AYSO serving Los Altos since 1968!
Region 43 serving Los Altos since 1973!
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AYSO serving Los Altos since 1968! Region 43 serving Los Altos since 1973! |
Everyone Plays ® * Balanced Teams * Open Registration * Positive Coaching * Good Sportsmanship
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In AYSO, divisions are formed by age group and gender with the cutoff date being 31 July. Soccer is a physical sport with the type of contact and abilities varying greatly by age of the youth player. So we are required to keep the age range to roughly 2 years maximum but can make a very few exceptions for ability and size.
We allow a parent to play up any player born between 1 Aug and 1 December (the school cut-off date). This often keeps kids who are in the same grade together in the same division. Parents have to select this play-up at registration time. Play up can generally be allowed. But for many reasons, play down generally cannot be allowed.
In general, divisions span a two year age group with an exception in Region 43 where U8B is split into U7B and U8B. The "U" stands for "Under". Thus U8 must be 7 or younger by 31 July of the registration summer. Here are the divisions as they roughly relate to grades in school:
Games are played on Saturday's for the U6 through U14 divisions. Practices are usually once during the week and start with the opening of the public school in Fall. The first game day is usually the first weekend after Labor day. Games are played every weekend for 10 weeks, generally. The Saturday game day is broken up into regular start times every 1.5 hours starting at 8:30AM. So game slots are 8:30AM, 10:00AM, 11:30AM, 1:00PM, 2:30PM, and 4:00PM. If a school event closes the field on a Saturday, games are generally moved to the same time and field on the following Sunday.
There is usually an 11th week intra-regional tourney for U10 through U14. For U10, this is a fun day where each team will usually play 3 to 4 shortened games in rapid succession. For U12 and U14, the tournament games are usually spread over two days. In U12 and U14, the tournament will generally solely decide who goes to the Area (County) tournament the first week in December. Season standings against region teams determine seeding into the tournament. Teams compete at Area to move on to a Section (Northern CA) tournament the following weekend; usually held in San Mateo county. Only the top 1 or 2 teams from our region go to the Area (County) tournament and then only the top 1 or 2 teams of an Area go to Sections. So U12 and U14's season can last until mid-December.
U12 and U14 teams can choose to join a lottery to play in the National games held in late Spring in different locations each year. Section winners can also play in the California state tournament down south in Spring. Teams are 100% responsible for all costs associated with this "extra" activity.
U6 through U10 play games among themselves. U12 sometimes "interlocks" with one neighboring city and may have a few traveling games to that neighboring city. Usually Sunnyvale, Portola Valley, Mountain View or similar.. U14 generally interlocks with one or maybe two neighboring cities and 1/2 their games will be away with the time and field varying. Interlock cities are generally Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Ravenswood, Portola Valley, Mountain View, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, West San Jose or Saratoga.
High school students play on Sunday afternoons. They are in an Area (county) wide league with neighboring cities similar to U14. Due to the fewer number of teams from each city in this age group, the likelihood of playing in a different city and field for each away game is very high. 1/2 the games will be away. Games start the first Sunday after Labor day but generally end by 15 November (i.e. the start of the High School soccer season). Sunday game slots start at Noon, 2:00PM and 4:00PM (before the time change; 1 hour earlier after the time change). Games are spaced 2 hours apart due to the longer halves.
Probably the biggest single benefit in AYSO and yet the biggest cause of concern for some parents is the method of team formation. A founding tenet of AYSO is to (re)form Balanced Teams each season. In fact, it is a firm rule that no player can be "stuck" to a team except the head coaches own child. The goal is to mimic that neighborhood playground method of picking up sides so as to make the game as close and competitive as possible. Only then is it the best and most positive learning experience created for all. Balanced teams do not stop once the teams are formed and released though. The head coaches are as much a part of implementing this goal during the season by playing all players equally (in time) each game and throughout the season, by avoiding runnups in the score, and by adjusting their coaching style and strategy to keep the game competitive and fun for all.
So how do we form teams? Unlike the playground where you first pick two captains who then pick the teams a member at a time, we have a different process than a public draft. We need to form upwards of 16 teams in a division. And we try our best to do it without the stigma of a child knowingly being picked first or last. Some regions get all the coaches together and form a draft. This only works if the coaches are all equally familiar with the various players and their skills. A caveat they usually have also is that the formed teams by draft are then redistributed to the coaches in a lottery. This really attempts to prevent any coach from stacking a team.
We have not relied on the coach-based draft in Region 43. Instead, like most regions, we have a single person who oversees forming a balanced division. This is the main, initial role of the division coordinator (or DC). The DC is aided by a computer program built into our registration system that has recorded statistics about each player from previous years or from parents declarations. This is why it is important not to create a new record during registration.
