How Teams are Formed

One of the AYSO Six Philosophies is Balanced Teams. This means, for divisions where more than one team exists, the goal is to form teams that are initially balanced. The intent is to form teams that have, as much as possible, an equal number of older and younger players, as well as an equal number of players of different assessment levels. A keys part of creating balanced teams is the evaluation of the abilities of as many players as possible. To accomplish this, we hold assessments/tryouts before teams are selected. We normally have at least two assessments dates for each age division. It is very important that parents take their players to at least one assessment. Players are given an assessment score of 1 - 5, with 5 being the highest score.

One the assessment information has been recorded team are created taking into account the ages and assessments of the players:

• • Starting with the older players for the age division (e.g. for 10U, that would be with the 9-year olds)

    • List the older players from the highest assessment scores down to the lowest

    • Assign each player to a team number using the Snake method. For example, if there are four teams for a division, the order in which teams receive players would be:

      • Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, Team 4, Team 4, Team 3, Team 2, Team 1, Team 1, Team 2, ... (and so on)

  • After all of the older players have been assigned to a team

    • List the younger players (e.g. for 10U, that would be the 8-year olds) from the highest assessment score down to the lowest

    • Continuing where the process ended with the older players, assign the younger players using the same method

Once all players have been assigned, players may need to be swapped between teams to, for example, put siblings on the same team. Another reason to swap is to place head coach/ assistant coach/team referee players on the same team or to ensure that the players of those that are head coaches are on different teams. If possible, other special requests may be accommodated. When players are swapped, it is done with players of the same ability rating. Thus, if a player that is rated as a 3 is to be moved to another team, they are swapped with a player that is a 3 from the other team. This maintains the balancing of the teams.

For more on special requests, click here.