Team Formation Pilot Program

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St. Catherine Laboure Athletic Association

Team Formation

Original Publication: April 2024

Revision: September 2024

Background

Starting in the Fall of 2023, the Athletic Associated voted and implemented a Pilot Program to guide Team Formation.

As such, the following took place:

Instructional Programs (4th grade and below): All new net teams, or grades that had a significant change, will randomly be elected by the Sport Director.

These teams will be randomly selected every year.

5th -8th grade: A self-declaration program was implemented as part of the registration process.  This would allow each parent to declare the level of skill of their player, in the specific sport.  Three choices were offered: Competitive, Recreational, No-Declaration.

The thought is this self-declaration would help the chairs review the total population, and help guide the team formations based on the declaration.

Using the 5th grade as the measuring stick, the program appeared to prepare some parents to really review their child’s skill level.

We had mixed reviewed with 6th-8th grade team, but we knew that may be a challenge.

Current State

Now that All-Things-New has been memorialized, and SCL will now be competing during the regular season with a broader range of competition, the board would like to launch Team Formation Pilot 2.0.

Future State/Pilot 2.0 v2

Instructional: No Change

5th-8th Grades:

Continue with Self-Declaration during Registration, however, only two options will be given during registration – Competitive or Recreational

Competitive Declaration:

Should the number of overall registrants allow for multiple teams then:

The Sport Chair will then review the declaration count to determine if an evaluation is required

Based on number of Competitive registrants, the Board will host a 1-hour evaluation practice to cluster kids together based on skill level

This will be hosted and selected with an external SME to divide the players into A and B teams

Evaluators will be instructed to either rank or form teams (positions), based on sport

Upon Completion of evaluation, the Sport Chair will then review the proposed teams with the Athletic Director and one-neutral board member for alignment and sign-off.

Teams will then be reviewed for Coaching assignments

Teams will then be assigned via Team Sideline

Recreational Declaration:

All players declared as recreational will be placed on a team

The Athletic Committee will take reasonable efforts to have these athletes placed appropriately in the provided leagues of CYC

Evaluations:

Evaluations will be performed by a 3rd party, with no specific ties to SCL Athletics

Will take place only if there are enough students to fill multiple teams

Parents will not be allowed in the vicinity of the evaluations

Neutral board members who meet the stratification of the CYC Compliance Guidelines will oversee evaluations

Player evaluations/scores will not be shared with anyone outside of the SCL Athletic Board

Additional Guidelines and Outcomes of Evaluations:

If a player attends evaluations, they are bound to the team they are assigned to

If a player attends evaluations, and chooses to quit the program after they deem not to accept the results of the process, registration fees will not refunded.

If a player missed evaluations, they will be placed on the next available team in that grade

If a parent misses the registration window for their child, they will be placed on the next available team in that grade

If a coach’s child is not selected for the A team, the coach is welcome to coach, but being a volunteer coach does not automatically get your child on the A team