| THE 2008 NORCAL STATE CUP(S) |
| Saturday, 19 April 2008 | |
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The time-lines, formats, Rules of Play and the application process for the Under 9 to Under 13 Norcal State Cup(s) are now on-line and the registration process is open for the next six weeks. Norcal is months ahead of last year in planning for the 2008 Cups(s) with much more time available for the early round(s) of games. Our on-line seeding process is operating and will help with the seeding of the 750 + teams expected in 2008. There will be a maximum of 2 games a day with the semi- finals and finals played on separate days. It is strongly recommended that in the Under 9, Under 10, and Under 11 Age Groups teams and Clubs that have not played in NorCal previous to the 2008 Spring League – register early. In these age groups, teams will only be accepted in groups of 8 – and a playoff will be held among the “latest registered” new teams and Clubs to determine which will be able enter if the final number is not a multiple of 8. This will involve only a few teams new to Norcal, but a new team that registers tomorrow or within the next few weeks will be 99% sure of acceptance. There is a good chance that the teams that might need to go through this process have not yet become members of Norcal, but the recommendation for early registration would be best. We have added the Under 11 age groups to the younger format, but time constraints of the U12 teams did not allow us to add, as hoped for and planned, the Under 12. The Norcal Cup(s) are a finely tuned tournament(s) with a committee seeding and then two rounds of “seeding by match results”. Last year, Norcal switched teams after some match results and it was a serious mistake affecting seven other teams. This will not happen again! Also, last year Norcal gave a bye to a team that through no fault of their own was unable to play the first game on the final weekend. The situation last year took us by surprise, but this year we are asking all Clubs to have policies in place that will not allow persons outside the Club to force this type of problem. Has that team of 9-year-old girls received an apology from the District person who knowingly created that situation? Norcal would sincerely like to thank the Club officials, and the team coaches and managers who have helped make these Cup(s) so successful. This year, we expect to have almost 100 Championship games and that is only possible because so many “soccer people” kindly worked harder to overcome early Norcal mistakes as we learned how to better organize these events. I would also like to thank the Norcal Board of Directors for having the vision and wisdom to allow these type of events to develop over time; and our webmaster and website designer – Tony Behen - for developing the software and programs that make this type of complex tournament more manageable. The 2008 Under 14 to Under 18 Norcal State Cup(s) will be on-line early next week – with areas playing the preliminary games dependent on the different High School seasons and the other State Cup - and all areas coming together for the quarterfinals, semi-finals and Championship finals in May 2009. |
