5.0.1. District Tournaments. Each District may hold District or Area Tournaments in all ages Under-11 and older for all competition levels following regular Fall play and following South Texas Cup play. U18 and U19 competitions may be combined in the Fall and in the South Texas Cup in Spring. Under-10 may participate in Area and / or Member Association tournaments with standings kept and awards given. Under-6 and Under-8 may participate in Member Association sponsored events based upon participation with no results kept or awards given except for participation.
5.0.2. Awards. STYSA shall provide participation patches for all players and coaches in District Tournaments. Awards shall be provided for first and second places.
5.0.3. Format. All District Tournaments shall be round-robin format. Tournaments with more than one bracket shall consist of mini-games on Saturday with the regulation-length semi-final and final rounds on Sunday. The length of these mini-games shall be as follows:
Under-11, 12
.................. 25-minute halves
Under-13, 14
.................. 30-minute halves
Under-15, 16
.................. 30-minute halves
Under-17, 18, 19
............ 35-minute halves
District Tournaments with only one bracket of more than five (5) teams shall consist entirely of mini-games of the length specified above. All other District Tournaments with only one bracket shall play all games of regulation length. Regulation game times shall be:
Under-11, 12
................. 30-minute halves
Under-13, 14
................. 35-minute halves
Under-15, 16
................. 40-minute halves
Under-17, 18, 19
........... 45-minute halves
District Tournaments shall be a maximum of 16 teams in size, determined by the number of participating associations. Each Association participating shall have a minimum of one team and no more than three teams allocated for the tournament, unless necessary to fill the tournament brackets. The allocation of more than three teams per Association shall be at the discretion of the District Vice-President.
In instances where teams from two or more Member Associations play inter-association during the regular season, the allocation shall be made to the inter-association group.
5.1.1. Competition Level. STYSA shall sponsor State Tournaments for Division I (U11, U12 and U13 age groups only), Super II and Division II competitions in the Fall and the South Texas Cup, Director’s Cup, President’s Cup and US Youth Soccer National Championships State Cup in Spring. U18 and U19 competitions may be combined in the Fall and the South Texas Cup, Director’s Cup and President’s Cup Championships in Spring.
a. El Paso Does Not Send a Team. Eastern and Western District will send two representatives each with the following format: Saturday AM ED1 vs WD2
WD1 vs ED2
Saturday PM WD2 vs
ED2
ED1 vs WD1
Sunday
AM ED2 vs
ED1
WD1 vs
WD2
b. El Paso Sends a Team. In the event that El Paso chooses to send a team, the following format will be used:
Saturday
AM EP vs
WD1
WD2 vs
ED2
ED1 BYE
Saturday
PM ED2 vs
EP
ED1 vs
WD2
WD1 BYE
Sunday
AM EP vs
WD2
WD1 vs
ED1
ED2 BYE
Sunday
PM ED1 vs
EP
WD1 vs
ED2
WD2 BYE
(3) Schedule. If Eastern District hosts, then:
Saturday
AM EP vs
ED1
ED2 vs
WD2
WD1 BYE
Saturday
PM WD2 vs
EP
WD1 vs
ED2
ED1 BYE
Sunday
AM EP vs
ED2
ED1 vs
WD1
WD2 BYE
Sunday
PM WD1 vs
EP
ED1 vs
WD2
ED2 BYE
c. El Paso Commits, but does not Send a Team. When El Paso commits to send a team, but does not, the tournament games played to comply with 5.1.3.b.(1) will be considered the first tournament games. The playing schedule to be used in this event will be as follows:
Saturday PM ED1 vs WD2 WD1 vs ED2
Sunday
AM WD2 vs
ED2
ED1 vs
WD1
a. El Paso Does Not Send a Team. Eastern and Western District will send two representatives each with the following format:
Saturday ED1 vs WD2
WD1 vs ED2
Sunday WD2 vs ED2
ED1 vs WD1
Monday ED2 vs
ED1
WD1 vs
WD2
b. El Paso Sends a team.
