Post Date: 10-17-2006

Celtics O-30 Indoor A & B league program

Hello Fellow Celtics,

I would like to welcome all of you to our new & improved Celtics website! We will be upgrading over the next few days & weeks, but I wanted to give you a quick overview of the purpose of the AnderStandings & then get going with the first installment.

The name AnderStandings began a few years ago as kind of a joke. It was both a word--play on my name, Anders, (pronounced like under, with an S on the end of it) & the fact that I would update the Celtics indoor soccer standings each week & email them to the Club. Hence, the name AnderStandings.

But now, with the benefit of a fully functional website, the AnderStandings will continue to provide updates & comments on Celtics soccer standings, etc. & it will be a tool to improve the understanding of the Celtics Clubs’ goals, events & more. Occasionally it may be a kind of Op/Ed page, other times it may list announcements, comments & more.

Thus, the first AnderStandings will address the timely issue of the two leagues in the Celtics O-30 Indoor Soccer program:

HOW THE CELTICS A & B LEAGUES WORK

The goal of Celtics soccer is to provide fun, competitive soccer for people of all skill-levels & ages (for now, Over 30). The A (Premiership) & B (Bundesliga) leagues were a natural evolution of the Club as the number of players increased over the years. Starting last year, we implemented the two-tiered system & it truly seems to have succeeded for all involved. The B players appreciate not having some “young stud” running them over or around them, and the A players like having competition that truly challenges them.

Essentially, the A league is for players who have either played college or high-level high school soccer in their past. That is a generalization & of course there are exceptions. Fitness levels obviously also play a big part in the process. Also, the A league selection process (the Draft) is managed by the Celtics Club, but the Captain of each A team has the final say in whether or not they will take a player onto their team. The B league is for all other players who are not selected onto an A league team.

The Draft is a process where all Captains review their rosters, rank players on a scale of 1-10 & then all players are fit onto a team. The Club strives, as much as is possible, for parity by trying to keep the “Average Player Rank” for each team as close as possible. Page 2

Sometimes, what looks good on paper doesn’t translate well on the pitch. We adjust rosters as needed & as is possible. Also, we try to keep “Packages” of players together. “Packages” are defined as two or three players who want to play together, but don’t have enough players to form their own team. Those who can form their own team, do so & are called Independent teams. These Independent teams provide their own uniforms, whereas the Club teams all use Celtics jerseys.

As the years have progressed, most of the Celtics Club teams have formed a core of players that come back year after year. Such is the case this year. Most of the Club teams have very similar rosters to those of last Winter. We encourage the maintenance of rosters over the years, but also promote change in the rosters where needed.

For the new players coming into the league, they simply have to earn their way into the A league. I’ve had many emails & phone calls from new players asking how they get onto an A team. The best answer I can give them is to make some practices, get noticed by the captains & let nature take its course. If the new players haven’t had time to practice, they are put onto a team, usually called (initially, at least) the Orphans or Little Rascals, or something along those lines. Some of those teams have stuck together, others have dissolved when those new players were drafted onto other, established teams.

Finally, like they do in the professional European leagues, we run a “Relegation” process, whereby the two lowest ranked A teams will playoff against the two highest ranked B teams, at the end of each season. That is fun to watch, as true desperation can be seen on the faces of those in the “Relegation Zone”, not to mention the motivation seen in the top B teams vying for Promotion upwards!

I hope this provides some clarity on how our A & B league system works. The Celtics’ goal for indoor O-30 soccer leagues is to provide fun, competitive soccer for all & I think we’re getting better each year at doing that. Being an O-30 league, we also need to keep proper perspective and always remember our little motto: “Play hard, play fair & have fun”! (That could be another AnderStandings article in itself!).

We always appreciate your input on such matters. You can email me with any suggestions. Thanks and enjoy this year’s indoor season!

Anders Kauserud

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