Addendum to CYSA Cup Competition Directives, Rules & Regulations for Items Specific to CYSA State Cup

I. CYSA STATE CUP COMPETITION

II. CYSA STATE CUP ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

III. TEAM FORMATION

IV. GAMES AND FIELDS

V. FINES, FORFEITS, PENALTIES AND REFUNDS

VI. AWARDS

VII. AUTHORITY  

I. CYSA STATE CUP COMPETITIONS

A.      The purpose of the CYSA State Cup competitions is the selection of CYSA State Champions in each age and gender group.  Separate competitions will be held in both boys and girls U10, U11, U12, U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U18, U19 divisions.  Only winners of the U12, U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U18 and U19 division competitions will be eligible to represent California Youth Soccer Association in the annual US Youth Soccer Region IV Cup Competition.

B.      CYSA State Cup competitions are open to all CYSA registered teams so long as such teams are in good standing at the time of entry and remain in good standing during the competition.

C.      A team or player may play in only one (1) state competition (i.e. team or player may not play in CYSA State Cup and CYSA Association Cup or CYSA Founders' Cup) within the same current seasonal year. Any player on a frozen roster is considered to have participated in cup play.

II. CYSA STATE CUP ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

A.      In order for a team to be eligible for CYSA State Cup Competition, it must submit:

1.       The CYSA State Cup Competition Entry Form filled-out completely (type or print and be sure to include a fax number and e-mail address if available) A registered team official is required to sign the application.

2.       The CYSA State Cup Entry Fee in the form of a check, money order or credit card made payable to CYSA for $575.00

3.       A legible copy of the team's roster (goldenrod) that has been authorized by the district registrar.

B.      Completed applications submitted by teams from a fully affiliated CYSA league, consisting of the three items in Section III, item A, above, must be received at the CYSA office (1040 Serpentine Lane, Suite 201, Pleasanton, CA  94566) no later than 5 PM, October 15, 2009.

C.      Applications submitted by teams from a fully affiliated CYSA league that are received after 5 PM on October 15, 2009 and before 5 PM on November 2, 2009 will be accepted with a $625.00 entry fee.

D.      Any team that participates in an Under-9 or younger playing league may not enter the CYSA State Cup.

E.      Late receipt of entry through delay by the U.S. Mail, other carriers, or delivery by person cannot and will not be accepted.  NO EXCEPTIONS!  Entries on any but a CYSA State Cup Entry form will not be accepted. Non-acceptance of entries for failure to meet entry deadlines is not protestable.

F.      Teams that enter after the November 1st deadline are not guaranteed the opportunity to play.  They must pay an entry fee of $675.00 by credit card, certified check, money order, or bank cashiers check.  Any team that enters after the November 2^nd deadline and meets all other entrance requirements will be put into the "Reserve Pool".

1.       The CYSA State Cup Committee may blind draw additional teams from the "Reserve Pool" of teams in a particular division to make that division divisible by four (4) prior to the draw.  The CYSA State Cup Committee will only draw enough teams to get to the first number of teams divisible by four (4) above the number of teams that have entered CYSA State Cup in the specific age/gender division of play at the time of the CYSA State Cup Deadline for Entry that does not include any "late fee" penalty.  The CYSA State Cup Committee cannot draw any more than a maximum of three (3) teams to attain a division of play that is divisible by four (4). The deadline to adjust and add teams to flights divisible by four (4) shall be at 5:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding the DRAW for each age/gender division of play.  Anytime that a team is needed to "fill" a flight in CYSA State Cup play, a team in the "Reserve Pool" in the proper age/gender group shall be blind drawn from the "Pool."

2.       The CYSA State Cup Committee may draw from the "Pool" if a team drops from CYSA State Cup play in the team's proper age/gender division.

3.       Any team not blind drawn from the "Reserve Pool" when play commences shall have $575.00 of its entry fee returned to the team within thirty (30) days from the first day of play in the team's age/gender division. The $100.00 that will be retained by CYSA is an "administrative late fee."

G.     In order to be eligible to play in CYSA State Cup, a team must have played in a CYSA affiliated league with at least three (3) other teams and have played three (3) different teams at least once BEFORE it is eligible to participate in CYSA State Cup.  In a district where a team's league does not begin play until CYSA State Cup Play has already begun, or a team has not been able to play the required number of games because of inclement weather, the team's District Commissioner shall notify the CYSA State Cup Chairman in writing of the team's conflict with this rule and explain why there is a conflict AT LEAST FIVE (5) DAYS PRIOR TO THE TOURNAMENT DRAW FOR THAT TEAM'S AGE/GENDER GROUP.  If the team is accepted for play in the tournament it shall be the responsibility of the team's District Commissioner to make sure that the team meets the requirements of this paragraph BEFORE the end of the seasonal playing year of that specific year's CYSA State Cup Tournament.  The District Commissioner shall notify the CYSA State Cup Chairman in writing when a team that has received a temporary exemption from this rule has met the requirements as called for in this paragraph.  Under no circumstances, and notwithstanding the foregoing, will any team be eligible to participate in CYSA State Cup if its participation in league play was only for the purpose of creating or establishing eligibility to participate in CYSA State Cup.

