Spring Program:
In our spring program, which is “Area 11L” (South County) play for U8 and up, we allow coaches/teams from fall to continue to spring. However, recruiting of players from other fall teams is discouraged! To complete rosters, the spring coordinator will merge fall teams, and add players to round out rosters. Balanced Teams is accomplished through “Flighting,” meaning teams are assigned to competitive brackets of similar ability, re-flighted at midseason to correct any irregularities, and re-flighted once again for the Spring Tourney.
Also, Region 889 has the highest spring participation in Area 11L (South Orange County) every year because we try to place all kids, rather than run a “Spring Select” program that many regions do where only the stronger players are encouraged to continue on more competitive teams. Thus, we have made a decision to be inclusive of all players in our region, and although flighting is used, we do need to distribute players of varying ability to some extent in order to remain competitive, and hence why recruiting is discouraged.