By OkayGoal 
Let’s face it. Soccer season is a busy season. Players and parents alike can experience stress due to the demands of training schedules, weekends on the road, and the mental and physical demands of playing an intense sport.
We’ve compiled the top planners, apps, tips, and hacks to help you ease the soccer season chaos.
1. Use one central calendar.
No more relying on alarms or email reminders. Using a calendar or planner proactively is a tried-and-true way to stay organized during soccer season, and physically writing the various activities down can actually help you stay more organized.
Having a centralized calendar for all your various activities, or a single calendar for the whole family, can do wonders for your organization. Try having a dedicated time and location to plan for the week and ensure all practices and games (and anything else you want to add) are on the schedule. This could look like a family meeting at the kitchen table after dinner, or just five minutes at your desk on a Sunday evening.
Make your planner or calendar something you enjoy working on. Experiment with different colors to keep it personal, add visuals or stickers, or leave room for notes. And, keep the schedule displayed somewhere where you can always view it in plain sight, like on the fridge or next to your bedroom door.
There are other tools to help if a manual planner isn’t your style. Google Calendar can be used across multiple people and devices. Plus, apps like Cozi automatically integrate calendars from various apps into one convenient space.
2. Create routines.
The key to staying organized is establishing routines. This is especially true for early morning games, long travel days, or a quick turnaround between activities.
Proactive preparation for sports can help a young athlete learn how to get ready and take care of their needs with minimal stress. Game day jitters, especially, can influence chaos, but integrating a game day routine can help. Uniforms should be set out the night before, including cleats, shinguards, socks, headbands, and any extra soccerista items. Packing a bag the night before — hydration bottles, snacks, rain jacket, etc. — can also ease the panicked running around.
Routine can help parents and children alike. Structure lets players focus their energy on the game, and helps parents get out the door on time with everything needed packed into the car.
3. Plan and prep your meals.
Sometimes, maintaining proper nutrition is the most daunting part of soccer season. The last thing most people want to do after a long day, ending in a soccer practice, is cook. If you’re one of those people, consider how you can make it easier without breaking the bank on takeout. A slow cooker can help prepare meals for you during the day. Some recipes can even be frozen and used later in the week. Plus, one-pot meals have minimal cleanup.
Adding meals to your calendar ahead of time can make grocery shopping and decision-making more efficient. Pasta Monday, Taco Tuesday, and so on. You can prepare some of the ingredients ahead of time or enlist some little helpers to make your life easier. Include a night of takeout, schedule a grocery pickup, or buy pre-made meals — planning doesn’t mean you have to cook every day!
Check out this busy mom’s guide to meal planning for some extra inspiration in keeping meals organized.
It can be tough to stay fueled on the go, so make sure you put some thought into the in-between meals to stay organized during soccer season as well. Quick and healthy snacks like mandarins, drinkable yogurts, trail mix, or applesauce can work well in the car. Or, with just a little extra effort, these dry ingredient granola bars from scratch would make a great pre- or post-game snack.
4. Keep your car organized.
This one might seem impossible, but there are a few hacks that can help keep your car organized during soccer season. First, try getting a multi-functional product like a car organizer that never leaves your trunk. This might hold be something like sunscreen, gloves, a small first aid kit, an extra pair of socks, hand sanitizer, a card game, a ball, hair ties, a blanket, tissues, bug spray, umbrellas, lip balm, and a baseball cap. A small folding chair or two is useful to have in there in case you or others like to sit during games. So, if you do get in a jam, you’ll have the essentials in the car.
A great way to keep the car organized and smell-free is to keep a few trash bags handy! That way, any dirty socks or muddy boots are taken care of, and any garbage is contained.
In Conclusion
It can be overwhelming to begin getting organized, but it is worth it. If you don’t know where to start, you might ask yourself the following questions: Do you need to include the time you need to leave the house on your calendar, or the time you need to start getting ready? Do you need to integrate multiple schedules, or just need to organize yourself? What would it look like if you felt organized this soccer season? Is there a routine you have now that you enjoy, or one you’ve been wanting to establish?
It’s important to learn what works for your organization, no matter what type of calendar or method of stress management you pick. Reflecting on these questions will help you understand your organizational needs and wants, so your soccer season can be as smooth as possible. You got this!
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