Many factors are taken into account by the computer and human algorithm that forms teams. Age, previous season goal count, previous coach ranking, parent ranking, school, available practice days, and "sibling" request. We try and balance the skill, age, grade, and school spread of each team while trying to honor practice day and sibling preference requests.
The National Association of Sports and Physical Educators (NASPE) recommends that school-based teams not be formed at the elementary school age level. As a result, in Region 43, we specifically try and spread school kids around to different teams. We try and make sure at least one kid from the same school and grade is on your players team so there is at least one face you know. But if two star players are in the same school and/or specify each other as "siblings", it is likely we cannot honor the "sibling" request as we will have to spread them across two teams. This splitting up of schools is not usually a problem.
We often find that, due to summer camps or other activities, your player knows kids from other schools already. In fact, this intermingling of kids from schools has been shown to be a big benefit. By time your player reaches 7th grade public school, they have been playing together with kids from all the other feeder elementary schools. AYSO kids know many more kids in Middle School and thus have much less of a shock. So please do not ask us to form a school team even though someone else might do that. It is not recommended and not practiced here.
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) recommends small sided games at the elementary age levels. Both major youth soccer organizations endorse and generally require this. We in region 43 fully endorse the practice of reducing goal sizes and number of players on the field for this smaller kids. This helps the enjoyment and learning for the kids by giving them more action in a given game.
Where possible and practical, we try and honor the sibling field and the single day the player cannot practice when placing a child on a team. The sibling field can only list the name of one other player in that same division and gender. That other player must also list your player in their sibling field, as the only player. If you are an assistant coach who wants to work with a particular head coach, there is not a guaranteed and direct specification. At most, you can have your players list each other in the sibling field and we will try to place them together. But again, if they are both very strong players, the liklihood of us being able to honor the request is less.
Teams are generally formed in July after registration goes into waitlist mode on 1 July. We take first come, first served but do our best to place all children on a team. In Region 43, we are very restricted in field availability and sometimes coach volunteers. So we must sometimes limit the number of teams in a division. We generally try to release teams in early August, at least 2 weeks before the first practice.
If you have a problem with the placement on a team for any reason, you must contact your age / gender division coordinator. The most they can do is take you off the team you were placed on and put you onto the waitlist. You will be inserted onto the waitlist based on the date you first registered your player. You should only request to be moved off a team if there is no way you can participate in the AYSO program on that team. We cannot guarantee your child will be re-placed onto a team if the balance cannot be subsequently met. We do not swap players between teams.
The waitlist is cleared near the end of August. First priority is any child that has a parent as a volunteer coach or referee. Next, the registration date is used. A child is placed on a new team based on available slots, team balancing factors, and the indicated single day the child cannot practice. This is an over constrained problem as it is and so no special requests can be honored at this point in the process. Our goal is to get every child playing; but not at the expense of unbalanced, uncompetitive teams. Once the waitlist is cleared and uniforms are handed out, players cannot be moved between teams and drops are subject to a fee before refunding the registration payment.
Please remember that we are an all volunteer organization made up of parents with either a strong interest (and sometimes professional experience) in soccer or who want to help in their kids activities. It does not help to get upset with a coach or DC about the team placement. If they cannot answer your questions, you are welcome to contact the overall Divisions Commissioner or Regional Commissioner. But realize they tend to strongly encourage those with opinions into helping out that season or next :)
Each division is explained in more specific detail next. See the regional rules and ABC's pages for more specifics and authoritive sources..
Region 43 runs U6 as a Jamboree. This means you do not practice during the week but simply show up for the assigned slot each Saturday. The Saturday activity is a mixed drill and scrimmage format. Teams are loosely formed with interested parent coaches. The coaches are trained by Ruedi Graf and his staff of coaches from his premier league high school team. They train the coach parents in how to run drills and scrimmages each week. Cones are setup on the six U8 fields to give each team 1/2 of that field for a 3v3 scrimmage experience. Jersey's are reversible.
2005 setup: Rosita Field (all fields), 12:45 to 2:15 PM, Saturdays, 10 Sep through 12 Nov (10 sessions)
Region 43 splits the boys into single year divisions of U7 and U8. Girls are kept in a two year grouping. Teams are formed with a maximum of 12 players. A coach and asst coach are recruited and assigned to each team. Teams practice at Rosita fields for 1 to 1.5 hours (max) once each weekday starting with the public school opening. They then play Saturday games at Rosita on the regular game start schedule shown above.
The focus at U8 is on learning to play on a team for the first time, with a referee or coach controlling the match. Coaches are expected to demphasize winning and scoreboard points. We try as much as possible to have everyone play all the time -- no one sits out. If a player does have to sit out, it will be for no more than 1/4 of the game and will be spread evenly among all players throughout the season.
