Who has heard of NVYLL? for those who have not, it is a rec league in Northern Virginia. It is where virtually every HoCo players who lives in Virginia got their start, and the majority of Virginia HoCo players continue to play both rec and travel for their entire youth career. Compared to HoCo the quality of rec play is very uneven, but the league is extremely well run. There are two features of this league worth mentioning here:
First, it is age based, but the brackets are two years, so players routinely go against opponents a year apart, and up to two years apart. They have A and B divisions, so that student 12 year old's are not feeding on weak 11 year old's. But if a player in the younger half of the age bracket is chosen for an A team and accepts the roster spot (they always do), then he will be playing with and against kids 1 to 2 years older. So the parents on this Board who complain about holdbacks should think about that - if your on age player does not have the size or desire (or ability) to compete against kids a year older, just play in a lower division; nobody is forcing him to play in HoCo elite. Great players a year apart (up to two years) in age have been competing against each other in rec forever and it is not an issue.
Second, before every NVYLL game the head coaches exchange rosters. Failure to do so is an automatic forfeit, and coaches take it seriously and hand them over without any BS. The exchange roster has every player's name and jersey number. Plus, every coach is required to carry in his/her bag a more detailed roster that contains more info, including birth dates and home address (because teams are based on residence) and must show it on request. If one team finds out that another has an illegal player and turns them in, it is dealt with swiftly and fairly. (meaning that the offending team is very sorry). Why not have that rule in HoCo and in travel tournaments?
Good point. If parents feel that strongly about their kid playing against older boys, they can always play in a lower division where there aren’t as many holdbacks.
