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Ogden Athletic Club

Dr. John

AYSO

Section 9, Area R, Region 151

 TEAM FORMATION GUIDELINE

Modified April 2006

MISSION STATEMENT:    To develop and deliver a quality youth soccer program which promotes a fun, family environment based on AYSO philosophies:

·        Everyone Plays

·        Balanced Teams

·        Open Registration

·        Positive Coaching

·        Good Sportsmanship

In support of the philosophy, Balanced Teams, AYSO Region 151 has adopted the following team formation policy. 

 General Rules; All Age Divisions

 After Early-Bird registration, the Regional Registrar (RR) will distribute player lists to Age-Group Coordinators (AGC).   These lists will have been sorted by eAYSO (National Registration System).  Under the direction of the Regional Coach Administrator (RCA), the Head Age-Group Coordinator (HAGC) and Age-Group Coordinators (AGC) will organize players into teams. 

 Teams will be organized based on the following criteria of the players, unless otherwise noted:

(1)   gender,

(2)   division,

(3)   school,

(4)   years of experience,

(5)   age,   (age as of August 1 in the playing year)

(6)   size

The approval of a player to move up an age division must be approved by the RC based on situation of the player.    Under no circumstances will players be allowed to move up 2 or more age divisions or to play in a lower age division.

 Parents, Coaches and Players should not expect to be re-paired in succeeding seasons.  Requests for coaches or players will not be considered.  Teams rosters formed for the fall season will remain for the spring season.

 Openings for registrations received after the early bird sessions will be left available to fill until all teams are full.   After age divisions are full, the RR will keep a waiting list of players interested and they will be placed into available openings in order of receipt.

  Once rosters have been distributed to coaches no changes or transfers will be allowed.  Refusal to participate or boycotting a team by a player or parent will not promote a transfer nor will a refund be issued (see refund policy).  Under extreme circumstances where serious conflicts exist, a transfer may be recommended by the HAGC to the Regional Commissioner (RC) for authorization after all parities including player(s), parents, coach(s), AGC, HAGC and RCA are in agreement.

 U5 (4 by August 1 of the playing year)

 Based on AYSO National Guidelines this age division is not broken into teams, only by gender.    This U5 division runs as a Jamboree.   This will be held in a large group session for drills and a practice session.  They are then broken into short sided teams (approx 4v4), randomly divided based on the players attending each session to play a region supervised game.  This is an activity day, and will be no longer than 1 hour per week.  This age division does not practice during the week

 U-6 (5 by August 1 of the playing year)

U-7 (6 by August 1 of the playing year)

U-8 (7 by August 1 of the playing year)

 For this division, players will be grouped using a blind formation based on gender, number of children, elementary school jurisdiction and age.  Because the youngest players have not yet had the experience, exposure or maturity to develop individual skills, team formation based on location and age usually results in balanced teams. 

 First, players will be segregated by gender then grouped by elementary school jurisdiction.   Next, players will be tallied to determine the number of teams possible and verify if there are sufficient numbers of coaches available.  In the event there are more players than coaches or an odd number of players such that a team would have a short roster, randomly chosen players will be combined with the nearest elementary school jurisdiction that is in need of additional players.  Once the number of teams has been identified, the RR will rank players by the preceding criteria using eAYSO.   Next the AGC will distribute the players to the teams in a “snake” like order starting from the oldest players.  For example, if there are 5 teams for a certain age division and elementary school jurisdiction, the AGC will distribute the players as follows:

Round 1           Player 1 to Team 1

Player 2 to Team 2

Player 3 to Team 3

Player 4 to Team 4

Player 5 to Team 5

Round 2           Player 6 to Team 5

Player 7 to Team 4

Player 8 to Team 3

Player 9 to Team 2

Player 10 to Team 1

Etc…

 Coaches will be assigned the team their child was placed.  In the event that multiple coaches have children on the same team the AGC will assign one coach’s child to a team without a coach and replace that player with an equal player (by age) from their new team.  In this manner we maximize the use of our coaches while maintaining reasonableness in balancing teams.

  U-10 (8 & 9 by August 1 of the playing year)

U-12 (10 & 11 by August 1 of the playing year)

U-14 (12 & 13 by August 1 of the playing year)

 Players for each age division and gender will be segregated into their elementary school, Jr. High School or Sr. High School jurisdictions.  If there are enough players for more than one team per school area within an age division, the preceding criteria will be used for team selection.  If there are not enough players to form a team from a school area, than school areas will be combined until there are sufficient players to form two or more teams using these procedures.  If, in a certain age division, fewer than four (4) teams can be formed after combining all school jurisdictions, Region 151 will work to combine these teams with a neighboring Region in order to promote diversity in competition.

 The RR will first group the players within an age division by gender then by school jurisdiction.  Within each school jurisdiction the AGC will separate out all “Football spring only” players into a group.  The remaining players will be grouped by years of experience.  Within each experience group the players will be sorted first by age (oldest to youngest) than, if necessary, sorted by size (height then weight).  Through this method a basic list of players is developed.

 Players will then be placed on a team in a snake like fashion as shown in the following example for five (5) teams:

Round 1           Player 1 to Team 1

Player 2 to Team 2

Player 3 to Team 3

Player 4 to Team 4

Player 5 to Team 5

Round 2           Player 6 to Team 5

Player 7 to Team 4

Player 8 to Team 3

Player 9 to Team 2

Player 10 to Team 1

Etc…

 Once these players have been distributed, the group of “Football” players will be distributed beginning where the last group ended.  In this manner, one team should not be overly penalized with players that may not play during the fall season, possibly leaving a team short on players.   Note:  Some “Football” players will play fall season, these will not be sorted onto the “Football” group, but added with the full season players.

 Once all players have been distributed, coaches will then be identified.    The AGC will then identify which team the coaches child is on and will exchange the coach’s child for an equal player on the coach’s team.  It is not the coach’s choice as to which player is exchanged.  For example, if the coach’s child is the second player assigned to Team 5 (i.e., Player 6 from the example above), then they will be exchanged with another second round player from a different team (Player 7-10).  There shouldn’t be a significant difference between players 7-10 for this procedure to be considered unfair.

 U16-19 (Age 14-18 August 1 of the playing year)

 This division is a mixed co-ed group.   Teams are formed based on number of players and coaches.   Players will be ranked according to age and assigned to a team based on the snake like fashion listed prior.  

Miscellaneous Information

Team Colors

 Each age division, except for U16-19, receives uniforms based on the number of teams that are formed.    Colors of uniforms are randomly assigned to coaches by their respective AGC.  Requests by coaches for specific colors will not be honored.

 Roster Size, Practice Times, Game Times, Ball Size, and Players on Field

 Weekly practice sessions will be no longer than the length of the weekly game.

** based on number of registered players and formation of appropriate number of teams, maximum roster sizes in each age division may be adjusted on approval of Regional Board at the beginning of each playing year and/or season.