MVLA:

I have received several queries about when we will know our Fall practice schedules and how they will be allocated.  Here is an update that aggregates the answers and gives you all a general outlook.  I also introduce a new instrument called the Team Snapshot in the last section.

TIMING:

For Fall practices, timing of reservations will, as always, depend on when I get Fall permits.  Most summer reservations and permit end Fri Aug 15 (MV ends third week July, which means all MV fields have a dead period from then until mid Aug).  School starts week Aug 18, so most schools start their Fall permits then. 

The only fields for which I have late Aug permits (end of summer) is City LA Hillview and Grant, neither of which are suitable for elder teams. 

For all other field owners, they will host their field negotiation meetings amongst the various YSOs here in July and permits will be issued early to mid August. 

For LAHS, the permit will not be issued until end Aug or early Sept since they allow all the high school coaches to grab space and we get what is left over.

I will get Fall practice assignments out ASAP.  I need to have all your practice preferences, sooner the better. 

Historically, multi-team coaches/managers send me a consolidated request for all their teams. This makes it easier for me to know the interdependencies, but the more tightly constrained and specific the puzzle, the harder it is to get your whole block on the same field.  Bottom line, give me your request and I will do my best.

ALLOCATION:

All field assignments are made by me per the MVLA PIM for Field Priority Allocations, see that doc on the MVLA website on the Rules and Regulations page.  This document has been in place since 2006.  The Board in the July meeting made a couple changes to that document so I think the currently posted doc will soon be overwritten.  The changes are not substantive, though, so you can read the current version and get a feel for how things are done. 

I am currently working on creating my internal ranking list for all MVLA teams for Fall.  There will be only a few changes from Spring I expect.  This is not a public ranking nor is it intended for review by teams.  I will tell teams where they general rank on the list (top, middle, bottom in each class), but this is ONLY an internal guideline I use to justify my allocation of fields to the Board if necessary. 

The biggest complaint we get from teams about their practice assignments is the quality of their field.  I manage to hit almost every nail on the head when it comes to giving everyone their #1 choices in days and times, and even in scheduling large blocks of teams to not overlap or conflict.  But the killer is field preference. 

Realities are that...

1)  we have very few elite true soccer fields.  An elite soccer field is a turf field or extraordinarily excellent grass field actually usable for soccer games for which we have permitted time late in the afternoon or under lights.  For elders, we have LAHS (one late slot some weekdays) and Graham AWT (maybe one day a week).  For mid-age and youngers, we have Hillview and Grant.  For babies(small sided), we have various parks and irregular patches; getting Monte Loma as not a sure thing in Fall.
2)  we have slightly more elite elder teams than we have elite field capacity
3)  we have much more demand for elite fields (especially elders) from mid-ranked class1 and top-ranked class 3 teams teams than we have elite field capacity.
4)  every team, regardless of ranking, wants goals and/or rebounders on their field; we do not have enough equipment to satisfy this demand
5)  in Fall, we lose light quickly, further diminishing our practice times

The above realities result in disappointment when most teams see their field assignment.  Unfortunately, there is little I can do to ameliorate this situation.  Our communities do not advocate adding lights to fields, MVLA does not have the funds to convert grass to AWT, nor to buy goals and rebounders for every field, and MVLA teams like half a field for practice and like to train later and later in the day.  Things will not get better on field selection until MVLA drastically changes its conventions for team training, but I expect if we do, teams will complain even more for other reasons.  For example, in Santa Clara Sporting, teams are assigned three (or four for youngers) to a field on elite fields; younger teams get shorter time spans. But all clubs agree...the best grass fields MUST be rested (or altogether unused) from too much training usage else weekend game quality goes down. We MUST preserve our weekend grass game fields to retain MVLA's reputation.  It's an inconvenience to train on a bad field, but is it a real downer to play a game on a torn up field.

So here are some things to remember.  Explain them to your parents and players.  Make sure they understand how things work so their disappointment can turn into competitive motivation.

1)  no team, regardless of ranking, can assume that the Club will guarantee them goals or rebounders on their fields.  Therefore it is imperative that coaches and/or teams look at their own budgets and decide just how important it is to have a rebounder for their practice.  Buy one or two.  Find another MVLA team that trains on complementary days and share the cost.  I have gotten the field owners to be relatively liberal on equipment storage, so you don't have set up and tear down every day.

