I wanted to let everyone know how teams get selected and our policies on requests for players to be placed on the same team. Some of what we do is mandated by the national rules of AYSO; a lot is just plain common sense.

Before giving you our rules and policies, please remember that AYSO's National Mission Statement is founded on five principles: balanced teams, fair play, good sportsmanship, positive coaching and Everyone Plays. Region 112 is a part of AYSO and we stand for these above everything else.

1. AYSO's national rules and policies forbid player retention or building teams by strategic placing of assistant coaches. While we sometimes place parent coaches together, we try to avoid this unless it's absolutely necessary. The bar for what constitutes necessity has been raised because, sadly, it has been abused over the years.

2. In Divisions U8 (6 and 7-year olds) and U6 (4 1/2 and 5-year olds), we entertain requests.  We do not guarantee that requests will be granted. In particular, we will not allow teams almost entirely made up of requests, but we do our best to accommodate you.

Parents need to understand that as accommodating as we try to be with requests at that level, once your child gets to Division Ul0 (what used to be known as Division 5 and meaning players 8 and 9 years old), team balancing will take priority and no requests will be accepted. In divisions U14, U12 and U10, we do drafts with random coach assignments. The drafts take place in August. This makes accommodating requests in those divisions next to impossible. The only exception is for brothers and sisters and for children living in the same household where age and gender would place them in the same division. Our guidelines on drafts suggest that the following is a model way to proceed.

1. The coaches meet to pick teams collectively.
2. The coaches pick a number from out of a hat to select the draft order they will pick in. Number 1 drafts first and so on until the last coach picks a player for that particular round. We then reverse the order. The last coach to pick a player now gets the first pick of the second round and son on until all players are drafted.
3. The players are discussed prior to the actual draft with all the coaches present. Any discrepancies in the player ratings are corrected at this time. All coaches and division coordinators must be satisfied with the final player ratings before the draft begins. The coach's children are separated out according to their player rating. They are then placed in a draft round with similar rated players. When that particular coach has his/her turn to select their next player they must pick their child.
4. All registration forms are turn upside down and placed in random order. The number of players placed in each round are governed by the number of teams we will have in each division. Each coach selects a blind registration form then turns it over to determine which child he/she has selected.
5. We draft each division, except U-6 (Div 7, 4 1/2 & 5 year olds) by age. First the older players are drafted and then the younger players. This ensures a more balanced team of older and younger players.
6. After the draft has been completed each coach is allowed to initiate one trade only. He/she may trade as many players as he/she feels, as long as they are approached by another coach who has still to make his/her trade.

This method solves the assistant coach problem and makes everyone honest. It also eliminates the problems of more knowledgeable or experienced coaches drafting more wisely. The coach who picks his or her kids' friends rather than the best available players and consigns the team to a season of blowout losses and the cheat (yes, I'm afraid we've had some of those) who deliberately underrated a player the previous year to be able to get that player "cheap" the following year.

Once teams have been formed, we generally do not add players for at least a couple of weeks, so that we can allocate from a pool of players rather than simply adding the first player who comes along to the first team who needs an additional player.

In Divisions U12 and UI0, we strongly encourage drafting the "older" and "younger" players separately, to ensure that each team has a proportionately similar number of older and younger players. This avoids the mistake sometimes made by coaches of overrating a player in, for example, Division U12 who was an older player in U10 the preceding year, as compared to a player who was a younger player in U12 the preceding year and will now be in their second year in the same division. This is why we have all the coaches review the player ratings prior to the drafting of each child. Many coaches will be coaching in the same division as last year and some will be moving up into the division. The coach’s ratings are kept honest by the majority.

Boys and Girls U6 are picked by proportionately allocating an equal number players to each team. Care is taken to balance the teams out with equal age and gender criteria.

5. The division director always retains the right to make adjustments. Sometimes, even the best laid plans go astray. Late sign-ups, especially by players returning from club soccer, or late drops are often a source of problems. We will not allow late sign-ups to be used to manipulate the system. In particular, very talented players signed up after teams have been assigned can expect to be placed only after a delay

of several weeks or not at all. The switch of players after the draft is strictly prohibited. Only in extenuating circumstances will a player be allowed to change teams. Any change must be approved by the Division Commissioner and the Registrar prior to the move.

There will always be the inevitable sad band of conspiracy theorists who believe we do it differently. We do not.

You should be hearing from your team's coach towards the end of August. If you do not hear by August 31, please contact your Division Director. Division assignments are a function of age of the player on July 31 and you can get information on which Division a player is assigned to. Division directors' names and e-mail links are on this website.