Scroll to Scheduler’s Notes (below) to see the document sent at the beginning of the season with general comments about the schedule.

  WYSL Field contacts, Guest teams, and officials,
         Preliminary Master Field Schedule for
Westchester Youth Soccer League Fall 2008 season.
     PRELIMINARY!! PRELIMINARY!!  Not final!!

In simple terms...

Anyone who downloads this schedule should check it for everything they can and tell the scheduler about any problems by email (terrybenson@nyc.rr.com) within 5 days (i.e. by Wednesday the 27th). This is a massive proof reading job which is best done by an army of organizers each checking what they know best. I am sure I have made a couple of dozen mistakes. You are needed to catch them.

Please read this email completely. If you have a question, check this email again before emailing me. (A little computer trick: use the search function to find the topic.) You are the final QC inspector.

Reminder: this is the PRELIMINARY schedule. Emphasize that to your teams, families, and coaches. Typically there are 100-200 changes between the Prelim and the final. DO NOT make any plans based on this schedule and we do not entertain any comments, questions, or criticism because something changed between prelim and final (unless it’s a mistake in which case you get praise ;-)). We correct this schedule to produce a clean Final Master Field Schedule for the season. This is a picky, difficult job ideal for detail oriented folks. Finding all the mistakes now will save hours for you, me and your teams this season. 

Click here to download the Preliminary Master Field Schedule for Fall 2008. There may be more changes but this is the fourth (and probably last) revision of the Prelim posted on August 21st and sent to the clubs. 

{September 3rd note: I have delinked the Preliminary Schedule so as not to confuse anyone. If you want to see the Prelim, please email the scheduler to get a copy. As of now clubs and teams should be checking the Final Master Field schedule for any errors. TB}

Nearly 40% of all games have some scheduling "issue" so the bad news is that there are probably a lot of little errors in this schedule.  It was very difficult to manage the field restrictions and team requests this season. There are many new fields which helps but more teams and more requests which didn’t.

If you have trouble opening the attached schedule, it will be posted shortly as a downloadable excel file on the website. Note that from an excel file you can generate a field list or a schedule for your club ordered however you like by using the "Sort" feature of Excel.

ALL communication with me about the schedule (now and during the season) must be sent to: terrybenson@nyc.rr.com. It’s the only address to use if you want to reach me. Do not call. All schedule issues which do not involve Sunday games i.e. all the make up games, non-Sunday state cup games, etc. go to Lee D’Argenio at the league office. It’s a good idea to copy both Lee and I on any schedule questions.

Now the long email...

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Stats

The seeding process this year was pretty smooth and so far there have been no last minute teams in or out. However, next year we should move up the whole process so the end is a less hectic.

By my count, there are 60 divisions, 5 of which have an odd number of teams.  One special 5, two 9s and two 11s.  The odd divisions require  24 "TBS" games. These games are added to the divisions with an odd number of teams to make up for the byes. (See more below about TBS games.) 

We have only 14 "six team" divisions - a perfect double round robin 10 game season if we have no rainouts. There are 23 "ten team" divisions and 2 "nine team" divisions and these divisions play a NINE game schedule. (In the case of the 9’s that includes byes and one team in each 9 team division unavoidably plays 10 games.) There are 18 "eight team" divisions.  (They have a 10 game season.) And we have 2 "eleven team" divisions who play a 10 game schedule including tbs games (so that they play all 10 opponents).

Any team in a division with 10 or 9 teams will have only NINE scheduled games. So sometimes a team will have four home games and sometimes five. These divisions will NOT PLAY on November 16. Please tell your teams.

The WYSL has grown tremendously. Last fall we had 444 WYSL league teams including two guests and 2143 games. This fall we have 2443 games and 503 teams playing in the WYSL divisions.  That’s a
14% increase.  We are also bigger geographically than last fall and that presents some special problems.

150 teams have some kind of scheduling request or issue. 27 of those involve scheduling because of field limitations at home. 105 teams share coaches and another 18 teams had special requests of some sort. I’ve done what I can with the coaches and the requests but it is far from perfect.  There isn’t enough daylight in fall to allow all the coaches to get from one game to another easily. 

We only attempt to coordinate the schedule for someone who is the sole, officially listed head coach of two or more teams.  We do not coordinate for co-head coaches or assistants or paid trainers or anyone else.

An important note: Do NOT make any new schedule requests of any kind NOW.  By the time you read this, it’s too late. Every club was contacted and given a chance to put in requests. It’s up to the clubs to make sure that their teams’ requests reach me. Teams have contacted me with requests for months. If your teams or coaches ask you to make a new request, DO NOT ask me. Tell them "It’s too late. Remember earlier next season."  Do not waste my time so you can say "Well I asked and he said no." We expect you to tell your teams the bad news. The clearer you are with them about the rules, the sooner they learn how to operate. 

Coach coordination is a service the league provides but it’s not easy to accommodate. We ask the clubs and teams not to abuse it. I will do everything I can to honor any timely request. So if you made a specific request and there’s a problem with the schedule, PLEASE send me an email asking about it. I am sure I missed or forgot at least one.  Or I may not have been able to do it. I am happy to check about requests you made earlier. Don’t suffer in silence.