(1) Western District hosts:
Saturday
AM ED2 vs
ED1
WD2 vs
WD1
EP bye
Saturday
PM ED1 vs
EP
WD1 vs
ED
WD2 bye
Sunday AM EP vs WD2
WD1 vs ED1
ED2 bye
Sunday PM EP vs WD1
ED2 vs WD2
ED1 bye
Monday PM ED2 vs EP
ED1 vs WD2
WD1 bye
(2) Eastern District hosts:
Saturday AM
Saturday PM
Sunday AM
Sunday PM
Monday AM
ED1 vs ED2 WD1 vs WD2 EP bye
WD1 vs EP WD2 vs ED1 ED2 bye
EP vs ED2 WD1 vs ED1 WD2 bye
EP vs ED1 WD2 vs ED2 WD1 bye
WD2 vs EP WD1 vs ED2 ED1 bye
5.2. PLAYOFF PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS Each team wishing to participate in any STYSA sponsored District or State Tournament must meet the following criteria:
5.2.1. Member Association in Good Standing. The STYSA Member Association with which the team is affiliated must be in good standing; it must have complied with all STYSA registration requirements and all of the Member Association’s STYSA fees must be paid.
5.2.2. Tournament Fees. STYSA may establish tournament fees for Fall District and State Tournaments at its February meeting. The tournament fees must be paid in full by a Member Association by the date established by the STYSA Perpetual Calendar for all participating teams or none of its teams will be allowed to participate.
5.2.3. Teams from Associations. On or before November 1 each year, each Member Association must advise the State Office in writing the number of team(s) per age group and competition level that their Association will enter in the current seasonal year’s fall championships.
5.2.4. Properly Registered Players. Each player on the team must be properly registered STYSA players and must meet the age requirements of the competition in which the team will be involved.
5.2.5. Registered Coach and Assistant Coach. Each coach or assistant coach must be registered with STYSA and must have a properly laminated STYSA coach identification card. In the absence of a team coach or assistant coach, a coaches card is not needed to participate in STYSA tournaments. All adult coaches and assistant coaches must also meet all requirements related to STYSA Kidsafe Program.
5.2.6. Division III Champion. No Division III team may participate in any future Division III Fall Championships if that team wins a Fall Championship and at least 50% + 1 of the players from the original roster are registered together as a Division III team. If the team registers as a Division II team the next year and no Division II league is available within a 100 mile radius, the team may play a regular season with the Division III league but will only be eligible for Division II playoffs.
5.3.1. Host Association Must Comply. Any Association that hosts any District or State Tournament must comply with the requirements in this section. Failure to comply with any of these requirements or the referee requirements may result in fines or sanctions being assessed by the Governing Board against the host Association.
This report shall be completed by the league administrator (based on information from the game cards) and shall be recorded on an official Penalty Point Report. This report shall be sent to the State Office, the appropriate home Association, and the team. At all STYSA USYSNC State Cups, the STYSA Appeals Committee shall maintain the penalty points for the duration of the tournament.
5.5. PROTESTS Protest Requirements. No protests will be allowed unless they are made known to the referee and opposing coach immediately after the game. The referee and opposing coach must be advised at this time as to the alleged basis for the protest. The coaches of both teams involved must remain on the site until resolution of the protest. Within thirty
(30) minutes, the protesting coach must provide the Tournament Appeals Committee Representative at the site with a written report stating the basis for the protest. The required protest fee will be $200 payable in cash, traveler’s check or money order in U.S. Currency.
5.6. SITES FOR FALL STATE TOURNAMENTS
| 5.6.1. | Even Seasonal Years (e.g. 2003-04) a. Eastern District Hosts Boys’ Teams b. Western District Hosts Girls’ Teams |
| 5.6.2. | Odd Seasonal Years (e.g. 2004-05) a. Eastern District Hosts Girls’ Teams b. Western District Hosts Boys’ Teams |
The State Cup for US Youth Soccer National Championships (USYSNC), President’s Cup, Director’s Cup and South Texas Cup shall each be held in one city on one weekend in accordance with the STYSA Perpetual Calendar as follows:
5.7.3. Each Member Association desiring to host the State Cup finals shall place a bid at the previous Summer STYSA Governing Board Meeting. The Governing Board shall select the city for such tournament.
