Hamden Youth Lacrosse will offer two sessions to register for the spring 2008 lacrosse season. These will be Thursday, January 17th, and Wednesday, February 6th.
Both sessions will be held from 5:30 PM until 7:30 PM in Thornton Wilder Hall at the Miller Memorial Library on Dixwell Avenue.
Registration has been streamlined this year for returning players, but must be done at one of the sessions.
We will not be accepting mailed or electronic registrations.
If you cannot make one of the sessions listed, please contact Tom Gould directly -- and soon! His contact info is available in the contacts section of this site (
).
As has been the case since HYL’s inception, filling the coaching ranks has proved to be a challenge again this year. We are extremely grateful to those who have stepped up to make this commitment. Let us take this opportunity to ask again that anyone with an interest in coaching please contact Laura Kennedy on the girls’ side or Dom Sannino on the boys’ side. We will train you.
At this time, it appears we have enough coaches to field one team for each division in each program. We are therefore limited as to the number of players that can register.
REGISTRATION WILL IMMEDIATELY CLOSE FOR DIVISIONS THAT REACH CAPACITY.
Depending on demand, we may create a waiting list, but registering early is recommended, especially for players new to the program. Keep an eye on the website for any time changes. As the registration dates get nearer, we may be able to provide some information on capacity.
The fee in 2008 will be $200 per child in all divisions other than Bantams. For Bantams the fee will be $160. The fee will include uniforms, referee fees, field costs, tournaments/jamborees, and membership in US Lacrosse, which is required. Personal equipment must be purchased separately.
Changes to the League Structure
On November 1st, the CONNY Board of Directors voted by a wide margin to convert CONNY to age-based competitive divisions from primarily grade-based divisions. Specifically, beginning with the upcoming 2008 spring season, the new competitive divisions will be as follows:
Senior Teams: now comprised of players under age 15 (U-15) as of December 31 preceding the season -- for 2008, Senior players have birthdates after December 31, 1992, and are in 8th grade or lower. High schoolers (9th grade and up) are ineligible for youth lacrosse.
Junior Teams: now U-13 (as of December 31 preceding the season -- for 2008, Junior players have birthdates after December 31, 1994.
Lightning Teams: (new division) are U-11 (as of December 31 preceding the season -- for 2008, Lightning players have birthdates after December 31, 1996.
Bantam Teams: now U-9 (as of December 31 preceding the season -- for 2008, Bantam players have birthdates after December 31, 1998..
Boys can play up in age, but not down. However, HYL reserves the right to manage the number of players in a division. For example, if we end up with 16 Juniors and 21 Seniors, it would not be reasonable to move kids from an undermanned Junior team to a Senior team that is at or near capacity.
Some towns have purportedly indicated that they plan to continue forming their teams primarily around grade, and then will simply enter each team in the age division determined by the oldest player on its roster. Others will field a mix of single grade teams (for very big programs, these might include both a Senior 7th grade team and a Junior 7th grade team) and purely age-defined teams for the kids who don't make these teams. The rest will go to 100% age-based. For scheduling, it will be important to accurately identify a team's specific characteristics within the age-based divisions (e.g., "Senior 7" or "Junior 7").
With this new structure, the boys’ bantam division will now be mainly an in-house program. There will be some travel and other towns will be invited in, but the main emphasis will be on skills and drills and 7-on-7 internal scrimmages. Come to one of the registration sessions or e-mail Dom Sannino, Boys’ Program Director for more info.
On the girls’ side, we will poll the towns with which we compete, consider our numbers, and examine our insurance requirements to determine whether it would make sense to apply the same changes as the boys.
