Help with drafting league rules

[Gator]

I need some help. I have been tasked by my league to help draft some in-house league rules. Some outside input would be a great help. We do follow the USA hockey inline rule book as a base but feel we need some extra rules to ensure sportsmanship and safe play. Its a small league right now, only about 300 kids playing in 4 age divisions. In the next month we should be finished putting in an old set of boards we acquired and have a sport-court surface. Some of the complaints and issues I have read here I have incorporated in the draft, but your help in what your league does or doesn't do would be a great help. Looking for ideas on playing rules, locker room issues, benches, parents, everything really.




Gator

[avatarkava]

Although this doesn't cover a lot of the "house" league problems you may run into, you can go to www.ecrha.net and click on "Intranet" and download the rulebook we use for college roller hockey there.

[Colin]

We use the USA rules, which you'll need to use to be a certified league. Other than that we have one house rule. We've got lots of kids and families that show up, so we have the f-bomb rule. Drop an f-bomb, you get two. Everyone knows it, everyone's been warned.

[Jaeger29]

Originally posted by Colin
Drop an f-bomb, you get two. Everyone knows it, everyone's been warned.

Good rule!
The USA Inline and Kava's rule book are great places to start.

Here's a few from the league in which I coach 9-11-year-olds (roller, outdoors):
- 1 coach and 2 assistants - no more
- All parents must stay at the ends of the rink or in the side bleachers. No parents/friends are allowed anywhere behind the bench (or adjacent dressing/team areas directly behind benches) unless addressing player injury.
- All players must wear helmet at all times when in bench/team areas.
- All players must be dressed and signed-in prior to drop of puck. Any players who come late will not be permitted to play. (This caused a ruckus at first, but the parents learned, and it's much easier on the kids, refs, and coaching staff this way.)
- Players limited to 8 minute shifts. No player permitted to remain on ice for more than 8 straight minutes (running time). Each team is permitted to 'tag' one player on the opposing team for watch by the timekeeper. At 8 minute mark, coach gets a warning. If player is not subbed out within :10, a 2:00 bench minor is issued. (Keeps the coach from riding the star and everyone plays).

Hope this helps a bit. Good luck!

[Gator]

Thanks for the help. Most have been included already. I will bring up the time limit issue. We have had some problems in the past with that. What are your ideas regarding locker rooms and mixed teams? Team roster size, how teams are selected, team standing tie breakers, statistics you track and post for each age division. What discipline procedures do you use?
Never realized how much detail you have to go into when forming a league's guidelines. Amazing how some players, parents and coaches will try and manipulate whatever they can to win or get more stats. Our philosophy has been to promote the games skills and sportsmanship over winning or stacking the stat column. A couple of coaches who had made that a priority no longer coach. This is a non-hockey area so most the parents are clueless about the game so they come and just have fun watching their kids play. Trying to keep it that way, so any help with rules or guidelines will help.

[Jaeger29]

Hmm...
Our outdoor roller hockey league doesn't have locker room facilities, so that hasn't been an issue. We do allow mixed teams, as it's a non-checking league.

Team selection is done via 'draft day'. We have the kids come out and perform drills and scrimmages. The coaches group the kids into three grade levels (a, b, and c). After the kids are done playing, the coaches have a meeting to divide the players. Each grade level is split as evenly as possible so that each team has the same number of 'A' players, etc. Coaches will note preferences for certain players based on skill, or where they live in relation to teammates for ride-sharing (if possible) - former teammates are given consideration for matching up, too. Goalies are (eek!) randomly assigned, as there aren't a whole lot of extra 'tenders floating around.

Player stats we track are goals, assists, points, PIMs.
Team stats are goals for, goals against, shots.
Ties in the standings are determined by head-to-head matchups with the two teams that are tied. If that does not determine a winner, we have two options:
- If the 2 tied teams will both make the playoffs, the one with the greater goal differential for the season wins the tiebreaker.
- If only one of the 2 teams will make the playoffs, we hold a single-elimination game to determine who moves on. (Not making the playoffs based on a goal-differential is painful for 10 year old kids...)

Glad to help... let me know if there's anything else I can offer...