2)  our Constitution defines us as a competitive club.  Read the Constitution. Our competitive primal directive drives most of the decisions the Board makes.  Practice Field allocations are made in kind, with certain considerations for age, multi-coach requirements, and field condition. 

3)  The only way we can solidify competitive merit is to look at competitive results.  This necessitates a ranking of teams.  The more informed I am about the teams, the more informed the ranking.

4)  If you don't like your status, do something about it.

TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR RANKING:

The key here for teams is to be proactive.  Don't complain about your ranking, I generally won't listen since I base my rankings on my research of league sites, tourney sites, gotsoccer and NSR rankings, ODP pools, etc.  Instead of complaining, educate me as to why your team should be ranked higher than where I have pegged you.  Compare yourself specifically to other MVLA and local competitors teams as necessary. 

Where Team Managers can help their team is to make sure I know your recent past results in league, tourneys, even key friendlies, and into what tourneys your team will be in Fall.  What is your competitive outlook for league this Fall?  Who are your ODP players and how far have they gone so far?  Which players specifically (by name) are on the college soccer track and you are showcasing with coach visits, video, etc.?  Name dates and events.  Give me anything to show me how competitively good your team is.  If you rely on my own research, you run the risk of me missing something, though I spend hours on the Web following MVLA teams. 

I generally know very well who the top 5-7 teams are in the club; these are our "elite" teams based on their well published league, showcase, and ODP output.  These teams get the best allocation of resources per our constitutional directive to be a competitive club.  It is also pretty easy for me to know which lower-level teams are embryonic, have low-win seasons, struggle to have numbers, got relegated, have a history of forfeits, are in the lowest flights, do no tourneys.  The hard part comes in the middle of the ranking table, as you can imagine.  This is where Team Managers can help their teams by educating me or hurt their teams by not lifting a finger to educate me. 

Also, please keep in mind:   THIS IS NOT PERSONAL, nor is it a judgement on your team's quality, morale, mission, or purpose.  It is solely a quantitative and qualitative metric I use to rank teams and allocate resources.  This is why I give teams only general ranking info and only if they really have a problem with what they are getting.  And yes, sometimes the truth hurts.  But keeping things general is better.  You will appreciate this generality when I am mentioning your team's name to another MVLA manager asking the same kinds of questions you are.  The Board has oversight of any decisions I make, so you can trust they are keeping me clean in case any of you think I show undue preference or favors. 

NEW INSTRUMENT: TEAM SNAPSHOT

So here's a quick reminder list of info you can compile into a Team Snapshot to send me to augment whatever I have for your team already.  This Team Snapshot is completely optional and not required to get a field assignment from MVLA.  It will not hurt your standing to not turn it in except for the possibility that my research misses something advantageous to you in my ranking.

Team Snapshot components:
--Team name, age gender, manager and head coach
--number of players (a quick profile on your roster, key vets and key adds, can only help)
--Playing league results last Fall and Spring, include record, GF, GA, and any key head to head results.
--Tourney names and finishes since July 2007.  I will look up ranking of the tourneys.
--CYSA State/Assoc Cup or Norcal State Cup, or US Club regionals/national results in 2007-2008
--ODP/PDP/ID2 status in 2007 and 2008; include names, level attained and current status; let me know how many of your kids are ODP candidates for 2008-2009 and how far you expect them to go (be realistic)
--any college-track names and how/when you plan to showcase them; include any dates known for coach visits
--tourney plans and any acceptances rcvd thus far to tourneys in Fall and winter 2008
--District, State, Regional and National cup-type plans for CYSA, Norcal, USClub, etc. for the upcoming Fall/Winter.

I will tell you the following info only, if you ask:
--your general overall ranking (top, middle, bottom)
--which teams are currently ranked above you and a couple pieces of evidence as to why they are
--which teams are currently ranked at par or below you (I will NOT distinguish who is at par or who is below)
--any other constraints you face (coach timing requirements, age, location requirements, etc.)
--what data I have for you; you are free to add to your record (Team Snapshot) or ask me to correct an error (send me evidence to prove accuracy)

I will NOT tell you the following:
--specific numerical ranking order of teams
--Team Snapshots of other teams unless you are a credentialed Team Official on those teams (Nancy Ikeda our registrar will verify any Team Officials)

WHAT IF YOU STILL HAVE A COMPLAINT?
If you are still do not understand your assignment and have a complaint, we can escalate your concern to the Board. 

Thanks, Jeanine
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