AYSO Fountain Valley Region 5
AYSO Fountain Valley Region 5 Parents Forum
If you have had experiences you want to share about this Region, to help parents of future AYSO FV parents, please leave a comment below.
Thank you.
If you have had experiences you want to share about this Region, to help parents of future AYSO FV parents, please leave a comment below.
Thank you.
Hello, my son played in the Fountain Valley AYSO Region 5 soccer league and we had the worst experience. We would highly recommend that parents go to a different Region. My son ended the season confused and traumatized along with his other team mates because of how the head of the referees, Russell treated me, my son, my sons amazing coach Nathan, and the other parents and team mates. My experience started when i noticed there were major politics in this region. Coaches that were friends with people on the board, like the head of referees Russell, were getting calls in games and literally winning games because the referees calls were one sided. During a playoff game, they allowed a 12 year old to step in to ref a game instead of Russel stepping up and filling in the spot or finding an adult for the position. The 12 year old did not know the reffing rules, and made bad calls. When i approached Russel to ask him about the calls, he became offended and kicked me out for 2 playoff games! My son did not have his mom there during playoff games because Russel kicked his mom out! Later i found out that Russel had violated the rules because he was supposed to be present during the game and wasn’t even there. During our FINAL game, we found out that the ref and Russell we’re close friends with the coach of the team we were playing. They were making one sided calls, and when our coach would ask about the calls the ref told him he had to be quiet. Then a mom on our team was appalled and approached the ref and the ref and Russel kicked ever single parent on our team off the field. The kids were confused and angry and of course they lost the game. This has to be stopped. I am going to the Huntington Beach AYSO. Do not send your kids to this Region!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI will add some insight from a coach's perspective of the behind the scenes of this region.
ReplyDelete1. Our division commissioner (Jeremy Gordon) was also a coach in our division, which he and the rest of the board knew was a conflict of interest. Still they ignored AYSO by laws and acted like it was no big deal. The commissioner makes all final decisions on rosters for teams following the draft as well as handles any disputes, concerns or issues that may arise during the season. The result of this decision: Gordon was lobbying for me not to coach with my friend because he saw it being unfair for our two boys to be on the same team. He made sure everyone knew his opinion about our boys being the two best players in the division and did everything he could to limit any other talent on our team. Also, our coach had a concern with the behavior of a player in our division during playoffs. This player shoved kids in the back, kicked them in the shins and ankles away from the ball on several occasions. When he address our commissioner about it he shrugged it off because it was a player on his team and just said he was playing physical. Hmmm. This guy has quite the reputation as a coach and board member.
This guy told the other coaches in the division to not approach him or distract him when he is on the sideline. He also asked coaches on several occasions to drop things off or pick things up at his place of business because it was more convenient for him. (His house is 2 blocks from mine but I was asked to drive to Costa Mesa to handle team business). He did not exude servanthood or leadership from his position as commissioner.
2. During our semi final play off game against the same commisioner/coach, our president of the league (Mike Ramirez) was signed up to ref the game. Before the game started he stated he should not be reffing the game due to a perceived conflict, but instead of just switching with the center ref on the field adjacent he blew it off and officiated our game. As you can imagine controversy ensued during the game.
3. As for the head of referees, I was on the sideline for a semifinal match as an impartial observer. I watched an indirect kick go off the goalie' s gloves and into the goal and The center ref waved it off because the player didn't play it to someone on his team first. This is one of the most basic calls for a ref. On an indirect kick if the ball DEFLECTS off or is played by ANY player before going into the goal the goal stands. The coach challenged the call. The center ref went to the assistant ref on the sideline (Russell Poucher -head ref region 5) and asked for help. Russell did not correct the center ref and the goal was reversed as originally called. Later in the game Russell was also not in position down near the goal line when a ball was shot on goal and had crossed into the goal. Because he was out of position to determine a goal, a player kicked the ball out and play resumed. Now this all occurred during a game that was being played by our division commisoner's team and both calls benefited the commissioner's team. This was our head ref on the sideline of a board members game again.
You can draw your own conclusions from what I have wrote. What I would say is I saw justification of negligence from top down on the part of the board in our division and it caused a lot of unrest amongst the parents on several teams. Taking a volunteer position on the board is not easy, but it is a servant/leader position and I didn't see a whole lot of serving going on from AYSO 5 board members. Ayso 5 is not teaching boys and girls to play soccer. They are serving their own needs. Go to region 117 or any other region before signing up here.