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The best youth league in our area does two things. The kids are split into 8 teams based on thier schools. The first half of the season the kids play everyone once (7 games) but the score is kept only at the table not on a scoreboard. The coaches are not even allowed to ask about the score in the first half of the season. The coaches spend the entire time coaching thier kids and teaching them the game without any regard for W or L.
The second half of the season the 8 teams are seeded into two four team brackets (A and B). There is a double round robin in which the score is kept on the boards, and following each teams six games there is a two week playoff for each four team bracket with both teams getting two games.
I'm not necessarily a fan of everything in the "participation ribbon" era but I have to admit this is pretty slick. Without a score on the board all the kids work hard during the whole game even in a blowout situation and almost all the focus is placed on helping the kids get better. The referees and the coaches work really well together in this regard.
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