As the season winds down, the volunteers who spend much of their time administering soccer leagues can get a little snarky because it can be so hard to recruit other volunteers to help with things like concessions, field upkeep, goal repair, and more. So you have to forgive them if they get a little bit, er, sensitive.

During the mad rush towards the end of the season, I passed on of our more harried looking volunteers and said ‘Bet you can’t wait for the off-season!’. She laughed and said: Offseason? What’s that? and another volunteer who was with her says… That’s something a soccer mom who drops her kids off at practice everyday came up with.

Ouch. Now for all the time I put into our soccer league, I always drop my kids off at basketball practice. Of course it’s a city run program, overseen by paid staff, and there’s not much for a parent volunteer to do.

But all the same, if you haven’t donated a couple hours to your child’s soccer league lately, step up and lend a hand. Most leagues are volunteer non-profits, and while some coaches may get paid, the administrators rarely do.