Skill Based Division of Talent in Recreational Youth Leagues

By Ken Kaiserman

Participation in youth sports serves many needs also teaches great life lessons. Nobody can argue the benefits of participation: making new friends, learning to play as a team, developing coordination also fundamental athletic skills, exercise, sportsmanship, winning, losing, performing under pressure also so much more. However, what is the best way to set up a league that will be best for the kids so that they can all garner these lessons? This month, I’ll let you know why I feel a skill based allocation of players will be beneficial to the largest number of kids rather than the traditional method using age or grade.

League Philosophy – There are a number of formats for dividing kids into divisions. The main distinction most try to make has been between “Recreational” leagues also “Competitive” leagues. In recreational leagues, kids don’t have to tryout in order to get a place on the team also kids must all get playing time. In some leagues, the requirement is equal playing time. On Elite teams, often called “travel” teams because they travel also play other top teams from all over in tournaments, the competition, skill level also pressure can be high. Travel teams practice several times a week also often spend weekends far from home competing. Kids may or may not play in any game also the starters may get far more playing time. In contrast, recreational leagues are generally local community based leagues with all the kids from the area. Kids often go to school together also are friends. They practice less, play fewer games also put the focus squarely on “fun” instead of simply “competition”. There are certainly advantages to each format depending on the child. However, it is my belief that recreational leagues can achieve the best results for all kids involved also provide a superior experience for everybody simply by creating skill based divisions of talent instead of lumping everybody into one group.

Benefits of Skill Based Division – The concept behind providing players with an appropriate level of competition is to keep advanced players developing also interested in the game also to give less advanced players an environment in which to shine also feel like they’re contributing. In our PC world of today, everybody has a hard time acknowledging that kids are different however we need to admit that kids have different skill levels also they all develop at different paces. We or else need to admit that kids also parents like to compete to win also even to lose. So, given these facts, here are some ways that all the kids benefit from a skill based division:

1.More Skilled Players Compete Against Each Other. Having more skilled competition helps everybody improve. The top kids in this division will be forced to develop their skills also bring them to a new level. The lower kids in this group will be forced to keep up thereby enhancing their development. Coaches or else will have a chance to work on more sophisticated elements of the game including the “inner game” which will help everybody to improve. When the skill level of kids is too wide, the top kids or the bottom kids will suffer because they are not being taught what they need to learn. Games will be faster, more enjoyable for players, coaches also fans, also be at a higher level. This simply makes the game also the league more fun for everybody involved.

2.Less Skilled Players Compete Against kids of similar skills. This does so much for these kids because it will be a better learning experience. First, there is simply going to be more opportunity. Instead of being the bottom half of a better team, these kids are now in the top half also have a chance to play more skill positions. This enhances their development as players also makes the game much more fun also interesting. Since all kids grow at different speeds, it or else gives them a chance to develop their skills also catch up more quickly since they’ll have more opportunity to play. Next, coaches can focus on fundamental skills without ignoring the top end of the spectrum. The games are better because all the kids are better balanced also the competition is equal. This makes it more fun for the kids, parents also coaches.

3.Playoffs are more gratifying also easier to set up. The competition is divided already into skill levels which should mean smaller groups. This makes having double elimination tournaments also other playoff formats easier to accomplish also or else more meaningful.

4.Kids make new friends – broadening the community. Since it is likely that skill levels can bring multiple age groups together, kids will be teamed with kids that may not be in their social circle. This means that they make new friends, parents meet new people also since so much of our social interaction revolves around the kids’ activities, the community because a better place to live.

5.Leagues can use different skill appropriate rules. For example, in baseball, there can be several levels of kid pitch baseball with different rules appropriate to the various skill levels in order to allow for the development of kids. Adjusting strike zones, ability to steal different bases, leading off, walks, strikes, using a tee and/or having a coach/machine pitch in different situations, can make the experience better for everybody involved.

