COACH AND TEAM SELECTION
RULES GOVERNING POST-SEASON PLAY
2006 edition
This document describes the selection process of coaches, teams, and players for post-season play in Region 76. Our objective is the participation of the largest possible number of players in post-season play and to keep them playing for as long as possible. Following the AYSO philosophies, we hope the players will have a positive experience during post-season play.
The following sections of the National AYSO Policy Statements (as stated in http://soccer.org/ dated September 14, 2004) regulate post-season play:
2.7 All-Star Programs. An “All-Star” program is any program which is an extension of the regular season (basic) program and which selects players for participation based primarily on their ability.
The National Board of Directors recognizes that such programs have historically been a part of the AYSO program in various parts of the country and allows it as an optional part of the overall program. The National Board of Directors, however, advises caution when conducting these programs because it is by its very nature exclusionary, not inclusionary, and because it may diminish volunteer resources to be expended on regular season play, which is the heart of the AYSO program.
All-Star programs, if implemented, shall abide by the following policy:
(a) It shall not be allowed to become a more extensive or important part of any program than the basic or regular season.
(b) Participants should have participated in the regular or basic season (a minimum of one-half the regular season games is a good rule-of-thumb).
(c) A determination should be made by the region, area, or section supervising the program whether such program should be self-supporting and not use regular season funds.
(d) These programs shall not involve U-8, U-6, and program administrators are strongly urged not to include U-10.
(e) Principles of fair play, everyone plays (one-half of every game), good sportsmanship, and positive coaching shall continue to be stressed.
Each section may adopt All-Star Rules & Regulations that further define and restrict All-Star competition.
Our Region’s policy statement will be guided by the AYSO philosophies and will be consistent with the above rules. The ideal solution of organizing and implementing a Spring Regular season like our fall season is not feasible given the lack of field space. Therefore, we need to rely on tournaments to provide our players with a positive soccer experience in the spring and summer.
There are three types of postseason teams in Region 76: (1) League champions from divisions U10, U12, and U14, (2) teams from divisions U10, U12, and U14 that represent our region in the Area 1P All Star Tournament, and (3) tournament teams from divisions U10, U12, U14, U16, and U19. In U16 and U19 divisions, regular season play involves interregional competition and some of our teams could make the Area playoffs in upper divisions.
The league champions in U10, U12 and U14 divisions represent Region 76 at the Area 1-P League Champions Tournament in early January. These teams have absolute priority over the other postseason teams regarding players. A league champion team might advance to the Sectional and Tri-Sectional tournaments to be played in March.
Our representative All-Star teams in divisions U10, U12 and U14 participate in the Area 1-P All Star tournament in mid-January, following the conclusion of the Area 1-P League Champions Tournaments. These teams might advance from this tournament to the Sectional Tournament in early March, and after that, to the Tri-Sectional Tournament in late March. All Star teams cannot be formed before December 1. Once an All Star team does not advance to the next level of playoffs, it has no special status.
Other than the all-star teams, we also have tournament teams in U10, U12 and U14 divisions and, based on player demand and coach availability, we typically have U16 and U19 teams as well. We encourage as many teams and players as there are qualified coaches and committed players.
ALLSTAR/TOURNAMENT COACH SELECTION
DIVISIONS U10, U12, U14, U16, AND U19
WHEN: By the October Board Meeting
- All candidates must fill the AYSO Region 76 Beverly Hills All-Star/Tournament Team Coaching Application Form and deliver/mail it to the appropriate Division Director (DD).
- Candidates are typically, but not necessarily, coaches of record for regular fall season play.
- Division Directors are not eligible to coach All-Star/Tournament teams in their own divisions.
- All candidates must have Safe Haven training and the division-appropriate coaching certificate; typically the Intermediate and Advanced Coaching Certificates. Please consult the Coach Administrator.
- Under no circumstances will a coach be a professional coach, someone who is being paid to coach.
HOW:
- Each Division Director notifies the Board of Directors about candidates, and makes recommendations. The Board of Directors evaluates the recommendations and approves the selection of each all-star/tournament team coach.
- The appointment of a coach to an all-star/tournament team does not guarantee that his/her child will be on the team.
- The following criteria, in the stated order of importance, guide the selection: (i) The coach has demonstrated his/her ability to implement the coach-related AYSO philosophies (everyone plays, positive coaching, and good sportsmanship) towards all players, referees, parents, and coaches during practices and games, (ii) commitment to continue with the team for the rest of the Spring tournament season, (iii) soccer knowledge, and, (iv) previous success in keeping the team together for many tournaments and for having provided a positive experience for the players.
