Draft Policies (House League 3rd through 8th Grade Divisions)

Like most house leagues in most youth sports, evaluations are done for the purpose of creating equitable and enjoyable teams.  They are not tryouts.  All registered players who adhere to AYB policies, including, but not limited to, residency, participating in evaluations, and adhering to our code of conduct, will be placed on a team in the manner described below.

Boys 3rd Grade and Girls 3rd/4th Grade: During the evaluation session and subsequent skills/drills/scrimmage sessions, the Level Coordinator and at least 2 other individuals will evaluate the players.  Players will be evaluated on a scale of 1 (highest), 2, or 3 based on observed and perceived skills as a function of the skills/drills/scrimmages.  After these sessions are complete, the Level Coordinator and two members of the Travel League board (personnel comfortable with doing evaluations and distribution of skills) will do their best to create equitable teams based on the evaluations provided, while also taking into account what schools the players attend.  

Boys 4th Grade, Boys 5th Grade, Boys 6th Grade, Boys 7th Grade, Boys 8th Grade, Girls 5th/6th (7th) Grade: The Level Coordinator will create at least 4 sets of players, where all of the players in a given set should have as equal a skill set as possible.  The number of players in a set corresponds to the number of teams in the division.  Note that all travel players should be in the same set.  These determinations are based, in part, upon the normalized player evaluations from the previous year, along with evaluations of new players from the current season.  A draft is held that is either a blind draft (choose players blindly from one set after another) or or an open draft (choose players in each round from the current set of players).  Every coach must choose their own child (if one exists) in the round of the draft where their child is available.  The determination of blind vs open must be approved by the Executive Committee.  Once the pre-determined sets of players are exhausted, a traditional draft will be conducted for the remaining rounds.  All coaches will have access to the evaluations from the previous season, either in summary or raw form, as determined by the Level Coordinator.  There are no trades permitted and no assistant coaches are to be selected prior to the draft.