Is your rec league sport separated into A/B/C teams?

[Anonymous]

We are in a recreational league sport (2nd grade!!) and it’s already being separated by skill level. I’m a little frustrated with this for many reasons. There’s also multiple select club teams at this age people are playing in so the option is there for that. The recreational league has always been organized by schools in our area so you tend to be with friends. I’ve preferred this format with my two older children who do play club for the same sport. I think there’s so much wrong with this at this young age, especially because the rec program is a feeder to the select program and managed by the same person. None of these kids are going to the NBA. Why do this so early!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a recreational league sport (2nd grade!!) and it’s already being separated by skill level. I’m a little frustrated with this for many reasons. There’s also multiple select club teams at this age people are playing in so the option is there for that. The recreational league has always been organized by schools in our area so you tend to be with friends. I’ve preferred this format with my two older children who do play club for the same sport. I think there’s so much wrong with this at this young age, especially because the rec program is a feeder to the select program and managed by the same person. None of these kids are going to the NBA. Why do this so early!!

So that the coaches and club managers can keep their bank accounts filled year-round. If the kids stop playing then the bank accounts start drying up.

Though if a league/club has enough teams and players to do that kind of thing it is kind of a good thing. For girls sometimes clubs only have one team for two years. It also helps find competition. Often times when teams have different skill levels it can be hard to place them in leagues or tournaments. You go to a tournament and end up playing fifth graders and third graders or something and losing like 60 to zero. Though, if you're stuck in one of the lower rated teams it can kind of suck. It's your sign to find something else to do, if you don't quickly move through the ranks. IMO there you shouldn't be paying to fund travel for the elite teams for example. Many of the programs do that use the funds from the lower teams to pay the elite teams' travel or at least subsidize the coaching staff who focus more on their better players. Players who have had parents that were in D1 programs in college or something.

[Anonymous]

Which rec league has enough kids at one age level to separate them into skill levels? I assume the games are scheduled within the same league since other leagues won't have the same set up.

For rec league baseball in our area we divided the younger teams based on schools and the older teams based on a draft, which I believe is standard for little league. For basketball and soccer our rec league allowed players to request their coaches, allowing the returning coaches to build up teams while the new coaches were left with the players brand new to the sport.

[Anonymous]

Lacrosse once you hit third grade is like this. My third grader has an "assessment" tomorrow morning in fact for rec lacrosse that is required. It's supposed to be in the 20s...