE-NAME-VOICE™ Marketing strategy and why it works
• Step by step instructions of building an effective select coach data bank
• Press Releases - to professionally announce your league
• Newsletter - a monthly publication sent to whoever you want to keep in touch with 

USYF will provide you with field-tested, successful methods to market your league. Be in business for yourself, but not by yourself!

Web Site Hosting and Design                                                                                                                   

• Impressive, but simple website templates to advertise your league hosted by industry leader Demosphere
• User friendly website– no HTML knowledge needed
• Website hosting
• URL address
• E-mail addresses
• Linking your website with the online registration system
• Choosing articles, videos and other items of interest from our League Owner Library and put them on your site

We will secure your domain name and host your URL.

Registration and Participant Management                                                                                               

• Online Registration System, Player Management and Communication
• Easy to use web-based registration system to help you organize, manage and communicate with teams, players and managers. No paper to deal with, just an easy to operate, but complete system to keep track of the teams in your league. Web-based system accessible from anywhere.

Team and Player Registration

• Team managers can add/remove players to their teams to create rosters
• Produces rosters
• Captures player, manager and coach information
• E-mail to individuals, age groups or entire league
• Scoring, standing and history
• Player card printout including optional player photos

Financial Management

• Simple setup/customization for your league or tournament - start taking registration within minutes of set up
• Credit card (Master Card and Visa) and Pay by Check option
• Track total revenue, outstanding balances and refund via financial reports

Player Management

• Team managers can add/remove players to their teams to create rosters
• Produces roster cards
• Captures player, manager and coach information
• E-mail to individuals, age groups or entire league
• Scoring, standing and history
• Player card printout including optional player photos

Tournament and League Management

• Bracket Manager allows easy setup and grouping of teams
• Schedules may be entered online or imported from your own schedule/spreadsheet
• Pre-printed game cards with game date, time, court, facility and populated rosters
• Venue maps with interactive Google maps
• Easy to use Standings, History and Schedule features. For a look at the professional layout of the Standings, History and Schedule, go to:http://www.htgsports.net/scoring/home.aspx?EventID=725 

Communicating with Participants

• Text email to individuals, age groups, or entire league
• Mobile messaging via text messaging/email for real-time notifications of score updates or tournament and league information
• Referee Management
• Track games that referees work via score input
• Setup pay scale/rates for referees and generate payment reports
   
• First Impression is critical - We will help you look professional right from the start!

Regional and National Tournament - For teams that want to play at the highest level                          

• US Youth Futsal Nationals - National Futsal Tournament.
• USYF has the largest National Futsal Tournament in the US! Teams from all over the country come to participate.
• Being a part of USYF, you will also be eligible to host State and Regional Tournaments!
   

Sources of Revenue

Profit from various sources of revenue                                                               

• As a USYF affiliated league, there are numerous profit centers other than league registration fees
• You will share in the retail web-store sales that originate from your local website
• Purchase merchandise at wholesale price for resale to your league
• Host State and regional tournaments
• Locally generated sponsorship feeds
• Player development clinics
• Coaching clinic
   

NEXT STEPS                                                                                                       

If you are interested in more information on starting a futsal league, request our Affiliation Kit. The 18 page document will help you: 

• • Understand what it takes to start a successful futsal league
• • Assess if you have the skills, desire and resources to be successful
• • Determine if your next step is to partner with USYF

What a BBC Article Could Mean for Futsal

By David Knopf, Futsal World Editor

We have no direct parallel to England’s 47-year drought since it won the 1966 World Cup with a 4-2 final victory over West Germany.

But let's imagine for a moment that ice hockey was founded in the U.S. and that it, far and away, has become our most popular sport.

Then, as Americans traveled the world, we began to export our beloved sport to other nations on distant continents. Years later, ice hockey is the world's most popular sport and America's professional league has become the best and richest in the world.

Then one year, say 1980, the U.S. defeats the Soviet Union to win the Olympic gold medal in a final that captivates the nation and sparks an outpouring of nationalism. The victory goes down in American sports lore as “The Miracle on Ice.”

But years later, there’s been no sequel, no repeat performance. Other nations begin fielding better hockey teams with more skillful players, and the 1980 Olympic trophy begins to tarnish in a display case in Colorado Springs.

Having imagined what that might be like, let's transition back to England and its near-obsession with returning to the glory days of 1966. Theories abound on why England has slipped in international soccer competition, surrendering the pinnacle to nations such as Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Spain.

For more than four decades, English fans have pinned their nation's frustration on everything from the weather to the condition of fields to coaching and the academy system.

Then at the end of March of this year, England’s best-known media outlet, the BBC, comes out with a long feature story entitled “Could Futsal help produce an English Lionel Messi?”

For a nation much smaller and far more compact than the U.S., that would be like The Washington Post or The New York Times running a lead story on an innovation that could return the U.S. to its hockey glory days.

We strongly suggest you read Gary Rose’s BBC story in full at http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21533802. The last time we looked, 220 BBC readers cared enough about their national sports passion to comment.

Here's an excerpt that got our attention:

"For years, coaches at grassroots level have had to contend with poor facilities, uneven pitches and unpredictable weather, undoubtedly hindering efforts to improve the technical ability of the next generation of English footballers.

The Football Association has already recognised the need for an overhaul, pledging to invest £150m over the next three years to improve facilities.

However, it is another step they are taking, which won't garner the kind of attention a multi-million pound cash injection has, that could ultimately prove as influential.

The latest edition of "The Future Game"  - the FA's technical guide for young player development - will include a recommendation for a sport which the likes of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo grew up on - Futsal.

Futsal, a small-sided variant of football played between two teams of five players in an indoor arena, is something that has been played for decades in countries like Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Italy - countries who have won seven of the previous eight World Cups between them, and are also the top sides in Futsal."

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After you read it, let us know what you think. You can respond to the editor at davidknopf48@gmail.com. And, as usual, you're always welcome to share an opinion or story idea with us.