Medford Youth Athletic Association

Efforts are made to keep the divisions appropriately competitive while teaching the players and keeping it fun. The youngest age group, which is typically Pre-K / Kindergarten, is focused more on learning the basics of the game. Typically, the first 40 minutes players meet with their teammates and coaches and learn; the second 40 minutes the team "plays" against another team.  The emphasis is on everyone getting involved, learning, and having fun. As the season progresses the practice time gets a bit shorter and the play / game time longer.

The age divisions then get more competitive as the players get older. Coaches for these older divisions can practice once per week, but cannot make practices mandatory. Teams in the older age divisions play full games with a regular season and playoffs until there are Champions.

In the past, efforts were made to make teams evenly competitive, but the reality was that no system created totally equal teams; so the emphasis has shifted to letting players who want to play together be on the same team, when it is feasible to do so. At times there are too many players that want to be on the same team, and therefore all requests to play together cannot be honored. Teams are permitted to come into the league as a team; to do this, someone must volunteer to coach the team, the team must have at least 9 players, but no more than 12 [10 is recommended]; the players should all register and request their coach. The coach should e-mail the commissioner and provide a list of the players.

The majority of players register individually, and often request a particular friend, group of friends, players from the same town or same school. 

Efforts are made to grant requests for friends to play together, but no guarantees.

With grade divisions that have at least 6 teams (recently the number of teams in each grade division has far exceeded 6 teams), sub divisions are created at play-off time based on regular season results. Each sub division has its own play-off and Championship. In the fall of 2016 we had 18 teams in a 1st-2nd grade division and had five Champions; 28 teams and seven Champions in the 3rd-4th grade division; 20 teams and four Champions in a 5th grade division; 12 teams and three Champions in a 6th grade division; and 16 teams and four Champions in a 7th-8th grade division.

Within each grade division, efforts are made to create competitive match-up each week. [this is to make up for the fact that there is no longer an attempt to create even teams] Each week the match-ups are determined by the results of the prior games. For example in week 2 of the regular season, teams that are 1-0 play each other, and teams that are 0-1 play each other. [As long as the math works out evenly, sometimes teams tie, or there is an odd number of 1-0 and 0-1 teams] In week 3 teams that are 2-0, 1-1 and 0-2 are usually matched up against each other etc.

There is nothing wrong with coaches trying to win, but coaches must use all players in a meaningful way. It is far more import to the kids, to play and have fun each week and be involved in the game than it is just to win. Parents and coaches get too caught up at times with just whether the team won or lost; for the kids it is more about the experience each week.

So far the league has been able to provide very competitive match-ups for the very competitive teams, and appropriate match-ups for the weakest teams, and all teams in between. 

Everyone in the program receives an e-mail on the Thursday (sometimes Friday) prior to Saturday game day with your field assignment and the identity of your opponent. Your grade division will play at the same time each week so you at least know that your child's team plays on Saturday at a particular time each week, what gets provided to you each week is your field assignment, along with an aerial view of the park with the field locations.

The coaches are parent volunteers, so when signing up, please advise if you are interested in coaching a team.

The program is sanctioned by NFL Flag Football  so we use the official NFL names and logos on the jerseys for the teams. [Coaches are asked to submit the top 5 NFL team names they would want to be, and any teams, they definitely do not want to be.] Each player gets a double sided jersey with a light and dark side for "home and away;" and a belt with flags. Cleats (non-metal) are recommended for traction, but not required. Mouth guards are strongly recommended and can be purchased at sporting-goods stores and Walmart etc.

For the Spring 2017 we will get started on April 1st with a pre-season session and will conclude by June 18th.

No games on Easter Weekend, April 15th;  or Memorial Day Weekend, May 27th.