San Diego Senior Counsel Jan Buddingh Jr. was recently appointed as Chairperson of the National Legal Commission of the American Youth Soccer Organization ("AYSO") by their National President, Paula Berriz. AYSO, a California non-profit corporation, is the largest youth soccer organization in the United States with over 500,000 players and 200,000 plus volunteers.
Consistent with AYSO being an all volunteer organization, its National Legal Commission is comprised of 21 volunteer lawyers of various specialties located throughout the country. Mr. Buddingh previously served as one of the commission's vice-chairpersons and chaired its Risk Management Task Force. As chair of the commission he will assume the responsibility of acting as corporate counsel for AYSO's National President and its National Board of Directors as well as AYSO's National Executive Director, Tom Tobin, who leads AYSO's staff of paid employees at AYSO's National Office, in Torrance, California.
Mr. Buddingh is an example of Gordon & Rees's commitment to pro bono and community service efforts. In addition to donating his time to the AYSO National Legal Commission, he volunteers as a judge pro tem in small claims court every month. He continues to support his local AYSO region by serving as its Safety Director and Director of Referee Instruction. He also serves as a member of the City of Chula Vista Parks and Recreation Commission. He believes, however, that his most significant community service activity takes place on weekends, where he typically spends countless hours volunteering to help AYSO kids have fun playing soccer by refereeing their games.