RATINGS AND TEAM FORMATION

HOUSE LEAGUE (4-HS)

The following information applies to how teams will be formed in the House League from the 4th grade onward. Ratings are extrememly important in forming equal teams and particularly at a junior level where children are playing the game for the first or second year. Each team must have players who have equal abilities, while some will be greater than others, but this should not matter if teams are formed by valid ratings and the participation rules are followed to the letter. Each team in these leagues will, in a perfect situation, play their #1 draft choice the same amount of time as a #8 or #9 draft choice so theoretically scoring in quarters should balance out over time.

In practice this may not happen due to better coaching on one team or another, or indivdual development over the season, or an incorrect rating at the beginning of the year, whch was used to form the teams. However, the goal is to create equal teams by rating players and then carefully placing them on squads based on their abilties and the abilities of their teammates. 

 There are tryouts in October and November for 4th grade through highs chool levels.  These tryouts are important to gauge a player’s ability.  This is especially true for those children where, for whatever reason,  ratings are unreliable or non-existent.  Tryouts for new players are essential and must be completed and turned in before the eeason starts and teams are formed. Ratings from previous seasons may be used at the commissioners discretion. Ratings must be the basis for forming teams at this level.

As players develop it’s important that the Commissioner adjusts the teams to create balance so that a dominant team does not emerge by being allowed to stay together under one coach over the years.  Twenty and thirty point wins do not benefit anyone except the ego of the coach, and that is not what VYI wants to achieve in this league.