However if you forgot to make a request, please let it be and put it on your checklist for next season.

Since the coach coordination is important to so many teams let me explain a bit.

I try to give a coach enough time to get from the *end* of one game to the *kickoff time* of the next. That is a little over half an hour within the core of the county and 45 minutes or an hour from the northern to southern fields. I gave more when I could but don’t complain if the minimums are met. Coaches with two teams will miss many post game and pre game talks.

If I missed a coordination or special request that you asked for, PLEASE send me an email listing the club, team, coach, request and the dates where you think there is an error.

If I provided less than the times given above, you may point it out.

If you show me that GoogleMaps says it takes T amount of time to get from Y to Z, and I’ve only given you T minus 15 minutes. Let me know. I have a pretty good sense of Westchester geography but it’s far from perfect.

If I missed a specific date request (coach or game time) there’s a good chance I missed it or messed it up in the processing of managing some other coordination issue. It is a complex interlocking puzzle. Ask. I do not mind a polite inquiry.

But if your coach has the par amount of time (half hour or 45 minutes or an hour from the far north), don’t bother me to ask for more. Every request takes time to check out and reply to. 

For all the "general" requests e.g. "prefer early", "prefer late", "avoid 9am", "after 1pm", etc., I did the best I could but I could not honor them 100% it’s simply impossible. If I generally managed your request, please accept the result as the best I could do. Older teams that want only afternoons are going to play some mornings. That’s when their field time is available and that’s when they are expected to play. U14s will play some 11am games. Teams that wanted to play early but came from clubs without early field time will have to deal with their clubs. Etc.

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Your job is to proof and correct the schedule. Please share this email with your club and your coaches. Make sure they understand that this is not the Final Schedule. Enlist them in helping to check for errors.  Send me corrections as soon as you have any. I will finish correcting the schedule next Wednesday and it goes to printing over the Labor Day weekend and will be handed out at the WYSL meeting on Tuesday the 2nd.  

After that date *destroy* these Preliminary files!!  Trash. Shred. Do not use them!! Don’t be like the coach who was upset because he used the Prelim two month into the season.

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Here are the tasks:

Check your fields and field times.
Do they agree with the time you have from the town/field entity?
Are there too many/too few games on the fields?  There shouldn’t be singletons.
Are the age groups on the correct fields?
Did I use your fields enough? or the way you need them used?
If I didn’t use all your fields should some games be shifted (at the same time) to other fields to maintain your permits?
Some fields were scheduled very rarely. If that’s a problem, make a suggestion.

*** I make a lot of guesses about what would be good field use and I get into scheduling patterns which might look good to me but which aren’t good for you. PLEASE tell me if there’s a better way to use your fields. ***

Can we get the games done without running into problems with other groups?

Are there any gaps in the schedule? or have I allowed too little time for the games? or too much?

Are any games double booked - at the same time and field? 

Did I get the daylight hours correctly?

Do the teams have the right number of games. 10 games for most divisions. 9 games for the 10 and 9 team divisions. 

Check for every division (make sure they are all there).

Check your teams (make sure THEY are all there). I have lost teams in the computer. Not good. Please check me!!

Are the team names correct? (Note that I standardize some names with G9x or B9x so that it’s clearer which team is involved.)

Check your club/team requests, did I cover them?  To repeat, PLEASE, contact me if I did not honor a request. On coach coordinations there may only be a half hour or 45 minutes to get between games. That’s usually the best I can do. If I missed a request, ask - by email.  I don’t mind any polite, timely questions. I usually have a reason for what I did. Or I made a mistake.  I hate it when someone tells me I didn’t cover a request that I could have fixed if I had been told.

I got a lot of "general" requests again. "Prefer early". "After 2pm", etc. I could NOT honor all of them. Sometimes U14 teams play one another and one team has asked for "early games" and the other team has asked for "after 2pm". (A difference in bar mitzfah schedules I guess.) Someone is going to be unhappy.  I just have to balance the interests and toss my referee coin.

We need field time at both ends of the day: morning time for the older teams and time until dark for everyone. Losing an hour here or there might mean 10 fewer games can fit during the season.

Coaches with two teams or three will have to hustle to make their games.

I minimize the number of singletons (bad for ref coverage). There are very few.

I try to get everyone a balance of home games. (Most get 5.)  Divisions with 9 game seasons either get 4 or 5 home games. Everyone gets at least 3 home games. I then try to accommodate (in order) the coach coordination requests, the special day requests, and then - last - the general requests.

Check the game times. There is probably at least one mistyped time in here. An AM instead of a PM or two games scheduled for the same time on the same field.

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This is a community task which needs everyone to pitch in. We have gotten better but it’s always difficult and new people need to be trained to do their part.

I need any corrections in my email in-box as soon as possible. Send things when you find them but anything received after Wednesday will likely not get into the final schedule.

