Quote:
Originally posted by rainmaker
Mark --
I know this may not apply to this agelevel, but you might explain also about the way teams get put together. I think your way is the best I've ever heard for a rec league. It REALLY cuts into the star-studded-team cr@p.
Also, the part about the coaches submitting to a board which has a strong and vocal referee component is very important at any age.
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We do not start our "classic" divisions until 5th grade, so all teams in 3rd and 4th are strictly recreational. The coach and one assistant get their kids on their team, but all other kids are drafted. We conduct a top to bottom, bottom to top draft and limit each team to eight kids total. We do not honor special placement requests, except if there are twins, then we will honor their parents wishes to place them on either the same or separate teams. We use this same procedure for all grades in our rec division, except HS. We let kids play with their friends there, and pretty much form their own teams. It works pretty well at that level.
Teams are not formed by neighborhood or school. This way, kids meet kids from other schools, and they already know more kids when they get to middle and high school.
We have a Board of about 15, and 5 of us also referee. There is a Board member at each game to handle problems. We wear a distinctive shirt. We have a zero tolerance policy in all grades for abuse of the referees by players, coaches and/or spectators. If someone gets so bad I have to eject them, there really is not much recourse for them since I am both a referee and a Board member. I take my responsibility seriously, since we have over 1200 kids in the program. I am starting my 14th year on the Board.