H.      The Under 10 age groups must have a minimum of 16 teams to be considered an eligible division otherwise the division will not be included in the CYSA State Cup.

I.        Any team that enters CYSA State Cup Competition agrees to play WHEREVER it is assigned to play within the CYSA geographical boundaries without complaint to CYSA.

III. TEAM FORMATION

These elements are in addition to those listed in CYSA Cup Competition Rules

Any team entering CYSA State Cup may not release a player or players in order to qualify for a lower age group division.  A team is required to play in CYSA State Cup at the oldest age group at which it was ever rostered during the seasonal year.  Player releases are allowed in certain circumstances per CYSA Specific Rule 4:06 (B, C, D) which states:

4:06:01 (B) - A player may be released from a team by the coach only if the player is unable to play for one of the following reasons:

A.             The player has violated USYS rules or state disciplinary rules.

B.             The player has moved beyond a reasonable travel distance.

C.             The player is injured in such a manner that the player will not be able to participate for the remainder of the season.

D.             Dissolution of teams.  A dissolved team can be defined as a team which has been registered and has been playing but ceases to exist before less than one-half (1/2) of their league season has been played.

4:06:01 (C) - A player may voluntarily request to be released from a team.

4:06:01 (D) - A player, upon reaching their eighteenth birthday will not require a parent/guardian approval for transfer or release.

The team must demonstrate continuity of rosters between league and CYSA State Cup by maintaining a minimum of nine (9) players common to the rosters of both competitions

IV. GAMES AND FIELDS: Elements unique to CYSA State Cup scheduling

A.      All properly received CYSA State Cup entries will be entered into preliminary rounds by a modified blind-draw, which will be open to the general public.

1.       The CYSA State Cup Committee reserves the right to combine flights with less than three (3) teams in the flights after the draw has taken place.  (This would take place after a team has dropped from the competition and there are not any teams available in the "Reserve Pool" to take the place of the team/teams that have withdrawn from competition in the specific flight or flights.)  The combining of these flights must take place no later than 6:00 PM on the Tuesday prior to the first weekend of play in the particular age/gender division that is being adjusted.

2.       The CYSA State Cup Committee reserves the right when necessary to bring two (2) teams forward to the next round from certain predetermined flights in the preliminary round of play to ensure that all age divisions will have complete quarter-final play in the competition. 

3.       The Regional Divisions of play may be formatted in any manner that the CYSA State Cup Committee feels will create a "level playing field" for all teams in those two (2) divisions of play, etc.  This could include single elimination, double elimination, Round Robin, flight play, etc.  The type of format for the Regional Divisions shall be determined by the number of teams in each division and the time frame available to complete play in these divisions.

4.       In the event that a team is added to a CYSA State Cup age/gender group after the draw has been taken place do to an administrative error by the CYSA State Cup Committee, that team will be placed into the competition as follows:  All flights of three (3) in the specific age/gender group will be put into a "hat", one of the flights will be drawn from the "hat" and the team will be the fourth (4th) team in that flight.

5.       If in the opinion of the CYSA State Cup Chairman and his/her Committee an uncorrectable error is made in the draw of a division of teams and it is discovered after the draw had taken place, the CYSA State Cup Chairman and CYSA State Cup Committee shall determine the best and most expeditious manner in which to redraw the particular division/divisions if they determine that a partial or complete redraw is necessary.  The implementation of this shall be done as quickly as possible with the approval of the CYSA 3rd Vice Chairman.

B. There will be seeding of eight (8) teams in the Under 12 through Under 19 age divisions. In order to have eight (8) teams seeded, the age group must have the minimum number of teams necessary to create no fewer than 8 brackets, otherwise only four will be seeded.

1.        The eight (8) teams that will be seeded for this year's CYSA State Cup Tournament in the above referenced age divisions will be last year's CYSA State Cup Winner, Runner Up, and the six remaining quarter-finalists that will be moved up one age group division for this year's CYSA State Cup Play.  In the event that a team played "up" an age group in the previous year's CYSA State Cup Competition and they are a "seeded" team based on the team being a finalist in the previous year's CYSA State Cup Play they will take precedent in the "seeding" of teams in their age/gender division over any team that is moving up an age group from the previous year's CYSA State Cup Competition. The previous year's CYSA State Cup Champion will be seeded #1, the previous year's CYSA State Cup Runner Up will be seeded #2, the determining factor as to the order of the remaining quarter-finalist teams shall be determined by the results of the semi-final or quarter-final games in which the teams participated in during the previous year's CYSA State Cup Tournament.  The #3 and #4 seeds will be the non-advancing semi-finalist teams and will be seeded third and fourth based on the following tie breakers:  1) Goal differential, goals scored versus goals allowed, (if one team lost 0-4 (-4 goal differential) and the other team lost 1-3 (-2 goal differential), the team with the 1-3 loss would be the #3 seed).  2) Least goals allowed.  3) Most goals scored.  4) Coin toss.  Tie breaking procedures will begin with (1) and continue in numerical sequence to (4).  When one of the tiebreakers shows a differential between the teams, the prevailing team shall become the #3 seed immediately without continuing to any other tiebreakers. Seeds # 5, # 6, #7, and #8 will be the non advancing quarter-finalist teams and will be seeded in order based on the tie breaking system used for determining the third and fourth seeds.