Just to repeat: Do NOT make new schedule requests now. It’s too late. All requests needed to be in my hands before today. Teams have to *think ahead*. If you hear complaints, tell them that.

Copy Lee at the league office with any notices.

Once the final schedule is out we do not change or postpone league games except for very particular and unusual situations. Don’t ever agree to a change. Ask me and the league. If you have a question, look in the league booklet before you ask. The booklet is posted on line if you don’t have one. (Guests teams especially should use the web.)  If a request for a change isn’t for one of the approved reasons, don’t even ask. Say no. Changes allowed by the rules (state cup games, ODP tryouts, showcase tournaments, and other special cases approved by the league board) must be approved by the office or the scheduler. For the sake of the families, we protect the schedule fiercely.

NOTES

-> We have a TEN game season. The first scheduled game is September 7. The season ends November 16 with October 12 OFF for Columbus Day. 

-> Clubs were much better about getting me field information.

"TBS games"

The "extra games" which make up for the byes are listed at the TOP of the master field as TBS with TBA for the field. These are additional games to schedule and play during the season (Saturdays, weekdays, whenever). For the divisions with odd numbers of teams (5, 7, 9, and 11) they make up for the byes.

These extra games must be played sometime during the season and (with rare exceptions) not on Sunday. The two teams decide when to play and then at least 5 days IN ADVANCE they inform the League Office (not the scheduler!) by fax or email when they want to play. The rules for doing this are in the book! Please read and follow them carefully. I don’t schedule these games but the league office and I want to know when you have set them so we can coordinate ref coverage.

General Scheduling Rules

Except in very unusual circumstances (none this season), in order to allow the younger kids to get to religious services, the U9, 10, 11, and 12s are never scheduled before noon. The U13s also usually start at noon or later, but very often they start at 11:30. The U14s can start at 11. The High School teams start whenever but are often the first game in the morning (9a, 10a) because they can use the early morning field space.

I allow an hour and a quarter for U9 and U10 games, an hour and a half for U11 and U12, an hour and three quarters for U13 and U14, and two hours for high school games. 

Loss of Home Games

There are three "TBA" games where neither club had enough field space for the game. There are some games this season when the home club did not have enough space and the game is played away. If your teams are short home games, that’s the likely cause. Please keep educating your towns about the time and space we need and keep pushing to build more fields. 

Singletons

There are very few "pure" singletons. (It’s hard to count games of different age groups on close fields.) Singletons are difficult for the ref assignor to schedule. I hope the refs in some of the smaller communities will cover both 11v11 and short sided games (although I know that is not so common). I tried to make it possible at least. All the remaining singletons are unavoidable (at least by me) and many will be uncovered.

Game Numbers

Again this season every coach will need to know (from the website) the *number* of the game they are playing.  That game number must be entered on the NEW team lineup form by the coach so the referee can file an online game report.The game number is listed on nearly every page of the website where the game is listed and it will be included in the printed schedules as well. This was new last season.  This Preliminary Schedule does not have the game numbers. (They aren’t assigned yet.) The Final Master Field will have game numbers.

Changes

All changes during the season are done on the website and direct email notices will go out to the teams and clubs involved when a game is changed IF the team’s and club’s contact information is on the website. There are no other notices.

All the clubs and all the teams need to make sure their contact info on the website is correct and that the contacts are designated to receive game notifications. The league website is NOT the same as the LSS website where you registered. They are different and team officials need to maintain their contact information on BOTH websites. It’s up to the team and club to make sure that their email address is correct and available for me and the website to send to. Emails that bounce go into cyberspace.

Besides the division schedules on the website, there is a club schedule by date and field. Everyone needs to use the web.

Contacts

If you are the sole contact for your club, make sure you are marked on the Demosphere web site to get the game change notifications. I will continue (this season) to maintain an email contact list and may send out notices to those contacts. But get used to the web. The more people who know what is going on and are paying attention to the website the better.  We will no longer post the updated Master Field on the website. Instead we will use the new on line schedules.

Two big notices:

DURING THE SEASON CALL YOUR OPPONENT!

----------->>>>>>>>>>>>> As always, have your coaches call their opponents IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK and verify time and field for all games. It’s the last line of defense against inevitable human errors.  Both HOME and AWAY coaches should CALL!   Don’t wait for Friday night or Saturday. Don’t leave a message, reach a responsible adult. Call by Wednesday.

I will repeat this admonition over and over all season. If the individual teams talk to one another, 99% of the mistakes are caught and fixed AND it’s a nice thing to do.

DO YOUR CHECKING!

----------->>>>>>>>>>>>Do all of it NOW and do it FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON.  If I have to make changes, it’s NOW. There’s no excuse for those who could have seen a problem at the beginning of the season but don’t notice it until the week before. This is largely a volunteer operation and we all have to do our share.

If you have questions, problems, etc, email me.

Doing this job right will save you headaches later and help the families and kids.

Thanks for reading all the way to here and thanks very much for your help!! This league’s increasing success is a result of the clubs and teams taking the time to make it work for everyone.

See you at the league meeting.

Terry Benson
WYSL Scheduler

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