Draw Procedure

NW Cincinnati SAY Area “Official” Draw Procedure / Roster Verification

NW Cincinnati Area holds our integrity and sense of fair play among all districts and teams as our #1 priority. NW Cincinnati Area recognizes our Primary Season as “Spring to Spring” and our Secondary Season as “Fall to Fall”. Therefore, when a Player Draw is needed, the official rosters for the particular season being drawn are required. A draw of players from a Fall roster may not be used for a Player Draw in the Spring and a draw of players from a Spring roster may not be used for a Player Draw in the Fall.

In order to make sure that all of our teams that require a player draw are done to the letter of the law as outlined in the SAY Organizational RULE 8: Legal Team; Number 1: General Provisions, Number 3: Player Draw and Number 4: Post Draw Assignment as outlined below, we are implementing the following Draw Procedure that will be used by ALL NW Cincinnati Districts.

RULE 8: LEGAL TEAM

3. Player Draw

A. Players shall be assigned to teams in a manner that provides no intentional advantage to any one team over another.

B. Assignment of new players and those who have moved up from a lower age division shall be by blind draw, or some other method that results in teams being balanced in ability level. This is one of the most basic rules in SAY and must be enforced by each District. Any random choice method is acceptable. For example:

(1) Each team picks from sign-up cards that have been placed face down on a table.

(2) Numbers are assigned to player sign-up cards and team assignments are made based upon the numbers as they are randomly drawn.

C. Each team within an age division must have the same number of players of each age 9, 9, 9, 8, and 8, but not 9, 9, 9, 9, and 7 nor 10, 9, 8, 8, a group as other teams within that same age division (within one player). For example

(1) If there are four Wings (U10) teams and a total of 26 nine-year-old players within the District, teams may have 7, 7, 6, and 6, but not 8, 6, 6, and 6 nine-year-old players.

(2) If there are five Strikers (U-12) teams and a total of 40 ten-year-old players within the District, teams must have 8 ten-year-old players.

D. Teams with fewer players in an age group must be allowed more draws from that age group, to equalize the age distribution to the extent practicable.

E. Where an imbalance cannot be corrected by draw assignments of new players and those who have moved up from a lower age division, players must be randomly transferred at the time of the draw from existing teams to correct the imbalance.

F. Any imbalance which occurs subsequently because of loss of players: (1) need not be corrected by player transfer, but (2) should be corrected by assignment of unassigned players who have signed up late or who have been placed on waiting lists.

G. When a District fields only one team in an age division, that team may have no more than nine (9) players in the oldest age group. An exception may be granted only:

(1) by the governing body of the SAYArea, and then only

(2) after all other means of moving the oldest excess players have been exhausted including the formation of another team or allowing the other players (who desire to do so) to “play up” in the next older age division.

H. When new teams are formed, it is recommended that all players (including returning players) be randomly assigned to all teams. Where this is not either practicable or desirable:

(1) newly formed teams should be assigned experienced players (who are moving up or transferring) first; and

(2) teams with returning players should be assigned experienced players (who are moving up or transferring) last.

I. A player (or the player’s parent) may elect to have the player not play on a particular team or for a particular coach within the player’s “Residential” or “Organizational” District provided such election is made prior to the player draw.

(1) The player’s right should be communicated to the player at the time of registration – perhaps by a block on the sign-up sheet that asks one or all of the following:

(a) “Does the player prefer not to return to the same team? – Yes or No,” and/or

(b) “Does the player prefer not to be coached by coach_____________? Yes or No.” and/or

(c) “Does a player prefer to be reassigned to another team during the player draw? Yes or No.

(2) Should such a player be randomly assigned to that team or coach, the player must be immediately re-entered into the draw and another player assigned.

(3) Where there are only two teams, and an election to not play on one team assures assignment to the other, reassignment should be made only where there is sufficient reason to justify the election.

J. Except as described in Sections 3E, 3G and 3I, players who remain on a team roster from the previous year may not be transferred to another team unless all teams in that age division are being completely redrawn.

K. The following players, who would otherwise be subject to the draw, may be exempt from the draw:

(1) The child or children of the head coach of the team.

(2) The child or children of one assistant coach of the team – provided such assistant coach was assigned to the team prior to the draw. Exception: If a child of an assistant coach or a former assistant coach from the prior season(s) is already on the team prior to the draw, then no child of an additional assistant coach is exempt from the draw.

(3) Any otherwise eligible younger brother or sister of any player who is: (a) already playing on the team or (b) assigned by random draw to play on the team.

L. A person with a conflict of interest should neither participate in conducting a player draw, nor with the assignment of players to teams.

M. Head coaches should be notified of the player draw for their age division and be allowed, wherever practicable, to attend.

