We are proud to announce that Dick's Sporting Goods has joined as a sponsor of the Nashville Youth Soccer Association. Dick Stack, founder of Dick's Sporting Goods, believed that sports play a vital role in teaching our children fundamental values like a strong work ethic, teamwork, and good sportsmanship. And he understood that supporting the organizations that make youth sports possible is the best way to promote those values.

This year through its Community Youth Sports Program, Dick's will donate more than 50,000 coach's equipment kits to youth baseball, football, soccer, basketball, lacrosse and hockey organizations across select markets – reaching over 1,000,000 kids. Each NYSA coach will receive one soccer coach's equipment kit this season.

Dick's Sporting Goods has a large selection of soccer equipment and carry brands such as Adidas, Nike, and Umbro. Dick's Sporting Goods has five stores in the Middle Tennessee area, including stores in Madison, Mt. Juliet, and Nashville. Click here for their store locator.

We often have parents and/or players asking us about where they can take referee certification classes. Certification courses are held throughout the year in various locations in middle Tennessee. The easiest way to find out where classes are being held is to go to the Tennessee State Soccer Association web page at http://www.tnsoccer.org/ and click the "Referee" button. A drop-down menu will appear - click "Course Schedules". There you may view the classes being offered by month, as well as where and when the courses will take place.

You'll see that there are classes for different grades/levels of referees. For someone getting certified for the first time, the choice is really between a Level 8 (black patch) and Level 9 (blue patch) certification. Both levels are considered "entry level" certification. A Level 9 certification allows a person to referee recreational youth games for ages 14 and younger as well as assistant referee on any game U-14 or below. Level 8 certification allows a person to referee recreational and competitive youth games. There isn't any age restriction like the Level 9, but NYSA will not schedule a referee to officiate a game where the players are older than the referee. (For example, a 13-year old Level 8 referee would not be scheduled as a center referee for a U-14 game.)

If you have any questions, please e-mail the league at nysa.soccer@netzero.com. In addition, if you become certified to referee, please e-mail us if you'd like to be placed on our referee list.

NOTE: While many of our referees are teenagers who do a great job, NYSA would like to have additional adult referees.

The two best ways of contacting NYSA are by e-mail or phone.

League E-mail:
nysa.soccer@netzero.com

League Phone:
(615) 268-6349
(615) 944-4271

Nashville Youth Soccer Association
P.O. Box 140454
Nashville, Tennessee 37214