The U8/U7 game does not have goalkeepers. That is, no player should be planted in front of the goal and no player can use their hands. There is no offside either but attackers cannot simply wait in front of the opponents goal for a pass. This is unsporting. See Appendix A in the Policy of Play for the complete rule description.
As we have trouble recruiting enough head coaches, we have a more unique setup at this level. Each team is split in half on each game day. Then each half of each team plays the other half of the other team over the course of a game slot. The two parallel games are on side-by-side fields with only the coach and possibly players standing in the middle. At half time, the visiting team swaps its players to the other half of the field so they each play a new group from the home team. This takes the emphasis off of goals scored and standings and focuses more on player development. It also helps ease the need for head coaches as play is 5v5 but teams are 10 to 12 players with only a single head coach required. Each U8/U7 team must have at least an assistant coach as well -- due to child protection rules as well as to provide a coach to manage the two games.
We try and encourage team refs to be trained, available and refereeing each game on each side-by-side field. But often the recruiting process is not as strong at this level. In this case, the coach is allowed to step in and referee a game. In this case, they must focus on keeping the field safe for all players and not act in capacity as a coach. We strongly encourage all head coaches to take U8 Official training as a result. It helps if they know the rules anyway :)
2005 setup: Rosita Field (all fields), regular game and practice schedule there each week. Games are Saturdays, 10 Sep through 12 Nov (10 sessions). There are no standings or tournament. 5v5 nominal play on the field but anywhere from 4 to 6 per team is allowed as long as the teams are even or within one of each other on the field.
7v7 play, maximum roster of 9. 70x35 yard field with 6'x6yd goals. Almond school for practices and games for boys; girls are playing at the Egan patch field in 2006. At most, a player will sit out one quarter each game. But due to temporary injury or absence, most players are playing all the time.
Standings are still not kept at this level but the kids are keenly aware of their game scores each week. So emphasis by the coach should be on skill improvement and team building such as setting a team goal that everyone score one goal that season. This begins to introduce team spirit and helping the team overall by getting the hot shots to pass the ball more to those that have not yet reached the goal. It takes some of the focus off the scoreboard as well.
The full rule set is used for the first time at this age level; including goal keepers and offside. But goal keepers should be rotated through every substitution opportunity and everyone should be required to be in goal at least once over the season. (For the timid keeper, the coach can put his better players as defensive backs during that time.) In fact, everyone should equally rotate around in all positions as much as possible throughout the season if not per game. The focus is on refining and learning all the basic skills at this age.
The referees are generally new. We try to get 3 referees per game but may only have one or two. We try and use team referees as linesman and utilize an unaffiliated referee in the center. But this all depends on how well the recruiting for referees went. A game cannot be played without a licensed referee present and overseeing the action. Referees are trained to keep the game flowing and only to stop the game for obvious advantage gained by fouls and infractions. Please be kind to the new, volunteer referees -- especially if there is only one of them there and they are trying to manage a match that normally requires three trained referees. By this age, players, coaches, and parents must learn to respect the referees as the full and unquestioned authority at the field. This is their role.
9v9 play, maximum roster of 12. 90x45 yard field with 7'x7yd goals. Santa Rita school for practices and games for most.
This is the first age group where standings are kept and winners move on to higher tournaments. This is also the first age group where skill at passing and acting as a team is really required. The field, goals, and roster is still kept smaller so everyone is guaranteed at least 3/4 playing time every game they are present for. Also, there are more opportunities for skill development and ball touches in this case. Keepers begin to specialize but anyone playing keeper cannot play for more than half the game in that position. Generally players will stay in the same position for the duration of the half they are in the game for.
11v11 play, maximum roster of 14. 100 to 110 yard x 60 to 65 yard field with 8'x8yd goals. Egan and Hillview fields for games and likely practices; as well as interlock with neighboring cities.
This is the beginning of full, adult-like soccer play with full sized fields, goals, rosters, and referee teams. Action is fast paced, team-like, and dynamic. Good teams and players begin to exhibit "down" days as a whole and so the real unpredictable nature of more advanced sport comes into play.
11v11 play, maximum roster of 16 and 18 respectively. 120x70 yard field with 8'x8yd goals. Rosita or Almond on Sundays with travel to a different city one half the time. In other cities, they often play on the high school or community college football / soccer field.
What can one say. This is high school level play with all the attitudes from players you expect. AYSO and general sports principles of good sportsmanship and fair, safe, fun play are strongly managed. Play is skillfull, dynamic, and fun. Generally the coaches and referees are very experienced. Some club players will play here also for the enjoyment and fun play it provides.