Clarification to Age Group Commissioners (AGC) of MYB Rules and Policies
Regarding Coaching, Player Evaluation, Drafts and Interaction with Referees
1. Can a volunteer who has agreed to be a head coach request another volunteer be assigned as their assistant coach?
MYB policy is that prior to the draft there will be no assignment of co-coaches or assistant coaches.
Exceptions:
(a) a high school coach can arrange in advance for one or more of his friends to assist as co-coaches or assistant coaches as long as no more than one of the coaches on the team has a sibling in the league;
(b) an adult coach with a child/player in the league may request another adult be assigned as assistant coach or co-coach as long as the other adult does not have a child/player in the league;
(c) the AGC may make an exception to this rule and allow the assignment of an assistant coach if this is the only way to recruit enough coaches for the league (if there enough additional coaches available and willing to coach in the league then this exception may not be allowed) and the Chief Commissioner of the House League (Chief Commissioner) must approve the coach assignment prior to the draft.
2. Can more than one player be assigned to a team prior to the draft?
MYB policy is that only one player may be assigned to a team prior to the draft. MYB does not make exceptions for siblings, players that carpool together, go to school together, etc.
The overriding principal governing all actions/decisions regarding the allocation of players in the draft must be a fair and even distribution of players so that all teams have the opportunity to be competitive within the league.
Exceptions:
The only exception to assigning more than one player to a team prior to the draft is in situation 1 (c) above were the AGC has allowed the assignment of an assistant or co-coach and both coaches have a child/player in the league. This may only be allowed if: (a) one or both of the assigned players is ranked as a fifth round pick or lower and the AGC believes this evaluation is accurate, and (2) the Chief Commissioner has approved the allocation of more than one player in advance of the draft.
3. What should the AGC do with the list of volunteers who have signed up to be an assistant coach but will not be a head coach?
Prior to the start of the draft the AGC should make the list of potential volunteers available to all of the head coaches. The purpose is not to allow head coaches to pick an assistant but to make them aware of volunteers who may be will to assist if their child/player is selected for the team. Any coach that would like an assistant coach may draft the child/player associated with one of these volunteers and then talk to the volunteer about helping out on the team.
The head coach that drafts the child/player of one of the volunteers on this list is not obligated to use that volunteer as an assistant coach.
Coaches are free, even encouraged, to recruit an assistant coach after the draft has been completed (this can be a parent of one of the players drafted onto the team or any other adult or high school student that is willing to be an assistant coach).
Head coaches must inform the AGC of anyone who has agreed to be an assistant or co-coach and all coaches, co-coaches and assistant coaches must register as a coach through the league’s online registration system.
The only exception is as already discussed in 1(c) above.
4. What if Coaches are available only available for Saturday or Sunday games during the regular season?
Due to the availability of gyms and the large number of teams in McLean Youth Basketball we cannot guarantee that all of the team’s games will be on either Saturday or Sunday. It is likely that most leagues will have both Saturday and Sunday games.
Because of the total number of teams involved in all leagues (over 200 teams in grades 4-8 House League alone) and the complexity of generating a schedule for all of these teams, the schedule for all House League teams will be made without regard to the potential conflicts of any one player or coach. Games will be played as scheduled and neither Coaches, AGCs or Chief Commissioners have the authority to change the schedule.
If a head coach is likely to have conflicts (Saturday or Sunday) with scheduled games it is strongly advised that the head coach, after the draft, recruits an assistant coach or a parent of one of the team’s drafted players to be available to replace the head coach, if necessary, during scheduled games.
5. What if Coaches are only available to run practice one night a week?
MYB policy is that coaches, at a minimum, must be available to run practices for at least two days during the week.
Each league will be assigned a random group of practices, generally with 1-2 practice slots per night of the week. These practice slots will usually be 5:00-6:30 PM, 6:30-8:00 PM and 8:00-9:30 PM. Each league will only have a few practice slots in each time frame and for each day of the week. Flexibility of coaches in terms of when they are available both with respect to the day of the week and the time within those days is critical for every league.
AGCs should contact all potential coaches well in advance of the draft to discuss availability and potential conflicts.
Practice times are assigned prior to the draft by random draw or all practices can be assigned by the AGC after taking into consideration every coach’s conflicts and practice night preferences. If the practice times are assigned by random draw then the AGC may give preference to coaches who have assisted in the evaluation of players or other league administrative tasks.
6. How do we deal with player conflicts, both for weekday practices and weekend games?
MYB policy is that all players must be available at least two days during the week for practice.
One of the best ways to ensure a fair draft is to get accurate player practice time conflict information prior to the draft. While conflict information is provided when players register for the league this information can be out of date (supplied in September and conflicts change by November/December), incomplete or may not have been provided at all.
AGCs should require that all players provided updated and accurate conflict information (including not just days with conflicts but specific times of conflict during that day) prior to participating in an evaluation. This can be accomplished by emailing all parents prior to the evaluations with a conflict form to be completed and brought with the player to the evaluation or the same form can be provided at the evaluation session and completed before the player is admitted to the evaluation. AGCs should have a volunteer at every evaluation session ensuring that this conflict form was completed before the player is admitted. The volunteer could also verify the player is registered and paid and remind all players that they must have registered prior to the draft.
