Originally posted by Unregistered
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What league required towns to keep kids playing only with their grade? -
Our town/league does this:
First our town speaking for u12 but it's the same for u10's and u14's. They have tryouts coaches pick the teams based on tryouts to a point. Here's where it gets kind of messed up. The top team "d1" mtoc eligible team is comparised of 6th graders or 12 year olds. Second top team would be "d2" mtoc eligible team comparised of u11 5th graders. Then usually they have another u12 6th grade team in d2 also. Then things trickle down the line.
Point is the d1 team maybe the best u12 team but not the best players from the whole u12 group which includes u11s. So there are times when the u11 team is better than the u12 team. Unfortunately our town likes to keep the top players in each grade together. Why some of it has to do with hurting players/parents feelings/egos at a young age. Also sometimes which right or wrong you want to keep kids happy so they will keep playing soccer through high school. Which I'm sure people on here will disagree with.
From the leagues point they distinguish d1/d2 by town size with d1 being the big towns d2 being the small towns. Unless there is certain amount of club players then your team would have to play d1 if your town does not have a d1 team. I think there's is some wiggle room now with almost every kid playing club a town can give a list to which club players are on and level and the league will take that into consideration. So what happens a lot is our top u11's are facing small towns top team which for the most part are the true best players just because of numbers and loosing. You can see a size difference starting at 12vs11 and that has a lot to do with the small towns winning games.Comment
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OK, in our town and our league, we only have U10, U12, U14, etc, no odd-numbered age groups. So each team can have kids spanning 2 grades. But I don't get the correlation with kids that play club and having to play in a certain division. Does a kid have to notify the town if he/she plays club and what club league? And players move from club to club league to league, even within a 12 month period. So that seems odd as well as difficult to keep track.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Every league in the state sets its own rules and requirements for how teams are placed into Division 1 or 2. It doesn't always mean the best teams are placed into Division 1.
Additionally, there is no "standard" set of requirements for how cities/towns form teams.
I think all leagues have the cities/towns provide information about the teams that they are submitting for the spring travel season. This will include things like how many dual rostered (i.e. club players) are on the team, what level the child has played in the past (i.e. what division the child played in last spring), along with information about that teams record etc. This is also the chance for cities/town registrar's to quantify what league they think the team should play in.
The leagues have a placement committtee that reviews the information along with historical town results to help with placement. Normally larger programs with more teams within an age group will be require by the league to play Division 1. You can have a smaller town with a very good team that ends up playing in Division 2 even though that team may be better than some Division 1 teams. There is usually a chance for towns to appeal and/or request placement for Division 1, Division 2, or possibly a lower league.
The MTOC groupings are grade based so Grade 5 and 6 players can be on the same team. Players that stayed back are allowed to play within their current grade although they must get a waiver through the league (BAYS, MAYS, PV etc.) This means you can have a player that is actually almost 14 playing on a Grade 5/6 team.Comment
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If you have ever coached a town level team you would know that this is the most accurate description of how teams are placed. Your town will place your team based on the league guidelines. It is easier to place teams that have a record from previous seasons. the guidelines are primarily there to keep coaches/towns from slipping in stacked teams into D2. It still happens, because the league board is usually made up of coaches, board members from member towns. Teams can appeal their placement, which is usually a D1 placed team wanting to be in D2. Its not easy to win an appeal to drop down. Leagues will usually grant requests to play up in D1 as long as that team can show they have decent enough chance of being competitive.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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So in the end, the answer remains simple D1 > D2
Of course top D2 teams can beat many D1 teams, but the D1 league and the top D1 teams are categorically better than D2.Comment
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