5.8.1. Tournament Standings. All standings will be determined by points: 6 points for a win, 3 points for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. A point will be awarded for each goal up to three goals. A point will also be awarded for a shutout. A win by forfeit results in 10 points for the winning team (scored 3-0).
a. Round Robin Tie Breakers. If the teams are tied at the end of the Round Robin, the following progressive sequence will be used to determine final Round Robin standings:
Progress through the tie-breaking sequence only as long as all teams entering the sequence remain tied. Once the result at any step of the sequence is different for at least one team, standings shall be assigned using the results from that step. Should any teams remain tied within the assigned standings, repeat the progressive sequence starting at step (1) with only the tied teams.
b. Tie Breakers for Other than Round Robin Play. The game will be extended by two overtime periods as described below. If the match is still tied at the conclusion of the overtime periods, then the match will be decided by Kicks from the Penalty Mark. (See Section 5.8.2)
DIVISION OVERTIME PERIOD
U-11 & U-12 10
minutes
U-13 & U-14 10
minutes
U-15 & U-16 15
minutes
U-17, U-18 &
U-19 15 minutes
5.8.2. Kicks from the Penalty Mark. Games that remain tied at the end of overtime will be decided by the taking of kicks from the penalty mark using the procedure below. If kicks from the penalty mark are needed to break a tie in standings rather than to decide the winner of a game, the two teams will choose eleven (11) eligible players to participate as if a game had ended with those players on the field.
5.8.3. Forfeits. Any team which fails to play an officially scheduled game in District or State Competition shall be considered to have abandoned the tournament. Its games will not count to determine tournament standings nor shall they be considered in the standings as forfeits. The team is not eligible to receive awards nor shall it be considered in the tournament standings.
There shall be no appeal of the decision.
5.8.5. Failure to Complete the Tournament. Any team which enters a District or State Tournament, but fails to complete that tournament, may be subject to sanctions by STYSA and the Member Association to which that team belongs may be subject to fines by the STYSA Governing Board. Exceptions may be granted on a case- by-case basis by a formal vote of the STYSA Executive Committee at a normally scheduled meeting. Whether or not to consider such exceptions shall be solely at the discretion of the Executive Committee.
Last Updated: July 2007
TOURNAMENT SEEDING GUIDELINES
The following contains examples of team allocations to a 16 team tournament as well as seeding guidelines. Whenever possible, all STYSA tournaments should be seeded mathematically first and then re-seeded using some
desirable common-sense requirements. This re-seeding should disturb the mathematical seeding only enough to accomplish the common sense requirements and no more. The mathematical seeding is demonstrated by the following formula: CAYSA 1 represents (147 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 5.58 CAYSA 2 represents * (147 * .75) or (110 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 4.19 CAYSA 3 represents (147 * .50) or (73.5 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 2.79 CAYSA 4 represents (147 * .25) or (36.8 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 1.39 NEYSO 1 represents (48 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 1.82 NEYSO 2 represents (48 * .50) or (24 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of .912 NYSL 1 represents (22 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of .836 SAYSO 1 represents (32 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 1.22 MIDCIT 1 represents (34 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 1.29 EPYSA 1 represents (27 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 1.03 SASA 1 represents (22 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of .836 CBYSA 1 represents (75 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 2.85 CBYSA 2 represents ( 75 * .67) or (50.25 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of 1.90 CBYSA 3 represents (75 * .33) or (24.75 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of .940 LYSA 1 represents (8 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of .304 UVALDE represents (6 teams * 16 / 421) for a ratio of .228
(Number of teams in tournament * Number of teams for association) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------= Divided by total teams desiring to participate in tournament
For example, if a 16 team Under-12 boys tournament is to be held, CAYSA has 147 Under-12 boys teams and the total number of Under-12 boys teams in the Western District wishing to participate in the tournament is 421,then CAYSA’s ratio is:
Although this means CAYSA would be entitled to 5.58 slots in a 16 team tournament, no association should normally have more than 5 teams in any tournament; however, this ratio is used to seed as well as calculate allocations of sport for any tournament. Once the number of allocations to a tournament is determined, the following is used to actually seed the tournament: Under-12 Boys Tournament – 16 teams
Obviously each association, regardless of ration, gets at least one team. On this basis, the final mathematical tournament seeding looks like this.
