Uintah Youth Football, Inc. Draft Process

A skills challenge and open draft will allow athletes to be tested in various speed, power, strength and agility drills in order to determine their physical prowess. The information is objective and used to evaluate athletic talent, not football talent.

Why should Uintah Youth Football, Inc. switch from a Blind Draft to an Open Draft?

1.       An open draft has the ability to eliminate the “Stacked” team, notion. All coaches will have equal opportunity to choose players, in turn, from a list of players in 1 category at a time, based on their abilities, not a faceless number on a board.

2.       Teams will be more evenly distributed, based on ability, not weight class.

3.      Players will have a better experience. Chance will not put all the “Star” athletes on 1 or 2 teams.

4.      An open draft will give all players the opportunity to show their athletic abilities to their peers, parents, and coaches on a level playing field. Athletes that may have been “over looked” in the past will be able to shine.

5.      The Blind draft, has not been successful in the past, if we try something new, it has the potential to strengthen the league as a whole.

6.      An open draft will strengthen the youth league and will benefit the high school football program.

7.      We can start all teams from scratch.

Skills Challenge Process

The Skills Challenge Process

Players will be divided up into peer groups, within their divisions. Coaches will have their own station that all peer groups will rotate through. Each coaching group (1 head coach, 1 assistant coach, and 2 helpers) will determine what drills they want to run.

Each peer group will rotate through each station, in equal amounts of time. All players must rotate through each station.

Before the station sessions begin, all players will line up on the field as a group to warm-up, prior to any exertion.

Division rosters will be given to coaches at the skills challenge. They will include the players name, grade, weight and a pre-determined group number based on weight. Players who have not officially weighed in at the equipment handouts will have their registered un-official weight listed and highlighted.

Players who do not attend the skills challenge will be completely “Blind Draft” draws after the the evaluated players have been assigned to teams at the draft. The blind draw players will be assigned a number, written on a chip and place in a bucket. Blind draft players will be selected after players who attended the skills challenge.

Each coach will use their own drills to determine each players’ skill level, and must stay at their own station. Coaches will make their list of prospective players and bring it to the official draft.

Teams

Teams are to be limited to no more than TWO coaches per team PRE DRAFT. One Head Coach and one Assistant.  A Trainer may be added to the team, after, the draft has completed, and the teams are finalized.

a.      Automatic players must be declared and approved by July 13, 2019 at 6 pm. Please fill out the Automatic player sheet.

b.      Approved coaches may start their team with their own documented, child (children) and/or step child (children), or documented custody or guardianship over a child, assigned automatically.

c.       If a coach does not have children, he may elect to coach another family member, (i.e.: grandchild, niece/nephew, cousin, etc.…) Children from multiple households are not allowed as multiple automatic players, and cousins are not considered siblings even if they live in the same household).

d.      Multiple Siblings are ONLY allowed as automatics when the sibling and step sibling players are documented as siblings and living in the same household, even part-time, and are playing in the same division.

e.      Coaches who declare a player as an automatic, who is not their own documented child, must have written consent from the parent or guardian of that player, stating that they approve their child to be an automatic player for that coach.

Parent Requests

Parent requests for specific teams will not be granted due to the number of kids participating in the UYF Program. Only SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES will be accepted and reviewed by the draft committee.

*Those individual requests will be reviewed and the final decision will be made by the Draft Committee. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCE cases are very few for any season.

*Requests due to comfort and familiarity for the player are unnecessary.  Playing on different teams with different kids gives the player an opportunity to gain friendship and trust very easily. It is the job of the coaches to create a team environment to help foster the TEAM concept and help build camaraderie.

*REQUESTS DUE TO CARPOOLING, NEIGHBORHOOD PROXIMITY, SCHOOL FRIENDS, FAMILY MEMBERS, ETC… WILL NOT BE GRANTED. THE UYF BOARD OF DIRECTORS, RESERVES THE RIGHT OF FINAL DECISION.

Pre-draftProcess

1.  Registered players complete the Skills Challenge

2.  All playersaredivided into their Peer Groups-

a. Grade and division

b. Weight (Heavy/Light)

i. Heavy=weightwithoutpadsandwithshoesisgreater than orequalto leagueweightlimit. (X-MAN)

ii. Light=weightwithoutpadsandwithshoesislessthan the league weight limit.

Draft Process

At leastone member ofaCoachingTeam must be presentat the Skill Challenge and at the Official Draft.

Each coach will draw a number, determining the picking order.

Every team will have a first round draft pick, regardless of the number of automatic players they start with. The coaches who have a lesser number of players to start with, will make an additional pick in the second, third and fourth rounds, as necessary until all teams have an equal number.

The draft is a serpentinedraft. ThelastteamofRound#1,receivestheFirstpickinthe secondround,thenTeam5picks,thenTeam4etc…   untilyougettoTeam1. Team1,thelasttohaveapickinthesecondroundthengetstheFirstpickinthe third round etc.…untilwe exhaustall playersthat attended the skills challenge.

*EXAMPLE:

When we have enoughplayersfor “x” amount ofteamsthedraftorder would look likethis…

FirstRound: Team1,Team2, Team3,Team 4.Team5, Team6

Second Round:Team 6,Team5, Team4,Team3. Team2, Team 1

ThirdRound:Team 1,Team2, Team3,Team 4.Team 5,Team 6

FourthRound: Team6,Team5, Team4,Team 3. Team2, Team 1

Forallplayerswhodo notparticipateinthe Skill Challenge Evaluation Process

Playerswho do notparticipate inthe Skill Challenge Evaluation Process will be placed in a blind draft. Blind Draft players will be assigned a numbered chip that is placed in a bucket, and chosen at random.

The “Blind Draft” playerswill be distributed after the evaluated players have been placed on teams, beginning afterthe last team toreceive aplayer.Thisiscontinued until all playershave been assigned.

Thegroupofplayerswhoqualifyforthisprocesswill bea small percentage.

Summary

This draftingmethodincorporatesmeasurable parametersthatareobjective. The resultsare measured and compared, inthatpeersare measuredagainstpeers.  Theopportunity foradultdraftinggamesisseverelyreduced. Fortheintegrity of Uintah YouthFootball, Inc.,wehopeyouwillfully supportandembracethisprocess.