Like coaches, player conflicts will not be taken into consideration when creating the regular season game schedule. Players and their parents need to understand that games may be scheduled on both Saturdays and Sundays. If a player has a conflict with playing on either Saturday or Sunday this information should be provide at the evaluation and then provided to coaches at the draft for consideration when drafting the player.
7. How do we improve the quality of information given to coaches prior to the draft?
MYB policy is that all players must attend an evaluation session and register online to be included in the draft.
Exceptions:
(a) Players that are injured at the time of the evaluations but will be available to play during the season and the AGC has a basis for rating the player without an evaluation;
(b) Players that informed the AGC in advance that they could not attend the evaluations but the AGC was able to gather sufficient information (from last year’s evaluations, from coaches or from personal knowledge) to fairly rate the player.
All Coaches will be provided with the information generated by this year’s evaluation session. Coaches need to understand the information will be based on a 45-60 minute evaluation and will give guidance and direction in judging player ability but is still limited information based on a short evaluation session.
AGCs will provide coaches information from the prior year’s evaluation session to the extant the information is available. AGCs should also provide the coaches with a list of all players that were all-stars and/or the Player of the Year in last year’s league.
AGCs will provide an evaluation of all players included in the draft that did not complete an evaluation session, an explanation as to why they were included and the nature of a player’s injury if that is the reason they did not attend an evaluation.
8. How do we deal with players that have intentionally underperformed at the evaluation session to evade a fair evaluation in the draft?
While this is not a major problem it does occur from time to time. If an AGC has reason to believe a player has intentionally underperformed at an evaluation session he may: (1) change the player’s rating based on last year’s evaluation, personal knowledge or coaches’ prior knowledge, (2) indicate to coaches prior to the draft that you believe the player underperformed at the evaluation and let coaches take that into consideration at the draft; or (3) after consulting and approval of the Chief Commissioner and only with reasonable proof of the infraction, remove the player from the draft (only in extreme cases).
If the AGC has reason to believe that any coach has participated in encouraging a player to intentionally underperform at the evaluation session he should make the Chief Commissioner aware of the situation and, subject to review under the MYB Code of Conduct, the coach may be subject to permanent ban from the league.
9. How do we improve the evaluation of players?
The key to competitive league every year is the quality of information coaches have on all of the players in the draft. This year, in all House Leagues, we will be providing coaches an evaluation form for all of their players and asking them to rate they players prior to the end of the year. Evaluation of players in a true game situation will provide better information for next year’s draft.
10. How do we deal with players joining the league at the last minute?
MYB’s policy is that we will guarantee a position on a team for any player that has registered prior to the draft and participated in one of the league’s evaluation sessions.
AGCs should make reasonable efforts to evaluate players that notify the AGC in advance that they cannot attend an evaluation session. Other than injury prohibiting the player from participating in an evaluation, this is best efforts requirement only and the AGC does not have to go out of their way to accommodate players that cannot attend an evaluation session.
Players that have not registered and/or not completed an evaluation (other than the exceptions provided in 7 (a) and 7 (b) above) should not be included in the draft and are not guaranteed that a position on a team will be available to them this year.
Players excluded from the draft or signing up after the draft will be put on a waiting list and will be placed on a team at the AGCs discretion. The AGC may not place a player on a team without evaluating the player (make the player attend a practice session of the AGC’s team or another coach’s team at the AGCs convenience) and must ensure that the placement of the player on a team will not disrupt the competitive balance of the teams within the league.
11. How do we expect coaches, players and fans to interact with referees?
A major component of MYB is our referee program which is comprised primarily of student referees (age 12 and above). This program is important to MYB because the referee program is very effective in teaching these kids about leadership, sportsmanship and appropriate behavior in high pressure situations.
We make every effort to ensure the referees in our program are as well trained as possible but many of them are young kids, it may only be the first or second year that they have been referees and they will make mistakes. Just like coaches and players will make mistakes no matter how much they practice and no matter how long they have been playing the game.
In MYB, the head coaches are responsible for the behavior of their assistant coaches, players and fans. They are particularly responsible for their behavior and interaction with referees.
Excessive yelling or demonstrative behavior questioning referees rulings will not be tolerated. Coaches need to emphasize to their teams that only the head coach should talk to the referees and players need interact in a courteous and respectful manner toward referees.
Coaches should talk with referees during time outs, time between quarters or half time and work with the referees if they think specific issues need to be addressed during the game (i.e., calling more fouls). There is no reason why a coach cannot ask the referee a reasonable question and expect a reasonable response. Coaches need to understand, however, that yelling at young referees will not likely result in them calling more fouls are getting more control of a game but they are more likely to react by swallowing their whistle and calling nothing.
If coaches believe referees are not calling a good game or need additional training/guidance to ref their league they should notify their AGC. The AGC will contact the referee coordinator who will work with the referee.
It is MYB’s belief that coaches have the greatest impact on the control of a game. A coach who works with the referees, who teaches their team to respect the referees and who makes their fans responsible for their behavior will have far more impact on the temperament of the game than any referee.