- It should be emphasized that the Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for the selection of post-season team coaches.
- The selection of coaches should be made early on to give the coaches time (at least two weeks) to observe as many players/teams as possible, prior to the player selection process.
ALLSTAR/TOURNAMENT TEAM/PLAYER SELECTION
WHEN:
Teams will play in a Thanksgiving Weekend tournament and the Beverly Hills Sportsmanship Cup (mid-December). The Area League Championship will take place during (or right after) the first week of January, and the Area All-star tournament will begin mid-January. There are several tournaments throughout the spring and summer.
HOW
General Guidelines for All Divisions
No later than the third weekend in October, all coaches will provide information on players whom they believe to meet the criteria for playing in tournaments. They will provide the player’s name, position(s) played, and jersey number to the DD. The DD makes the required effort to ensure the participation of all coaches in the player identification process.- The selection criteria for the players (not in any particular order) are (i) skill level of the player, (ii) commitment to AYSO principles, and (iii) attitude and commitment to play through the spring. If a player is unavailable for one or more games for the Area All-star Tournament, then that player might not be selected to that team or may be an alternate on a team with a roster size greater than that allowed by the Area.
- If there are two or more tournament teams in a division, then the top group of players (15 in U14 and U12, and 10 in U10), as determined by the coaches, form TEAM RED, the next group of players form Teams WHITE and BLUE. The age of the player is not a deciding factor in order to be selected to the all-star team, unless there are two players of roughly equal skill/commitment, in which case preference should be given to the older player as this player must move up to the next division at the end of the season. Otherwise, there is no age discrimination.
- The best group of players forms the All-star team, TEAM RED, that will represent Region 76 in the Area playoffs. Under the guidance of the DDs, the remaining tournament teams can be formed so that they are balanced. An alternative is to form them so that one team is “older” and the other is “younger”. As mentioned before, we encourage as many teams and players as there are qualified coaches and committed players.
- Tournament team and all-star coaches are required to confirm their understanding that teams are not “their” teams but the region’s teams. Coaches have an affirmative duty to know these and all other applicable rules. Under no circumstances at any point in the tournament season may a coach either add a player from within the region or borrow a player from another region without consent of the Division Director or, in an unavoidable emergency, the Tournament Director or the Regional Commissioner. Players may not be borrowed unless a diligent good faith effort has been made to recruit qualified players from within the region.
- Coaches may not solicit a player from one tournament team or the parents of such player to leave that team – this is ground for immediate dismissal as a coach.
- In all cases, the Division Director retains ultimate authority over the selection of players. The Division Director may in his or her discretion adjust teams for purposes of balance or for any other reason if necessary or appropriate in the interests of the children in question or the program as a whole. A Division Director’s decision is not subject to appeal. The Division Director is encouraged to consult with the Tournament Director and/or the Regional Commissioner whenever he or she thinks it would be helpful.
- We encourage Division Directors and tournament team coaches to select an extra set of players (2-3 depending on the division). Although one cannot exceed the maximum number of players on the roster for almost all tournaments, one can rotate the extra players for individual tournaments and include a larger number of players for post-season play, and have some insurance against player drop-outs.
HOW:
Division-Specific Guidelines
- U19 and U16: These older divisions typically field one tournament team per gender. Division directors select coaches and the coaches, under the guidance of the DDs and RC, select players. Because these divisions cannot field teams during the High School soccer season (December 1 through the end of the CIF regular season and any playoffs), the time for selecting upper division tournament teams may differ from the general guidelines given above.
- U14: In division 14, there will likely be one team (per gender) only, in which case it is strongly recommended that the team select 18 (or even 20) players with the understanding that only 15 players are eligible for the Area All-Star Tournament, but that all players will ultimately play in other post season tournaments. The larger than usual size of the roster not only allows the participation of a larger number of players but it also provides the coach with the flexibility of player unavailability for some tournaments. We welcome efforts to form a second team if there is strong interest on the part of the players and coaches.
