Team Formation by Division:

From the Commissioner:

We would like to remind everyone of our policies on requests for players to be placed on the same team and, more generally, on how teams are formed. Some of what we do is mandated by the national rules of AYSO; a lot is just plain common sense.

Before giving you our rules and policies, please remember that AYSO’s National Mission Statement is founded on six philosophies: Balanced Teams, Fair Play, Good Sportsmanship, Positive Coaching, Player Development, and Everyone Plays. Region 122 is a part of AYSO and we stand for these above everything else and our policies on requests and team selection reflect these principles.

In addition, the process of making up teams is very time consuming work and once the teams have been made up every player move involves more than just that player. It also involves finding a replacement of comparable skill levels (to maintain team balance, which minimizes blow-out games). Parents frequently see this from their perspective and don’t take into consideration that granting a seemingly simple request can have a wave of repercussions and stretch our volunteer resources beyond breaking.

FORMING TEAMS

For all Divisions, except the 5U Schoolyard program, players are assigned to teams in the following priority. Specific Division information is listed below as well:

1. Children of Head Coach and Assistant Coach Volunteers*
2. Players that signed up before August 1, 2025 (assuming enough coaches). These players will be placed on a team before any players in #3.
3. Players that sign up after August 1, 2025

*Note: Assistant Coaches may be asked to coach a different team if the division needs more Head Coaches.

6U, 7U and 8U Divisions: 

• Players do not have a history of player ratings, so best effort is made to place players on a team of other players from the same school zone within the region. A zone could be made up of a few schools that are nearby. Late registrations make this more difficult as a school zone team will likely be filled up and the player will be placed across other zones.
• The goal is to focus on fundamentals, equal play and fun. No scores or records are maintained in these divisions.

10U and 12U Divisions:

• We do our best to build balanced teams based on player ability level. Available information is based on previous player ratings completed by coaches the year before, Post-Season (All-Stars) and/or club experience.
• Age is also considered to even out the number of 1st year and 2nd year players across teams in that division.
• School zones are considered, but not a guarantee as balanced teams with equal number of players is prioritized.
• Even with best efforts to build balanced teams, 10U is when we start to keep score and track team records. To mitigate blow-outs and maximize positive experiences, we “schedule balance” the teams based on the previous games. Stronger teams will be scheduled to play other stronger teams in subsequent weeks. Teams that are not as strong will play against similar teams. While this does create scheduling challenges for some, grouping the teams in this manner ensures the players and their families get a balanced experience from our program.

14U Division:

• Just like 10U and 12U, we do our best to build balanced teams based on previous player ratings, Post-Season and/or club experience and age (1st or 2nd year in division).
• Player positions are also considered to form balanced teams, particularly goalkeepers.
• School zones are not a factor in 14U considering there are fewer players compared to the younger divisions as well as widening skills gaps/experience per player.

16U and 19U Divisions:

• There are fewer teams in 16 and 19U, but will be formed based on similar factors to 14U.

These divisions do travel to other regions for their away matches (Carpinteria, Fillmore, etc)