North Texas Bylaws

I keep seeing the word Tryouts in June in many posts. It is illegal to hold tryouts until July 1st.
It is illegal to offer a player a roster spot in June as they don't become "free agents" until July 1st
So for all you manager/coach posting here are the rules that apply and will be sanctioned under recruitment with enticement should you not follow them


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3.10.9
1. Recruiting is defined as:
a. Allowing a player to participate in practice or games with a team on which the player
is not rostered unless such participation is otherwise expressly authorized by these
NTSSA rules, and all paperwork incidental to said authorization has been fully
completed prior to such participation.
b. Allowing a player to participate in camps, skills, clinics, academies or other training
activities unless such participation is otherwise expressly authorized by NTSSA rules,
and all paperwork incident to said authorization has been fully completed prior to
such participation.
c. Actively soliciting a player to break a commitment to his current team in order to join
another team. This rule does not apply to Free Agents.
d. Making false, misleading, and/or unsubstantiated negative statements which could
reasonably be expected to influence the decision of a player regarding his choice of
teams.
e. Offering anything of monetary value to anyone to induce a player to commit to play
for a particular team; provided, offering to pay, waive or reduce a player’s expenses
associated with participating with a particular team does not constitute recruiting so
long as (i) the offer is, in good faith, based on financial need and (ii) any value received
is in fact applied to the reasonable and necessary expenses associated with such player
’s participation.
f. Committing to or on behalf of a team, a club, a player, or a coach for the upcoming
soccer year prior to July 1, whether in writing or otherwise, or requesting or
requiring a commitment to or by a team, club, player, or coach for the upcoming
soccer year prior to July 1 whether in writing or otherwise. (Note: A coach
requesting a returning player to state his intention concerning returning the
following soccer year, or a player inquiring about his status on the team for the
following year is permissible prior to July 1, but the commitment is not binding on
either the player or the coach..)
g. As long as the above rules are observed, nothing herein is intended to restrict the ability
of a player at any time to express a general interest in a prospective team or for a
prospective team to express at any time a general interest in a prospective player.
2. It shall be a violation of these rules for any person, team, club or other organization to engage
in recruiting as defined above. Coaches are responsible for the actions of all of the above listed
participants associated with their team. Failure to comply with this rule shall result in sanctions
against the offending party which could include suspension from all soccer activities for a
period of time to be determined by the NTSSA Competitive Committee. Allegations against
registered youth players are subject to review before punishments are considered. Complainant
will file his complaint with the Youth Commissioner, who shall render a decision. Either party
may file an appeal of the Youth Commissioner’s decision with the NTSSA State Executive
Committee according to the Bylaws of the NTSSA.
3.10.10 Soccer-Playing Year for Competitive Players
1. NTSSA has established the seasonal year as being from September 1 through August 31
However, these rules provide that a competitive player is a free agent beginning July 1 That
player will continue to be a free agent until the player and /or his parents or guardian have
signed a contract with a team. The period of August 1 of the prior soccer year through May 31
of the current soccer year is considered the soccer-playing year for competitive players. During
the soccer-playing year, players are not allowed to try out, practice, or participate with any other
team, unless they are a competitive player in the same club or registered as a guest player with
another team, in which case the proper release must be signed by all parties. Practice with a
team on which a player is registered as a guest player is permitted only if the practice dates are
Revised February 2014
34
included on the guest player release. A competitive player practicing with a team in the same
club is permitted throughout the seasonal year. Otherwise, a player may practice with another
team if he has received a written permission letter signed by his current coach that sets out the
dates and the team with which the player will practice. The player is to give the letter to the
coach of the team with which he will be practicing, and he must keep a copy for himself. After
May 31 (the end of the soccer-playing year for competitive players), players may practice with
other teams without any required release or other permission, although formal tryouts may not
be held until July 1. Players wishing to guest play in tournaments must always obtain a properly
signed guest player release. (See Rule 4.7.1.) Contracts may be signed beginning July 1,
although signing July 1 is not mandatory. After July 1 players who are not or have not been
rostered to a team for the current soccer year may sign a contract for the current soccer year at
any time. (This does not include indoor soccer.)
2. Failure to comply shall result in sanctions against the offending party (coach, assistant coach,
manager, parent, or other team representative), which could include suspension from all soccer
activities for a period of time to be determined by the NTSSA Competitive Committee.
Allegations against registered youth players are subject to review before punishments are
considered and punishment periods are at the discretion of the Youth Commissioner committee
hearing such allegations.

Found the following on Triumphs website:

What about tryouts?
Tryouts are July 1st of each year.

What do I need to do be doing before July 1st?
You need to be out working on skills with the select club you wish to play for. Do not wait until July 1st to just turn up and take your chance!

Interesting...so Triumph dosn't hold "try-outs" but golly gee you better start to "train" with whatever team you are interested in before July 1! A paradox indeed 

Haha they are called open practices in June just to clarify in case you still don't understand

Did you really just post a full pager over semantics or are you the NTX hall monitor?

You can call them tryouts all day long. All teams do, with Triumph being the exception apparently. Keyword in the bylaws, formal. What merits a formal tryout vs non-formal? Beats me, but one could argue it all day long. Unless a player is guaranteed a spot on a team in writing prior to July 1, it is a non issue.

Don't let Triumph dictate what everyone else does and has been doing for many years.

...at least there isn't a bylaw to prevent you from telling a player that you will definitely NOT be offering them a spot on your roster July 1st.   

...(or should I say    )

Phew...I was worried that Triumph FC, with a handful of competitive teams (is it 3, or have they grown) and a few coaches, might be the next HUGE NTX powerhouse out patrolling the soccer scene, keeping us all in line...good grief!

