WELCOME! We know the start of the season has gotten off to a rocky start thanks to New England weather and we appreciate your patience as we navigate it. Regardless we are beyond excited for the start of the season and can’t wait to cheer your players on rain or shine!  Please take the time to read through some important season information below. 

DON’T FORGET TO HAVE FUN – If our players aren’t having fun then we are missing the point. 

YOUR EXAMPLE IS POWERFUL - If you insist on fair play, if you concentrate on your players' enjoyment of the game and their overall, long-term development, and if you support the referee, your players will notice. If you encourage (or allow) your players to play outside the rules, if you're overly concerned about results, and if you criticize the referee harshly, your players will also notice. Youth soccer belongs to the players and is meant to be FUN.  

*It is very important for everyone to review our CODE OF CONDUCT – HERE.  We will be strictly enforcing our Code of Conduct to support the best interest of all our soccer community!

SUPPORT YOUR COACHES - We could not do what we do without all of our wonderful volunteer coaches.  Please trust your coach to do the coaching.  It’s very distracting for a young player to have their parents yelling something in one ear and for the coach to be suggesting something completely different in the other ear. It creates confusion and pressure and it’s not fun for the player. Check out this video on the Effectiveness of Coaching from the Sidelines. 

LET THE REFEREE CALL THE GAME - Referees, especially young and inexperienced ones, need time to develop. You can play an important role in helping them to improve by letting them concentrate on the game. You can help by accepting their inevitable and occasional mistakes and encouraging them to continue to ref. We are experiencing a huge ref shortage because we are policing from the sidelines. Referees are an important part of the game, and we need them. Please review our Zero Tolerance Policy.

CHEERING SHOULD ONLY BE POSITIVE - Sports are all about problem solving.  We expect your players to make mistakes so they can learn from them.  When mistakes happen, we don’t need you to point them out, let’s encourage instead. 

REACH OUT IF YOU NEED HELP – We are parents, coaches, and volunteers just like all of you and we want to hear from you during the season if there is an issue so we can help be part of the solution.

LET US SHARE IN THE FUN - We’d love to hear how your season is going.  FOLLOW US on Instagram @melroseyouthsoccer and TAG us in your soccer photos on Facebook.  We are pledging to highlight individuals and teams that practice good sportsmanship and lead by example this season so please reach out if you have a story to share.  We’d love to recognize all the kindness!