LHGCL Spring Roundup - Schedule Change Announced!

After polling teams, we have determined that there are enough teams that are unable to play on Monday that we have decided to reformat the tournament to end on Sunday evening.

This means semi-finals and finals will be played Sunday afternoon and evening. Expect the last games to end after 7pm on Sunday evening.

Unfortunately, this means that, other than than scheduled league games for our guest teams, it will be impossible to accommodate most special scheduling requests, i.e. playing at a certain time of day.

We hope this change allows us to field even more teams to the following group:
AZTECS FC LADY AZTECS FC 01
DALLAS TEXANS 01G GIRLS DALLAS
DALLAS TEXANS 01G RED DALLAS (FORMERLY WHITE DALLAS)
DIAMONDS
FT WORTH FC 01G RED
JAZZ 01G
KC LEGENDS PHOENIX 00/01
SOLAR CHELSEA WHITE 01G
STING EAST 01G GRAY

We added one more team over the weekend. Looking for at least 3 more to give us some great brackets/divisions.

AZTECS FC LADY AZTECS FC 01
DALLAS TEXANS 01G GIRLS DALLAS
DALLAS TEXANS 01G RED DALLAS (FORMERLY WHITE DALLAS)
DIAMONDS
FT WORTH FC 01G RED
JAZZ 01G
KC LEGENDS PHOENIX 00/01
SOLAR CHELSEA WHITE 01G
STING EAST 01G GRAY

I believe 01 Liverpool Rush is going to sign up for this tournament too.

That's great. We'd love to host you. Not sure if everyone's aware, but clubs who send 4 or more teams to the tournament qualify for a discount ( and this would make 4 for Liverpool).

Hi there… how many teams need to register in the age group to ensure LH will structure the tournament with play-off brackets,…. in addition to a championship game? Please explain.
Thanks -

There will definitely be playoffs for each age group/division - semis and finals.

As of right now, we've got at least 10 teams in each age group right now and we expect we'll see many more this week if things hold true to form as with other tournaments - waiting until last minute )and making me stress in the process). U11 and U12 will likely have 2, if not 3 divisions as both are already over 16 teams each. I need about 4-5 more U10s, 01s and 00's each to give me enough for 2 divisions of at least 8 teams, each would have semis and finals.

Hopefully, I answered your question, if not, please let me know. Thanks for your interest, I hope we get the chance to host your team.

Registration ends today - we're now @ 20 teams from Plano Premier, Arlington Premier, Oklahoma & Kansas. Only 12 from LHGCL, so everyone should get the chance to play some new competition.

ANDROMEDA FC 01G
AZTECS FC LADY AZTECS
DALLAS KICKS BLUE SC 01
DALLAS TEXANS 01G FTW
DALLAS TEXANS 01G GIRLS DALLAS
DALLAS TEXANS 02 GIRLS
DALLAS TEXANS 02G SOUTH
DALLAS TEXANS 01G RED DALLAS (FORMERLY WHITE DALLAS)
DIAMONDS
FORT WORTH FC 01G BLACK
FT WORTH FC 01G RED
JAZZ 01G
KC LEGENDS PHOENIX
LIVERPOOL FC AMERICA 01 GIRLS RUSH
NTX STRIKERS 01 GIRLS BLUE
SOLAR CHELSEA WHITE 01G
SOUTH LAKES COSMOS 01 WHITE
STING EAST 01 GRAY
TEXAS LIGHTNING 01G BLACK
TEXAS REDSTAR 01G

Sounds good. When do schedules come out?

Sweeper wrote:Sounds good.  When do schedules come out?

Sweep!!!! You're alive Bud!

You need to get to work Dude! GO99 is about to take over your title!   

Did "Dallas Texans 02 Girls" move to Sting or is this a different team?

DalWild wrote:Registration ends today - we're now @ 20 teams from Plano Premier, Arlington Premier, Oklahoma & Kansas.  Only 12 from LHGCL, so everyone should get the chance to play some new competition.

ANDROMEDA FC 01G
AZTECS FC LADY AZTECS
DALLAS KICKS BLUE SC 01
DALLAS TEXANS 01G FTW
DALLAS TEXANS 01G GIRLS DALLAS
DALLAS TEXANS 02 GIRLS
DALLAS TEXANS 02G SOUTH
DALLAS TEXANS 01G RED DALLAS (FORMERLY WHITE DALLAS)
DIAMONDS
FORT WORTH FC 01G BLACK
FT WORTH FC 01G RED
JAZZ 01G
KC LEGENDS PHOENIX
LIVERPOOL FC AMERICA 01 GIRLS RUSH
NTX STRIKERS 01 GIRLS BLUE
SOLAR CHELSEA WHITE 01G
SOUTH LAKES COSMOS 01 WHITE
STING EAST 01 GRAY
TEXAS LIGHTNING 01G BLACK
TEXAS REDSTAR 01G

bwgophers wrote:

Sweeper wrote:Sounds good.  When do schedules come out?

Sweep!!!!  You're alive Bud!  

You need to get to work Dude!  GO99 is about to take over your title!   

Ha. Alive and well. No doubt the economic recovery has limited my posting. See you this Spring. Hopefully at a competitive soccer game.

