WYSL teams
Spring is here! (Was there a winter here sometime?)
The PRELIMINARY Schedule for the Westchester Youth Soccer League Spring 2012 season was sent to the clubs on March 8th and a revised preliminary is available here for download. It is not final!! Make sure your teams know that. This schedule will have a couple of hundred changes before THE final. Don’t plan based on this schedule.
Below is the standard drill we ask of all club organizers. Even those who done this before, please read it again. There are new notes that matter. For newcomers, it will be useful. This is the hard work that makes fun on the field possible. If something is missing, please make sure it’s missing, and then email.
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Your job is to check the schedule and within a week - by Thursday the 15th of March - email me any mistakes you find. There are mistakes! There are always mistakes. They can’t be avoided. (At least I can’t.) And maybe that’s a good thing. A little reinforcement of the checking behavior. ;-)
And there will be changes to adjust field usage and correct for last minute problems. If you have suggestions for better field use or to deal with a local problem. Tell me. I like suggestions. Recruit anyone in your club who will help.
Do NOT send any new schedule requests no matter how heartfelt or important. (Coach coordination, wedding day, problem with early games, etc.) You had an extra week but it’s too late now. Remember earlier next year. Refer to the league booklet for exceptions.
However, if you, your team, or your club gave me a request and I missed it or messed it up, *please* tell me. Emails vanish into cyberspace every so often and in fixing one problem I sometimes cause another. Don’t assume the mistake is unavoidable. (I’ll tell you if it is.)
If I manage 80% on general requests (prefer early/late) I am happy. Older teams wanting to play late will not be that happy. To use the morning field time, older teams have to play before noon.
Specific day requests should be correct. I know they can be quite important. I spend almost as much time on requests as on setting time and field for the games; and I want them to be as good as possible. Don’t suffer in silence if you think I made a mistake.
This season was difficult because of the number of games, some new clubs, some clubs with reduced field space. There are also many Metro league games which have to be set working with the non-WYSL teams. There will also be friendly games with the Hudson Valley teams. Those will be worked on next week.
The coach coordinations were down a bit (to 32% of the teams) but other requests were up. There are a record number of games. We have many teams playing in premier leagues of some sort.
There were more requests to accommodate other sports and we’ve decided that I will not accept specific day requests but will take "prefer early" or "prefer late" requests. I depend on the clubs to vet the requests made by the teams so that I can spend the time managing those that are truly important and not just a matter of convenience. As always, I’ll do the best I can, but sometimes it’s just impossible.
For teams with coach coordinations, I had to ignore many "pref after 2" "prefer early" requests. It’s hard enough to get your coach to the game without trying to adjust for when your team and your coach’s other team would like to play. Teams have to be ready to play. We have very little field space and too many requests to be so particular. This was a monster puzzle and that is part of the reason it is later than usual.
Often your coach will have barely enough time to leave immediately after the end of one game and arrive just before the start of the next (only half an hour or 45 minutes - within a town sometimes just 15). She or he will often not have time for a post game or pre-game talk. This is the best I can do.
I use Google Maps. If I haven’t allowed enough time to get from whistle to whistle, let me know. But be sure to check your googleMaps distance first. If you ask, I look again but I’m likely to say "sorry". In spring I have a bit more room.
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Please check for you team, see if all the games are there, check the fields, make sure all the teams are there too. (It’s happened.) Note any gaps or overlaps in the schedule. See if there are any singletons. Check your requests.
PREMIER Teams and clubs. Please be especially careful checking your Sunday schedule including any coach coordinations. The erratic nature of your schedule makes it tough for me to keep track. If I left out a premier Sunday game, TELL ME so I can get it on the schedule.
METRO teams, I assumed Sunday home games for WYSL teams. That is what I was told. Non-WYSL METRO teams, I put a few times into the schedule because the visiting coach has another team. In all cases, the Metro teams should work out their schedule, confirm with their opponent, and get any information to me.
Everyone, send your responses to me by email *as you see things*. Don’t wait. It’s a rolling correction process.
The final schedule will be done just before the league meeting on Tuesday March 27, and posted on the web late that night.
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Some divisions have 10 game schedules. Some have 9. The last week of the season has half the number of games. If you don’t have a game on June 17, it’s because you are playing a shorter schedule. Don’t drop that date!! You may need it for makeup games.
A couple of divisions have 6 or 8 game schedules and we will arrange friendlies with Hudson Valley teams to fill it out.
I list nearly 800 teams (including many playing some form of premier league). The schedule includes 3526 games including "byes" and premier games. There are 20 "TBS" games for teams in divisions with an odd number of players to make up for some of the byes. We have some 11 team divisions. So the TBS games ensure that every team plays every other.
The TBS games MUST be played during the season. They are not optional. Schedule them with your opponent like a make up game. Play them early in the season.
There are a couple of TBA games when neither team had enough field space for the game. If you can find a field, tell me. Get them scheduled and played sometime.
The number of home and away games is pretty balanced. But some clubs with tight field space have fewer home games. In a 9 game schedule you’ll have either 4 or 5 home games. I’m sorry that a few teams are short a home game or two.
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I will post a copy of this Preliminary Schedule on the web today or tomorrow as an excel spread. When finalized this schedule will be uploaded to the league website and will be available division by division or club by club.
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NOTE: Only you can properly check this schedule. Mistakes will cost you in lost time, disappointed kids, and annoyed parents. We need dozens of motivated eyes looking for mistakes. It takes a community to create and run a good soccer schedule.
Thanks for reading all the way to here and thanks for your help!
Terry Benson
WYSL Scheduler
terrybenson@nyc.rr.com
