Greetings parents and welcome to AYSO Region 279 in West Knoxville/Bearden. If your child attends school at:

• Bearden
• Bluegrass
• Pond Gap
• Rocky Hill
• Sequoyah
• West High
• West Hills
• West Valley

or any other of the "close-in" public or private school, or home school association in or around West Knoxville then you are at the right place!

We are proud to be members of the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), the largest recreational youth soccer organization in the world. All children who want to play soccer are welcome in Region 279! We play soccer at the Lakeshore Park soccer complex located at Northshore Drive and Lyons Bend Pike in West Knoxville.

What is AYSO?

AYSO is a nationwide non-profit organization that develops and delivers quality youth soccer programs in a fun, family environment based, on AYSO's Five Philosophies which are promininantly displayed throughout the organization's outreach and communications. We believe firmly in these philosophies and strive in all of our efforts to adhere to them any time we are on the field with our children. These five cornerstone tenets are:

Everyone Plays - Nobody "rides the bench" in AYSO!  No player should ever play less than half of the game.
Balanced Teams - Teams are formed with an objective of diversifying skills and abilities across the whole team.
Open Registration - Our program is open to any child aged 4-1/2 and 19 years wants to play soccer. No "tryouts" - ever!
Positive Coaching - Encouragement of player effort provides for greater enjoyment of the game by the players. As such, coaches, referees, and spectators all positively support the children in their efforts on the field.
Good Sportsmanship - We strive to create a positive environment based on mutual respect rather than a win-at-all-costs attitude. Our program is designed to instill good sportsmanship in every facet of life.

AYSO focuses our efforts on the development of the player and not just the team.

We are a quality youth-development program that utilizes soccer as its teaching vehicle!

How is AYSO organized and run?

The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) was founded in 1964 in Torrance, California. In the first season there were nine teams of 9 to 12 year olds.  It was the dream of a group of devoted soccer enthusiasts who started the organization in a garage. Today, AYSO has more than 50,000 teams and more than 650,000 players playing over 800 regions across the USA.  Players range in age from 4 1/2 to 18.

AYSO regions are run exclusively by volunteers to provide our kids with the positive environment created by fair play, good competition, and positive player-volunteer interaction.  Nationwide, AYSO is supported by more than 250,000 volunteers. Parents donate their time as coaches, referees, team parents, administrators or in other ways.  Please find your special way do your part for your children and their friends as an AYSO volunteer too.

AYSO's grassroots program starts with a community-based league, called a region.   Each Region is supervised by a Regional Commissioner and a local board of directors.  Our Region is number 279.  There are 15 other Regions in and around the Knoxville Area.

A group of regions in close proximity make up an Area.  For administrative purposes, AYSO divides the country into 14 geographic Sections based on player population.  Region 279 belongs to Section 5, Area B. You will frequently see us refered to with the official AYSO shorthand as:

S/A/R - 5/B/279

AYSO Regions are bound by AYSO National Headquarters' rules and regulations, however; the national rules permit some autonomy at the regional and area levels.

A Brief History of Soccer in Knoxville, TN:

There is probably no one around now who knows when soccer was first played in the Knoxville area, but continuous activity can be traced back to the early-1960's. At that time there were adult teams in the neighboring community of Oak Ridge and at the University of Tennessee...The catalyst for the explosive growth [of soccer in Knoxville] was the advent of the youth program under the American Youth Soccer Organization [AYSO] in 1976-77.

...a youth soccer program affiliated with the American Youth Soccer Organization, and designated AYSO Region 128, was organized. The program was announced in October of 1976 [and a]ctivities began on February 5, 1977 in the Farragut HS Gymnasium. A Dogwood Invitational AYSO Soccer Tournament was held in Knoxville April 22 and 23 of 1978. In addition to Knoxville area teams, AYSO teams came from Spartanburg SC and Ft. Lauderdale Florida.

By the spring of 1979, registration had grown to 1200. Several districts were formed to begin local administration of the program. Region 275 serving the Karns, Cedar Bluff and Blue Grass communities was split off with about 500 players with Ron McElhaney as commissioner, but they continued to play at the Region 128 fields by the Concord Baptist Church. Region 279 serving west Knoxville was split off with about 400 players with Donna Kirby as Regional Commissioner. [Other regions spun off from the original Region 128 were, Region 263 in South Knoxville, and Region 128 in the Powell area.] In 1982, an AYSO tournament was held in Knoxville in connection with the World's Fair. Youth teams came from England and Germany.

Today in East Tennessee, the American Youth Soccer Organization maintains the strongest and longest continuous presence in recreational soccer in our area. In AYSO Area 5B, over 2,600 children in 15 different Regions play soccer under the AYSO banner in and around the Greater Knoxville Area.

Source: "A Short History of Soccer in the Knoxville Area" by Jonas T. Holdeman, Jr.

AYSO Region 279 Contact Information