So...the registration deadline for the seeding tournament is in the first couple days of July, allows no guest players and rosters are due when registering.  (indicating a written commitment)

So that means that any team that registers for this now manditory tournament before the last second is in violation of the bylaws, correct?  Will it be enforced?

If your talking about LH QT it's July 11th

Nope...the seeding tournament...
Registration dates are May 20th - July 6th.

So...anyone that registers for this "required" NTX Soccer tournament before July 1 is in violation of the NTX Soccer rules?

Essentially, that means team managers have 3 days (4th is the start to a holiday weekend) to hold tryouts, sign all the players, do all the paperwork, and get signed up for this tournament, as the rules state that absolutely none of this can be done prior to July 1.

If one were to read the bylaws as Triumph is, then yes. What us posted above is 100% accurate. 3 days to get all players a "try out" and signed. Or you can do what NTX knows every team does. Have informal "try outs", aka open practices and have your team set (for the most part) on July 1.

What seeding tournament ?
Teams cannot be formed before July 1st so show me proof of a seeding tournament

Did anyone else hear Triumph's bubble burst just now?

http://www.ntxsoccer.org/tournaments/2014seedingshowdown.aspx

jsullivan81 wrote:Did anyone else hear Triumph's bubble burst just now?

I don't worry about tournaments with a fancy name because there is a disclaimer which says MIGHT USE
The tournament isn't a seeding tournament only in name and it's deadline is July 6th. I'd love to see a team try and enter their official 2014/15 roster before July 1st! No registrar would sign it
http://www.ntxsoccer.org//tournaments/2014seedingshowdown.aspx

Triumph FC wrote:

jsullivan81 wrote:Did anyone else hear Triumph's bubble burst just now?

I don't worry about tournaments with a fancy name because there is a disclaimer which says MIGHT USE
The tournament isn't a seeding tournament only in name and it's deadline is July 6th. I'd love to see a team try and enter their official 2014/15 roster before July 1st! No registrar would sign it
http://www.ntxsoccer.org//tournaments/2014seedingshowdown.aspx

You did notice that this is a North Texas Soccer tournament, right?  

Did you notice the quote that they attributed to the boys and girls Classic Leagues?

CCSAI Boys Classic League & Lake Highlands Girls Classic League:
We are lucky to have NTX partner with both the Boys and Girls Classic Leagues to hold a pre-season seeding tournament. This tournament is a must as it will be the primary source for all seedings in this
summer's qualifying tournaments.

CCSAI Boys Classic League & Lake Highlands Girls Classic League:
"We are lucky to have NTX partner with both the Boys and Girls Classic Leagues to hold a pre-season seeding tournament. This tournament is a must as it will be the primary source for all seedings in this
summer's qualifying tournaments."

MIGHT USE?

So which is it?

"MIGHT USE" or "MUST" ?

Those are pretty distictive terms

Boys are done unless it's U11,girls have maybe 4 spots open at each age U12 and above. So you are not allow to play in Tut or Puma Cup and be seeded?
So it's only really going to effect U11 and if you don't play your going to be seeded lower? Of course not.

If you go to the website, it is pretty plain that LH classic/Arlington and PPL are all planning to use the information fromt he seeding tournament. Not to smart not playing in this one.....

Triumph FC wrote:Boys are done unless it's U11,girls have maybe 4 spots open at each age U12 and above. So you are not allow to play in Tut or Puma Cup and be seeded?
So it's only really going to effect U11 and if you don't play your going to be seeded lower? Of course not.

Will a RASE be seeded lower if they don't play the seeding tourney?  No.
Will a 20-50+ ranked team be seeded lower if they don't play?  Yep.

Don't take my posts the wrong way...I am more playing devil's advocate than anything.  This qualifying tournament essentially forces teams to break the rules about commitments (that they essentially are already breaking anyway).  

You can't have a law and then selectively choose when and how to enforce it after the fact (unless you are Obama - but I digress).

Let's all agree to disagree and drop this nonsensical banter.
In any society, community, entity, or organization, there are rules or laws that are not always enforced because of difficulties in identifying/enforcing or because they are simply outdated or stupid.  There are rules/laws and there are generally accepted practices/behaviors.

jae wrote:Let's all agree to disagree and drop this nonsensical banter.
In any society, community, entity, or organization, there are rules or laws that are not always enforced because of difficulties in identifying/enforcing or because they are simply outdated or stupid.  There are rules/laws and there are generally accepted practices/behaviors.

So you are stating that clubs should be allowed to recruit, commit and receive commitments prior to July 1 in conflict with the stated rule due to the fact that it already happens to a degree already (generally accepted practices), or are you calling the rule itself outdated and stupid?

...or...did the Obama reference hit you someplace sensitive?

The point of laws and rules of governance is that they are to be enforced. If you disagree with the law, work to get it changed - but until such time as the law is changed, it is still the law/rule.

I am bringing this up as NTX seems to be forcing an undue burden on teams/managers to comply with the rules. NTX needs to re-evaluate whether or not to amend the rule, or modify the seeding tournament rules. The two are nearly in direct conflict, and from the same governing body...which makes one or the other an undue burden to comply.

My solution:
Modify the rule - due to qualifying requirements, allow U-11 teams (only) to begin signing on June 15th, as they do not have State Cup or regionals/nationals for U-10.

10sDad wrote:My solution:
Modify the rule - due to qualifying requirements, allow U-11 teams (only) to begin signing on June 15th, as they do not have State Cup or regionals/nationals for U-10.

I like that idea. U-11 appears to be basis for this tournament due to the number of teams involved and the academy leagues are much closer in overall competitiveness. Making it tougher to seed for Classic League, PPL & APL.

It will be interesting to see how many U-12 and up teams decide not to attend this seeding tournament. You are only working with 16-24 teams in each of these age groups and their seeding is much easier based on their prior competitive league and tournament results.