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AYSO Region 223 - Mt. Diablo Soccer
Who is eligible to play in AYSO Region 223 - Mt. Diablo Soccer ?
Mt. Diablo Soccer is region 223 of the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO). One of AYSO’s fundamental tenets is "Everyone Plays." Mt. Diablo Soccer welcomes children and young adults ages 4½-18. Please see the 2008 Age Cutoff by Division table for details.
Why does MDSA require that new players be at least 4½ to play when AYSO allows 4 year olds to play?
AYSO encourages its regions to offer a U5 division, which would accommodate new players as young as 4 years old. However, MDSA has found that it is more important to provide a unique division for the 6 year olds (U7 division), since there can be significant physical and psychological differences between younger six year olds and older 7 year olds. In addition, the area covered by MDSA offers a variety of recreational soccer programs for players who are otherwise too young to play MDSA soccer.
What programs are offered?
Fall Season
The fall season officially begins August 1st of each year and concludes in November. Match play usually begins around Labor Day. During August, most coaches hold 2 or 3 practices per week, sometimes more depending on the division. Once the matches begin in early September, the practice schedule is usually reduced to 1 practice per week. The match schedule involves one mid-week match and one Saturday match, but it is not uncommon for matches to be rescheduled due to circumstances beyond the league's control such as rain. Mid-week matches are played through the end of September and normally begin at 5:30pm or 6:00pm. The end of the regular season marks the end of the season for the U6-U8 divisions, but the U10-U19 divisions go on to compete in a league playoff tournament and, possibly, the Area Tournament of Champions.
Select Season
The Select season is an extension of the fall season and runs from December to March of the following year and is limited to players in the U10–U14 divisions. Select is offered for those players who have demonstrated the desire to continue to play after the regular season ends. Only players who participate in the fall program are eligible to participate in the Select program. Please click here for more information about Select.
Spring Season
Registration for the spring season is usually conducted in January and February and rosters are distributed by the end of February. Games usually start in late March and end in June. Most of the games are played on Saturday. There may be some mid-week games due to holidays and field availability, etc. During the spring season, the U6–U12 divisions may play short-sided games depending on the number of players who register. Players who played in the previous fall season are given priority when the spring rosters are created.
COED Season
The co-ed season loosely coincides with the spring season, although the co-ed season usually begins about a month earlier. Co-ed has traditionally been restricted to the U16–U19 divisions, but during the 2005 spring season MDSA piloted a U13 co-ed program.
When is Registration?
Fall Season
Registration for the fall season is held during March and April. There are usually two Saturday dates and one Friday evening. Players who are new to MDSA will need to show proof of their birth date, and new U10-U14 division players will be asked to attend a player rating session to be evaluated by league staff. Registration dates are conspicuously posted on the MDSA web site.
Spring/COED Season
MDSA's spring program is somewhat more relaxed that the fall season. There is no post season play. Registration for the spring and co-ed seasons is held in January and February, but the league has traditionally been forced to limit the number of players who can be accepted in each division due to a lack of volunteer coaches and referees. Players are assigned to rosters on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration information is emailed to all who participated in the previous fall season. To receive timely registration information by email, please ensure that the email address provided when you register is accurate. Please check this web site in January for the spring/co-ed registration and in March for fall registration information.
What can I do to help?
MDSA is an all-volunteer organization. The coaches, referees, board members, field maintenance folks, etc. are all volunteers. The number of players that can be accommodated depends in large part to the number of volunteers who step forward, especially coaches and referees. Volunteering to be a coach, assistant coach, or a referee at the open registrations in February for the spring/co-ed season and in April for the fall season will guarantee that a child will be placed on a team.
How does MDSA ensure that the teams are balanced?
Until 2003, MDSA invited the U10-U14 coaches to participate in a traditional team "draw." In essence, each player's registration form was placed in a basket that corresponded to their player rating from the previous season, then the coaches would take turns picking a "1" rated player, then a "2" rated player, and so on until all players were selected.
While this system worked for many years, it proved susceptible to claims of misuse and complaints that it did not truly provide balanced rosters. Beginning with the fall 2004 season, the MDSA Board of Directors opted to use the roster creation feature offered by AYSO's registration web site, www.eAYSO.org. This decision reduced the human influence in the roster creation process, but it greatly enhanced the importance of accurate player ratings. Player ratings are the primary determinant of how players are assigned to U10-U14 rosters. (Birth date is the key to distributing youth division players.) Just as with the manual roster creation process, with the push of a button eAYSO distributes all the "1" rated players equally among the teams, then the "2's" and so on. Unrated players are then distributed by age in descending order, which assumes that the older kids will be more experienced therefore more skilled. Board members then review each roster to ensure that there are no obvious imbalances.
How much playing time will my child get?
Although AYSO policy requires that each player participate in at least half of every match, MDSA has adopted a three-quarter policy. However, this is not always possible when the roster size is 15 or more in those divisions that play eleven players on the field and 12 or more in the U10 division. The league makes every effort to tailor the number of players assigned to each roster with the 3-quarter play rule in mind.
Does the league provide the uniforms?
For the fall season, MDSA provides a jersey, shorts, socks, and a ball to every player. Players who participate in the spring/co-ed seasons receive a jersey only (usually a tee shirt emblazoned with the AYSO logo). Each player must provide shin-guards and soccer shoes. Soccer shoes with cleats are strongly recommended for all games and practices. Screw-in cleats must be in good condition. Metal cleats and toe cleats are not allowed. Baseball shoes that have a toe cleat may be used only if the toe cleat is removed, e.g., sawed off with no sharp edges.
Which fields do you use?
MDSA assigns specific fields to specific divisions each season. The exact field that a child may play on is normally not known until just before each season starts. Please navigate to the Fields page of this web site for a listing of all locations where MDSA matches are played. |
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