NOYSC Division IV Teams

Division IV or recreational soccer is where 80-90% of our members play.  Skills are developed and the play is spirited, but the emphasis is primarily on participation and fun.  Division IV games for U6 and U8 age groups only against other NOYSC teams.  For the higher ages some games are played between NOYSC teams, but often they are played with teams from the other SRYSL clubs also.  There are no additional costs to Division IV games beyond registration fees, with the exception of the annual Santa Rosa-wide City Cup tournament that teams may choose to enter each October.

New Team Formation Guidelines

We’ve had some really awesome recreational soccer teams in recent years at Northwest Oaks.  Too good, actually.  The real problem is that we’ve had some teams that were just too good for their competition.  This has resulted in some very lopsided games and season standings.  While this is a lot of fun for the winning team, it can be downright disheartening for the teams on the losing end.  And after all, we all need to learn to win and lose graciously.  So, based in part on input from club parents, we’re adopting some new guidelines for the formation of our recreational teams this year to try to address this issue. We have decided to follow the lead of the other SRYSL clubs and form teams as evenly as possible based on skill level alone.  This means that in U10 and older age groups, we will no longer be considering requests to play with friends, carpool mates, etc.  It does not mean that kids won’t be assigned to teams with their friends…it just means that they cannot request to play together.  We hope that this results in an overall better balance in the skill level of our Division 4 teams and greater parity within our club’s teams.  We appreciate your support as we implement this change in 2006, and welcome your observations and feedback after we see how this season works out.