Recreation Plus By-Laws

Commencing with the Fall 2001 season, St. Mary’s Youth Soccer, Inc., will offer a Recreation Plus division.  This division will allow above average players the ability to play competitive soccer in St. Mary’s County without the travel required by Select teams.

Following are some general guidelines for the Rec Plus division.

COACH SELECTION:  It has been determined that the RecPlus division teams will require coaches who have above average qualifications.  Therefore, each selected coach should have the following minimum requirements, if possible:

·         4 seasons coaching in Recreation League

·         hold at least a “E” License or equivalent

·         commit to coach team for full year

·         must attend evaluation/or have approved assistant attend

·         Coaches/Assistant coaches child will be placed on same team without evaluation required

Coaches with the qualifications listed above will be given greater consideration for selection than those without.

PLAYER EVALUATIONS (TRYOUTS):   Since no players are ever “cut” from the recreational soccer program, it is inaccurate to use the term “tryout.”  We hold player evaluations to determine player placement – on either a recreational or RecPlus team.  Prior to each Fall season, a minimum of two evaluations tryouts will be held in conjunction with registration. These evaluations will determine which players are eligible for the RecPlus division.  The coaches that have been selected for the upcoming season will evaluate each player based on the evaluation format and rating form.  Each player will be assigned a point total by adding the performance scores for each category.  Children will be assigned a random number before the evaluation that will be their identifier throughout the tryout process.  Evaluation formats must be the same for each evaluation in a given season so that players can be compared fairly.

Players will be evaluated initially in their age-specific groups.  If it is deemed that a player is far superior to the other players he/she is being evaluated with, they may be moved to the higher age group with parental permission.  However, no player will be randomly placed on a team simply for convenience.  All players will have to demonstrate the appropriate skill to play in this division. 

A supplemental evaluation may be held prior to the Spring season to fill roster slots created by departing players.

PLAYER PLACEMENT:  Players will be placed on teams through a modified draft procedure, with some restrictions on team assignments based on areas in which they live.  Coaches may request up to four (4) “reserved” players, who will be assigned to that team prior to commencing the draft.  The coach and assistant coach’s children must be included in this 4-player reservation.  Should more than one team request the same player reservation, that player will be placed on the basis of a coin toss (or other means determined by the DM).

If a coach reserves less than four (4) players, that coach will get to select players from earlier (and perhaps multiple) draft rounds than coaches who reserve more players.

A series of successive draft rounds will be held until all teams have achieved full rosters.  Draft picks will be reversed after each cycle of six picks.  (For example, the order of draw would be 1,2,3,4,5,6,6,5,4,3,2,1,1,2….)  The order of draft in the fall season will be determined by draw, coin toss, or similar means.  The spring season draft order will be the reverse of team standings from the fall season.

Each team roster must contain at least two (2) female players and four (4) players from the lower half of the age division (3r^d or 5^th graders), unless such a requirement is specifically waived by the DM due to unavailability of appropriate players.

Prior to the draft, the DM will determine which teams a player is eligible to be drafted for, based on their residence and team location.  This will prevent players from commuting an unreasonable distance to a practice location.  A coach may not draft a player from outside the eligible area without first gaining permission from the player’s parents.

By the end of the team composition process, all teams should be relatively equal, taking into account the above criteria.

The RecPlus Division will consist of up to eight (8) 3^rd/4^th Grade teams, and at least six (6) 5^th/6^th Grade teams.  All teams will be Co-Ed.  Each 3^rd/4^th grade team will consist of 12players and each 5^th/6^th grade team will consist of 13 players.

SEASON:  Each RecPlus team will be composed prior to the Fall season and stay intact through the end of the following Spring season. Any exceptions will be handled on a case-by-case basis.  Each team will follow the same season schedule as the Recreational league.

GAME FORMAT:  Game formats for the two (2) age groups will be as follows:

3^rd/4^th Grade:  Two (2) 25-minute halves with a 5-8 minute halftime.

5^th/6^th Grade:  Two (2) 30-minute halves with a 5-8 minute halftime.

ON-FIELD TEAM FORMAT:  Each division will adhere to their appropriate recreation division standards:

3rd/4^th Grade:  Games will be 8v8, unless one team only has 9 or less players, in which case, the format will be 7v7.

5^th/6^th Grade:  Games will be 9v9, unless one team only has 10 or less players, in which case, the format will be 8v8.

If the game begins with the smaller-sided format due to missing players, who later arrive, that game will resume at halftime in the prescribed full-sided format.  If a coach has less than the minimum number of players required to play even the reduced format, he may request that the opposing coach play at even strength below the prescribed format.  Both coaches must mutually agree upon this format.  If the opposing coach does not agree, then the coach with missing players must play short-handed (5 v 7 or 6v 7 for 3^rd/4^th grade games; 6 v 8 or 7 v 8 for 5^th/6^th grade games).  If additional players arrive, the-short-handed coach may bring the arriving players into the game with permission from the referee.  A 3^rd/4^th grade team must field a minimum of five (5) players and a 5^th/6^th grade team must field a minimum of six (6) players to play a game.

STANDINGS:  Game scores and standings will be kept throughout the regular season.  The Home Team coach will be responsible for reporting final scores to the RecPlus Division Manager not later than the Monday following the game, or within 48-hours of the completion of a game if game is not played on a Saturday.  This reporting can be done via phone or email to RecPlus@StMarysSoccer.org.  At the end of the season, playoff brackets will be made based on the final standings.  A point system will be instituted as follows:

Win = 3 points

Loss = 1 point

Tie = 2 points

PLAYOFFS:  A round robin or double elimination tournament (format at discretion of the DM) will be held at the end of the season.  This tournament is a MANDATORY event.  It must be understood that preliminary playoff games may be played during a weeknight with the finals being played on Saturday.  A final schedule will be released as soon as it is available.