This isn't a New Concept – Lots of leagues all across the country already allow for skill based division of talent also blurring of hard age/grade lines. Pop Warner, for example, uses weight limitations also groupings to help divide kids for football. When baseball leagues are large enough they can separate the minors division into A, AA also AAA levels. Some leagues have been hesitant because they point to potential issues: 1) dividing kids when skills are often similar; 2) friends may not be able to play together; 3) some kids may end up in the wrong division; 4) some kids may feel badly if they don’t make a certain level; and, 5) dealing with parents who think their child should be in a different division. However, while these are valid concerns, other leagues have overcome these obstacles by: 1) have tryouts also drafting the players – not a perfect solution however easy to implement also answer criticism; 2) just accept this also allow kids to make new friends;

3) no matter what system, it’s possible for kids to be in the wrong division so try to be flexible also allow for movement and/or simply understand that while some kids may be in the wrong division they will still have a positive experience; 4) explain to parents that this is simply where their child was drafted – something that takes place already in almost every league that has more than one division. What I’m arguing for is to make as many different divisions as appropriate to the number also skill levels of the kids. Even leagues that currently create divisions based on skill may want to reevaluate to determine if they might be even better off making another division. Leagues that divide kids simply by age and/or grade should completely redo their program to allow for skill based divisions.

The Deficiencies of Age Division – Any division of kids by age is purely arbitrary also very unfair to the children. If kids are classified in a single 12-month period, the oldest kids are going to be a full year older than the youngest kids. This situation is exacerbated when the age division is a 24 month period. AYSO also Little League had an arbitrary cut off date of July 31 (Little League is moving to April 30) also many other leagues use calendar years. However the arbitrary cut off date is determined, it creates significant effects on the kids. In a recent article published in the Journal of Sports Sciences, June 2005, the impact of age division were studied by Werner F. Helson, Jan Van Winckel (Department of Kinesiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium) also A. Mark Williams (Research Institute for Sport also Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Morres University, Liverpool, UK) in their article “The Relative Age Effect in Youth Soccer Across Europe”. This article studies over 2,000 boys also girls playing youth soccer across tenEuropean nations. The results demonstrated a statistically significant overrepresentation of older children across all subsections studied.

As pointed out in this article, “as children are separated into age groups there are invariably cognitive, physical also emotional differences between the youngest also the oldest ones”. While a year doesn’t mean much in the life of an adult, for children there is. “Significant variation in academic also sports performance may arise because of differences in growth also development between those born early also late in the selection year”. The effect is that “A child born at the beginning of the year will, on average, perform better than a peer born at the end of the year. This initial performance advantage is likely to increase intrinsic (observed competence) also extrinsic (appreciation of teachers also parents) motivation to continue involvement in a sport. This increased motivation, coupled with greater perceived competence, will encourage those born early in the selection year to continue to practice to further improve also refine their skills compared with those born later in the year.” Because success breeds success, “Youth players born early in the selection year, beginning in the 6- to 8-year-old age group are more likely to be identified as talented by professional teams, to play for national teams and, eventually, to become involved in the sport as a professional. In comparison, players born late in the selection year are more likely to drop out of the sport as early as 12 years of age” (Feltz & Petlichkoff, 1983; Helsen, Starkes, & Hodges, 1998).

The obvious reason why this takes place follows: “To explain these findings, researchers have shown that players with a relative age advantage over their playing peers possess significant developmental advantages (i.e. height, weight also strength) that impact on perceived potential also predicted success in sport. Given the importance of these early experiences for the development of sport skills, strong relative age effects in professional players might be a consequence of the early onset of these effects in the youth age categories.”

Conclusion – Since it is impossible to simply correct arbitrarily created age differences without randomly changing the age cut off from year to year, we have to acknowledge that an attempt to be “fair” by grouping children by age creates exactly the opposite effect: a system where the oldest children have a huge advantage also are far more likely to succeed. Especially in recreational leagues, where the goal is to have fun also create enjoyable, long lasting life experiences, the better you group the kids, the more likely it is that you will succeed in running a fun also competitive league that allows for the development of all the participants also promises not only to positively include the most kids. The result may help them to continue participating in an activity they love which can best be achieved by grouping kids into smaller divisions based on skill rather than age.

About the author:
Ken Kaiserman is the president of http://www.sportskids.com, a leading youth sports website featuring games, sports news, sports camp also league directories, community features, also the Kid Sports Superstore with over 150,000 products.

Ken coaches youth football, basketball also baseball. He or else serves on the local little league board of directors as well as the Park Advisory Board.


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