| Team 1 | CAYSA 1 | 5.580 |
| Team 2 | CAYSA 2 | 4.190 |
| Team 3 | CBYSA 1 | 2.850 |
| Team 4 | CAYSA 3 | 2.790 |
| Team 5 | CBYSA 2 | 1.900 |
| Team 6 | NEYSO 1 | 1.820 |
| Team 7 | CAYSA 4 | 1.390 |
| Team 8 | MCYSA 1 | 1.290 |
| Team 9 | SAYSO 1 | 1.220 |
| Team 10 | EPYSA 1 | 1.030 |
| Team 11 | CBYSA 3 | 0.940 |
| Team 12 | NEYSO 2 | 0.912 |
| Team 13 | NYSL 1 | 0.836 |
| Team 14 | SASA 1 | 0.836 |
| Team 15 | LYSA 1 | 0.304 |
| Team 16 | UYSA 1 | 0.228 |
Using a standard 16-team pairing format, the mathematical tournament would look as follows:
Team 1 – CAYSA 1 Team 5 – CBYSA 2 Team 12 – NEYSO 2 Team 16 – UYSA 1
Team 3 – CBYSA 1 Team 7 – CAYSA 4 Team 10 – EPYSA 1 Team 14 – SASA 1
Team 2 – CAYSA 2 Team 6 – NEYSO 1 Team 11 – CBYSA 2 Team 15 – LYSA 1
Team 4 – CAYSA 3 Team 8 – MCYSA 1 Team 9 – SAYSO 1 Team 13 – NYSL 1
From this point forward, the common-sense and primary goal factors determine movement within the seeding. The primary goal of any tournament is to determine the best teams in the tournament.
If you allow a seeding which has the potential of pairing the best teams in the tournament in the same bracket or pair of brackets or of eliminating one of two teams from the same association in the round robin, you are failing to meet this primary goal.
Where possible, the tournament should be set up so as not to allow one team from an Association to eliminate other teams from the same Association until semi or final rounds. It will be surprising how often the mathematical formula above will result in a properly seeded tournament with no further adjustment.
This seeding as it stands mathematically is perfectly compatible with the primary goal and common-sense factors mentioned above.
Some seeding reassignments are purely subjective in nature and are based on the fact that, despite a low numerical seed, a particular team is known to be very strong (possibly as a result of the prior year’s performance by that team). As long as the above goals are accommodated, the actual numeric seed value becomes unimportant once the brackets are determined.
With that in mind, the tournament could look as follows:
Team 1 – CAYSA 1 Team 5 – CBYSA 3 Team 12 – NEYSO 2 Team 16 – UYSA 1
Team 3 – CBYSA 2 Team 7 – EPYSA 1 Team 10 – SAYSO 1 Team 14 – CAYSA 4
Team 2 – CBYSA 1 Team 6 – NEYSO 1 Team 11 – CBYSA 3 Team 15 – LYSA 1
Team 4 – CAYSA 2 Team 8 – SASA 1 Team 9 – MCYSA 1 Team 13 – NYSL 1
This would assume that the USYA 1 team and EPYSA 1 team were core teams that had performed very well the previous year and therefore were probably two of the stronger teams in the tournament despite their low mathematical seed.
It further assumes that, while mathematically the CAYSA 4 teams should be highly seeded, in actuality CAYSA 4 was a young team that was not the same caliber as the other three CAYSA teams. The shifts in seed are to accommodate the primary goal of not having the stronger teams eliminate one another in the round robin.