- U12: This division is larger than U14 and therefore more structure is needed in the selection process. All coaches in this division, under the guidance of DD and RC, select tournament teams. DD designs a ballot to form the teams by the collective votes of all coaches. The ballot is designed so that each coach (one coach per team) can select his/her team consisting of 15 players, paying close attention to staffing all positions (keeper, sweeper, stopper, fullbacks, halfbacks, and forwards). Each player gets 1 point per appearance on a coach’s team. The players with most points make the team, provided that certain key positions (e.g. goal keeper) are carefully staffed. The top 12 players automatically make the team. The all-star/tournament team coach then selects 3 players from the remaining pool of players to complete the roster to 15 players. This all-star team is called TEAM RED. Under the guidance of the DDs, the remaining tournament teams can be formed so that they are balanced. An alternative is to form them so that one team is “older” and the other is “younger”.
- U10: This division typically has the largest number of teams among the divisions that have post-season play. The regular fall season is not long enough to have all teams to play each other. A given team will likely not face about half the other teams. This means that the information provided by the coaches will be incomplete. Therefore, it seems desirable to allow the tournament team coaches and the DDs more discretion and responsibility. The coaches and the DDs are required to evaluate all teams/players over at least a 3-week period. It is essential especially in this division that the coaches are selected sufficiently early in the season, and that the DDs are actively involved in the information gathering and player evaluation processes for the sake of fairness. The number of players in the all-star team has to be 10 to allow for conformity with the Area rules. Play is 7 on 7. It may be desirable to select 2 reserves that will not play in the Area all-star tournament (and the Sectional and Tri-Sectional if the team goes that far), but to rotate these players into the roster in Spring/Summer tournaments. Most tournaments now restrict the roster size to 10 in this division so two players may not be able to play. The benefit from having 2 extra players is to insure against player dropouts over the course of the season. If nobody drops out, then 2 different players might be asked to sit out the next tournament until all players have taken their turn. It is recommended that each team maintain 12 players. After the selection of the all-star team, called TEAM RED, under the guidance of the DDs, the remaining tournament teams can be formed so that they are balanced. An alternative is to form them so that one team is “older” and the other is “younger”.
- If for some reason a team loses players or is short of players for a particular tournament, then it can borrow players from the other team provided that the coach of the “lending” team and the DD are consulted prior to the borrowing of the players.
- If the two teams want to go to the same tournament and there are not enough players to field two teams, then no team has priority, and one of two procedures will be followed: (a) additional players will be called upon; these names can come from the original coaches’ ballots, (b) a single team with a large number of players will participate with the understanding that some players (never the same player twice) will sit out one game; for example if there are a total of 18 players then 12 players will sit out one game each (with 20 players, each player sits out exactly one game in a typical 4-game tournament), assuming (i) a roster size of 15, AND (ii) the tournament organizer’s approval of different rosters/line-ups for each game. Some tournaments allow teams to keep more than 15 on the roster with a different line-up for each game; some do not. If they do, the second procedure will allow all of the players to go as one team and have fun at the tournament, with minimal heartbreak. If there are more than 20 players, it should be easy to come up with 4 additional players to field two teams. With 20 players or less, procedure (b) is easily applied. However, if a tournament does not allow the implementation of the second procedure, then some players will be left off the roster for that tournament, with the promise to guarantee them spots in the roster in the next available tournament, so that the players are rotated in successive tournaments.
- To facilitate movement between teams, whether by permanent transfer or by loan for a specific tournament, the region will continue to follow the practice of recent years of having the same uniform for all tournament teams (uniform styles may be different for boys and girls) and of having a unique number for every player within a particular division. For example, TEAM RED might be given jerseys between 1 and 18 and TEAM WHITE would receive jerseys in the same style numbered 19 to 36. For U10, it would be 1-13, and then 14-26.
PLAYER TRANSACTIONS
TOURNAMENTS PARTICIPATION
- All teams participate in the Thanksgiving and Sportsmanship tournaments. In mid-January, TEAM RED represents Region 76 in the Area 1P All-Star tournament, and possibly in early-March and April as well if the team advances to the Sectional and the Tri-Sectional Tournaments. All teams continue play in available tournaments.
- The Tournament Director makes available a list of tournaments that are historically relatively competitive, and tournaments that allow grouping of teams according to strength/experience. This raises the probability that all teams will have competitive games and that the tournaments will be fun for the players. In addition, participants will find tournament information on the AYSO National website at http://www.soccer.org
Questions about this policy may be addressed to our tournament director, Selo Imrohoroglu.
Last updated September 28, 2006 at 06:04 PM