22 Teams signed up in this tournament, 6 brackets of three/four and only 4 teams advance to a Semi-final.  Is this normal or a rip off?

Tiki-taka wrote:22 Teams signed up in this tournament, 6 brackets of three/four and only 4 teams advance to a Semi-final.  Is this normal or a rip off?

Agree that that format is pretty crappy if it is actually correct. I am hoping it is a mistake. DalWild???

Also, I don't understand the seeding. Nothing hits me for a rational reason on how teams were bracketed. Anyone else have a guess at how it was done?

With Monday being taken away due to parents complaining, they had to drop a few games I would assume. If they went to quarter finals, almost 40% of teams make the playoff's. That sounds like the NBA.

DalWild wrote:There will definitely be playoffs for each age group/division - semis and finals.  

 U11 and U12 will likely have 2, if not 3 divisions as both are already over 16 teams each.  I need about 4-5 more U10s, 01s and 00's each to give me enough for 2 divisions of at least 8 teams, each would have semis and finals.

Bait and switch

Tiki-taka wrote:Also,  I don't understand the seeding.  Nothing hits me for a rational reason on how teams were bracketed.  Anyone else have a guess at how it was done?

I didn't spend more than a minute looking at it, but it didn't look intuitive to me.  I was more focused on the 4 wildcard teams and no quarterfinals.  I don't know why they couldn't schedule quarters Sunday morning, semis Sunday afternoon and then finals Sunday night.  Seems like they should be able to get those game in.

Seems odd that it takes Friday night, all day Saturday and then Sunday morning to get just the bracket play in. I guess they don't have enough fields?

cjsskillsofpain wrote:

DalWild wrote:There will definitely be playoffs for each age group/division - semis and finals.  

 U11 and U12 will likely have 2, if not 3 divisions as both are already over 16 teams each.  I need about 4-5 more U10s, 01s and 00's each to give me enough for 2 divisions of at least 8 teams, each would have semis and finals.

Bait and switch

Looks like it. No age group has multiple divisions. All have 1 division with 4 wildcards making the playoffs.

Sweeper wrote:

cjsskillsofpain wrote:

DalWild wrote:There will definitely be playoffs for each age group/division - semis and finals.  

 U11 and U12 will likely have 2, if not 3 divisions as both are already over 16 teams each.  I need about 4-5 more U10s, 01s and 00's each to give me enough for 2 divisions of at least 8 teams, each would have semis and finals.

Bait and switch

Looks like it.  No age group has multiple divisions.  All have 1 division with 4 wildcards making the playoffs.  

Yup. No one's better at false advertising then tournament directors in NTX, led by coachdom.

I appreciate everyone's comments, critical and supportive, and wanted to address some of the concerns expressed, partly as a mea culpa, as some of the wounds are self inflicted, but also to hopefully explain what occurred. Warning - long comment to follow.

We originally planned the tournament for Friday - Monday. Due to numerous concerns about various schools opting to be open Monday to make up for lost weather days, we shortened the schedule to wrap up Sunday. This compression made the schedule much more brittle, but also placed stress on field availability and referees.

Due to this compression and resource constraints, we were unable to field multiple flights - as it is, the last final games wrap up Sunday night @ 8:00. So we have teams from across the spectrum in a single flight, which will likely create some uneven games. In seeding, we did try to recognize this and try to give teams a chance for some measure of success in a game or two. We also had a couple of situations as we were sorting through the schedule where teams only had 2 games scheduled. When notified of the issue, I reached out to a couple of those to let them know we were working on addressing the issue and if it couldn't be resolved, I would offer a compensatory rebate, recognizing they would not get the same value for their fee as other teams.

Throughout the registration process, we asked all teams to let us know of conflicts due to games in other local leagues. We also made it clear those were the only conflicts we could hope to accommodate due to the compressed schedule. Some teams did notify of us of conflicts, others did not.

So, when the schedule was released earlier this week, we had numerous teams that had conflicts they had not informed us of (and at least one which I missed). So we posted a schedule, teams made plans, we revised the schedule (which probably exacerbated some inequities, resolved others), this revision then caused other conflicts, etc.

I see several posts on this thread and others where individuals have said, in essence, it is what it is, we may get spanked, but that's how we improve and I applaud that take. Though having been on the lopsided losing side, it sucks for us as parent, but my dd never gave it a thought. It's going to be a beautiful weekend after a pretty crappy few weeks, so hopefully, the schedule is set and we can move forward. If anyone wants to reach out to me directly, please feel free - lhgcl-roundup@swbell.net.

Finally, this opinion/explanation is mine as the tournament chair, not the league's or anyone else's, so if you have issue, please take it up with me.

Thanks

well, i for one, will give you a pass because you owned up to it rather than hide and complain about whiny parents...

DalWild - good communication, I appreciate your situation. Glad you explained it.

silentparent wrote:well, i  for one, will give you a pass because you owned up to it rather than hide and complain about whiny parents...

Yes, this is refreshing and we appreciate the communication. For sure the girls could care less…they just want to play….. and win of course!

Why did Dallas Texans 01 with 27 points not make the semi-finals? The two 02 teams each had fewer points than the Texans. What am I missing?

Dallas Texans 01 didnt want to lose to Higgy of course.....lol.