Draft dates and times are unknown, but typically happen around mid December. Drafts will be done via video conferencing in the late evenings (Sunday-Thursday).
The goal is to form balanced teams while giving our volunteers an opportunity to select the players they coach.
First round draft order is determined by random draw.
Head and assistant coach children will be placed on their teams with the appropriate pick that equates to the round that player would normally go. For instance, if an assistant coach's player is rated as a 5th round player, the player will automatically be the 5th round pick for that team. This is done to avoid penalizing teams with coaches that have less skilled players.
As the players are picked the computer will recalculate team ratings and adjust the draft order each round for the weakest team to pick 1st.
Coaches must pick players that are available to practice on the night they have practice.
An unrated player will be given the rating of the player picked immediately before him or her.
If siblings exist in a division we have to select both players to the same team.
If two teams are tied for a pick, a coin flip or similar process will be used to determine order.
All teams pick until their roster is full with 6 (1st/2nd grade) or 8 (3rd-6th) players.