As I said, the makeup of that 25 is what matters, not that it tops out at 25. I preface this with this is one IDEAL of a roster. It will not always be this and this is my opinion based on years of building club rosters....
5 Attack (X, crease, lefty and righty, with some combo of those. At least 2 lefties and 2 righties + Crease or X guy) 2 Goalies - whether they split or starter/backup you will always need 2 7 offensive middies. 2 full solid lines, plus 1 fill in (especially true if one of those is also a FO guy high scoring games, he WILL need a break) 3-4 SSDMs (this is a spot for lesser skilled O mids, but still good athletes. Also Ideal for FO Unit work - guys that can get your a GB and get it to your O - If you want to reduce roster size, this is a place to do it, but it will gas your mids if you are only running with 6-7 mids) 1-2 FO guys (flexibility here if you have a mid that also FO but solid, TRUE FOGOs rest your mids 2 LSMs 5 Defensemen
That's about 25, give or take depending on the makeup of talent and skills of your players.
You also have to assume some of the following: - 10-15% of your roster will be unavailable for one reason or another either full tourney, game-to-game or even in-game. That's 3-4 not available at any given time so you are really at 21 - you are playing 3-5 games a day/weekend at 50 minutes a pop that is plenty of playing time for all. - you should have 2 solid middie lines that basically split time. - the attack or defenseman who aren't in should be ready to ball on man-up or man-down. The D especially. Always nice to have fresh legs to go on man down. - this also gives you maximum matchup flexibility based on opponents/game outcomes. - this allows at least one player at each position to be a "developmental" player. A guy who isn't quite there yet, but will be soon. - One MAJOR thing left out: Practice: it is very hard to get everything done in practice when the roster is small to begin with and not everyone is there.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
Originally Posted by Anonymous
A roster of 25-27 is way too big. Many kids will not see the field ever or very limited. A team that big will have alot of backups.
Can see that and learned several have done same. Wasn't expecting such a jump but not surprised. Only a year commitment. Will see how year plays out.
Roster size by itself isn't indicative of the full picture. 25 is a good max though but it also depends on the makeup of the roster. You may have 27 kids on the sideline, but what is there participation? Are 3-4 guys there as practice/development players? Are they getting equal time? If every position is fully stacked and balanced than a team of 25 isn't too much and still leaves plenty of PT for everyone AND let's players rest over the course of a 4,5, 6+ game tournament.
Your math isn't very good. 25 on a team means about 10 minutes a game for middies at this age level. Or it means 15 minutes for the good middies and about 1 shift a half or less for the end of the bench. Same goes for attack and D. About 10 minutes of real play time for each player for kid or 20 minutes for the top 3 and about 5 minutes for the last 3. I hardly call that enough PT for everyone at these prices.
my kid plays on an express team w 25+ kids. Yes, it's a calamity at the tournaments. But, you don't pay 3-4K for tournaments only. The training and practices really helped him develop. Would i love to see him play all game every game? Yes, but i had that already when he played on a crappy team. To me, the bigger more important question is - how does he continue to improve? And he's doing so, so there is no complaint (yet).
