Quote:
Originally posted by Richard Ogg
If your league is organized to sort better players into a different division, the story would be very different. In our league we sort by age bracket, but otherwise balance all teams best we can. Everyone has a "star" and everyone has a "project".
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We also have a "classic" division where the better players (5th and up) play in a competitive environment. However, there is no program like that around here for 3rd and 4th grade. At the rec level, all players are drafted onto teams to achieve a semblance of parity. Of course, the head coach and one asst. coach get their kids automatically on their teams, but all others are drafted, just like in the NBA (well, sort of). Usually, the coach's kids are the best players, but there is not a huge amount of difference in skill level between the players, although sometimes you get some kids who are really tall for their age.
Since the entire season comes within the school year (unlike baseball, for example), we sort by grade, not age. We have a rule that every kid who shows up for practice must play at least 50% of their games that week. The playing time can be staggered during the game, however. We restrict team size to 8 players to ensure lots of playing time for each kid. We have over 1200 kids in just the rec program, plus about 18 or 20 classic teams that play in a competitive league and also in tournaments almost every weekend during the season. The playing time rule does not apply in the classic program and those kids play straight NF rules regardless of grade level.