CYC Team Formation
To all CYC Programs:
In December, our CYC office sent a survey asking for feedback on the topic of team formation.
We received over 2300 responses.
The survey results for your parish were recently sent to your athletic association president.
Background information:
- There has never been guidance in the CYC Constitution regarding team formation.
- Our office has left formation up to individual programs; as our customers, they know the needs of the program, players, parents, and coaches best.
- Several districts created rules in their By-Laws a number of years ago, prohibiting player evaluations or splitting teams by skill level.
Beginning with 2024 Fall Sports , the CYC will be divided into 2 regions, Northwest and Southeast.
This will allow for better parity in league formation and game scheduling. It will also balance out the number of competitive or A level teams in each region.
All programs will follow the same rules. There will be no district or regional supplemental rules or policies. We have been working with the fall sport directors already to go over a consistent rulebook for all and will do the same for basketball, golf and track in the future.
Hence, we felt the need to gather your feelings on team formation. We wanted to know if programs preferred to hold skill-based evaluations or continue to create teams the way they have done previously.
Key Points:
- Survey opinions and observations were evenly split.
- Some want to allow player evaluations to create teams with similar skills, thus attempting to play other teams in the same leagues with a similar skill level.
- This can be valuable for programs with several teams in the same grade and gender.
- Some mentioned they do not want to allow evaluations, because of possible conflicts that can happen amongst players and parents.
- Some believe it should be left to individual programs to decide how to form their teams.
The opinions and feedback were well written and all viewpoints were considered.
The CYC Office has had many serious discussions on this topic for several months.
In speaking with many parents, volunteers and athletic officers, we often hear comments as:
“I can see both sides of the formation issue.”
“It is a tough call to make and some people will be upset no matter what decision is made.”
We have heard that some programs may feel forced to hold player evaluations to keep up with other programs that already do. We are aware of at least 7 current programs (all large schools) that hold evaluations in some fashion. Most of the smaller programs cannot do this, as their player registration only allows them to form one team. Here is how teams that held evaluations did last fall:
In the 2023 soccer playoffs, these programs won 6 of the 16 total championships.
In the 2023 volleyball playoffs, these programs won 5 of the 16 total championships.
The CYC Office has decided to continue allowing programs to form teams as they feel is best for their program.
We are recommending that each program follow these best practice guidelines:
- CYC sports, in grades K-4, is an instructional league. We recommend teams are formed by the Program Sport Coordinator for these grades/genders.
- Ideally, these teams could stay together through 8th grade.
- Sometimes there is a need to make adjustments due to the departure or addition of players in that grade/gender.
- At some point, a program may wish to re-evaluate the formation of the teams in a gender/grade level. This should only be done if agreed upon by the coaches involved. This should not happen before 5th grade.
- Parents should be consulted as to how the teams will move forward; competitive, balanced or keep the same team as last year.
- Parents should be communicated with properly and appraised of all decisions and the reasoning behind each decision.
- Competitive means the teams are assembled based on similar skill levels.
- Balanced means the teams are assembled evenly according to skill level.
- The decision on the formation of the teams should be done by the program sports coordinator. If needed, an independent player evaluation process can be held. This process should not involve coaches or parents of the teams involved. The evaluators should be from outside the parish program. A regular practice of up to an hour should be made available to allow as many players who wish to participate to attend the evaluation. This must not be mandatory for players who do not wish to participate.
- Any team adjustments should only occur in 5th and/or 7th grade.
- All players are always guaranteed a spot on a team.
- While we understand kids want to play with their friends, dividing players based on parochial/public school attendance is discouraged. This is to encourage community among all players whether they are Catholic/Non-Catholic and whether or not they attend Catholic school.
There are many variables to consider before your program decides to hold player evaluations:
- The most important consideration is how this will affect the relationships between your players and parents
- Some programs that currently hold evaluations have made mistakes that have had negative effects within their program
- If we want to create competitively balanced leagues that are of like skill levels, player evaluations can be beneficial if done in a fair and equitable way.
If your program is considering setting up player evaluations, we would be happy to attend a meeting with your volunteers to discuss your concerns and some of the pros and cons.
Our ultimate goal is to promote Faith, Sportsmanship and Service toward others.
Winning is of secondary importance and should not be the underlying factor in your decisions.
We strive to create a fun and challenging sports environment for all of our players, coaches and parents.
We are one team and will work together to focus on the best interests of our children.
Thank you and we will continue to pray for everyone in the CYC Sports Family.
CYC Sports Office