N. All team drawings must take place in the presence of a representative of the SAYArea Team Committee (as defined in RULE 8 SECTION 5) – either a member of, or a person chosen by, that committee.

O. A record of the results of the draw shall be:

(1) submitted to the SAYArea Team Committee as soon as practicable after completion of the draw, and

(2) kept by the District Representative.

P. A team in violation of Sections 2 or 3 will not be allowed to participate in the SAY program, if the District or SAY Area determines that this has been the result of a deliberate attempt at “stacking the team”. If it is determined that the variation is the result of ignorance or an error of “good faith”, the ruling body of the District or SAY Area will declare the team to be “not-at-fault” and correct the situation in a manner that causes the least harm to the players and/or team.

4. Post-Draw Assignments

A. Players signing up after team draws are completed will be assigned to teams by the District Representative in such a manner so as to balance, as far as possible, the distribution of age groups.

(1) Post-draw assignments to teams that have been formed by Residential Districts shall be made by the District Representative.

(2) Post-draw assignments to teams that have been formed by an Organizational District, shall be made by the Organization’s District Representative.

B. Where more than one team has an opening for a late registrant or registrants, assignments to teams will be done on a random basis and in such a manner as to assure balance among the teams.

C. In no instance will a player be removed from a team as a result of an assignment of a later registrant.

D. Late sign-ups should not be assigned to teams one at a time as soon as they sign-up.

(1) This method could result in excellent or unscrupulous players or parents deliberately not signing up until they know that the team they want to be on is next in line for a player assignment.

(2) It is better to accumulate several late sign-ups and then assign all of them together by a blind draw (i.e. on a random basis and in such a manner to assure balance among all teams in a particular division.

In order for NW Cincinnati Area to assure the integrity and compliance for all Player draws needed, the following procedure is required of all districts within the NW Cincinnati Area.

1. The NW Cincinnati Area President and all district representatives requiring a player draw are required to be in attendance for the Area Draw. Head Coaches for each team being drawn should be invited/notified of the Area Draw. The Area Draw date, time and location will be announced at the June Board Meeting.

2. Any NW Cincinnati Area District requiring a player draw for one or more division, must do the following prior to the official Area Draw date:

Notify the Head Coach, if the coach has been identified, of the date and time of the Area Draw. The date of the Area Draw will not be changed if a coach can’t attend

3. The NW Cincinnati Area district requiring a player draw for one or more division must bring the following:

a. The official roster(s) from the prior season (i.e., Spring to Spring and Fall to Fall)

b. The registration forms for all registered players at the time of the official Area Draw

c. The official Draw Sheet will be supplied the day of the draw by the Area President

The “Official” draw for each division will be done in accordance with the SAY Organizational RULE 8: LEGAL TEAM as described above.

In addition, there will be no consideration given to “Assigning” players to a particular team for transportation purposes. The only players assigned to a team will be the child/children of the Head Coach and the child/children of the Assistant Coach. Although a team may have two assistant coaches rostered for a team, only the child/children of one of the assistant coaches can be assigned to a team.

Once the “Official” draw is completed, the names and all requested information for each player drawn to a particular team will be transferred to the “Official” Draw Sheet.

RULE 8: LEGAL TEAM, 1. General Provisions, C. “Players may be added to any roster until the thirteenth day after the first “Official” game of the current season.“ In order to make sure any additional players are added in compliance to RULE 8, the district representative will communicate with the President to make sure the player(s) are assigned to the proper team.

The President will maintain a copy of each “Official” draw sheet for each district that required a Player Draw in any division.

Once players are no longer permitted to be added, an “Official” roster will be prepared and submitted to the President of NW Cincinnati SAY.

The President will verify the roster of each team for each district prior to the rosters for the district being submitted to SAY National. This includes rosters for ALL teams; not just those that required a Player Draw.

Once the President of NW Cincinnati verifies the rosters for ALL districts, she/he will send an e-mail to the district representative confirming the rosters are compliant based on SAY Soccer RULE 8: LEGAL TEAM, 1. General Provisions, 3. Player Draw and 4. Post-Draw Assignments.

Copies of ALL rosters must be signed by the Coach of the team and the District Representative. After signatures have been recorded on said rosters, copies of the rosters should be sent to the President of NW Cincinnati SAY and to the SAY National Office.

To further protect that ALL rosters throughout the season remain as they were verified, the President and a draw visitor will make random checks of rosters throughout the spring and/or fall seasons.

The Board of NW Cincinnati SAY Area has reviewed the above procedure and upon a majority vote of districts making up the NW Cincinnati Area, the procedure will be implemented effective for the Spring 2018 season.

The procedure will be reviewed once a year and updated effective immediately with any approved changes of SAY Soccer Organizational RULE 8: LEGAL TEAM.