a.      Should a game remain tied at the end of the regulation and overtime periods, resulting in kicks from the mark to determine the winner, the score as it stands at the conclusion of the overtime periods will be used in the determination of seeding. (for example, if one team lost 1-2 and the other team tied 2-2, the team with the 2-2 tie would receive the higher seed.)

2.       In the event that a team does not meet the eligibility requirements to be a seeded team even though the team was a finalist from the preceding year's CYSA State Cup Competition, or the team is not entered in the current CYSA State Cup Competition all teams "seeded" below that team will be moved up in the "seeding" and no new teams will be "seeded" to fill the vacant "seeding" position created by the move up of the other teams.

3.       In order to qualify for a seeded position in CYSA State Cup Play, a team must essentially be the same team that played in CYSA State Cup the previous year.  The criteria for determining if a team is to be considered a "returning" team is as follows:

a.      At least fifty percent (50%) of the team's players return from the previous year's CYSA State Cup Team Roster.

b.      The team is rostered and the players are registered with the same league and district, as they were the previous season.

c.       The team is in good standing with their league and district.

d.      Any team that does not meet these criteria shall go into the blind-draw pool with all the other teams in its respective age division; and, that age division shall have less than four (4) seeded teams.

e.      The CYSA State Cup Chairman shall send a response form to each district registrar with the names of all teams from their district that were either finalists, semifinalists or quarterfinalists in the previous years CYSA State Cup competition.  The district registrars will then be asked to verify whether these teams meet the criteria listed in a-c above.

C.      If, due to the withdrawal of teams, half or more of the preliminary brackets contain three or fewer teams, the CYSA State Cup Committee may schedule a redraw of that age group.  In addition, the CYSA State Cup Committee may redraw any age group if withdrawals reduce the total number of teams in that age group competition to a level, which would eliminate the need for an extra round of competition.

D.      Each district is expected to provide one field for every four teams which enter CYSA State Cup in the U14 to U19 age groups and one field for every six teams that enter in the U10 to U13 age groups.  For every two (2) fields that a Hosting District provides, at least one (1) of its teams will be scheduled at home during the Preliminary Rounds.

E.      The host district is responsible for supplying referees, credential review personnel (through its District Registrar), game fields (and/or alternative fields). The recommended minimum dimensions for game fields are: 50 to 90 yards long x 35 to 60 yards wide for U10; 100 yards long x 60 yards wide for U11 - U13; 100 yards long x 70 yards wide for U14 - U19.  The CYSA State Cup Chairman may place games on different sized fields if the use of such fields is necessary for the timely play of CYSA State Cup games.  Fields should be properly marked and ready by game time, with corner flags and nets in good condition. The referee's decision, as to whether any field is playable or not, is not protestable.  It is recommended that field marshals be available for crowd control, etc.

F.      For this competition, US Youth Soccer National Championship Rules regarding substitutions will be followed, if adopted, for Regional Cup play.  For U-16 through U-19 age groups, this may involve limited substitutions.

V. FINES, FORFEITS, PENALTIES AND REFUNDS

In order to withdraw from play, a team must submit a notice in writing to the CYSA office during business hours and must receive written confirmation from the CYSA office that the notice has been received.

A.      Any team that applies to CYSA State Cup, as a "Reserve Pool" team will be assessed an additional fee of $100.00 above the regular CYSA State Cup entry fee.

B.      Any team that withdraws from the CYSA State Cup AFTER their application has been received by CYSA, but prior to the draw, will lose their entry fee.

C.      Any team that withdraws from CYSA State Cup play AFTER the draw, but at least one week prior to the start of scheduled play, will lose their entry fee and be fined $300.00.

D.      Any team that withdraws from CYSA State Cup less than one week prior to the start of scheduled play, but before 5:00 p.m. the Friday before scheduled play will lose their entry fee and be fined $500.00.

E.      Any team that does not withdraw prior to 5:00 p.m. the Friday before the start of play, forfeits a game after the start of the preliminary round, or is eliminated from the competition per Section IV, item I of the CYSA Cup Competition Directives, Rules & Regulations will lose their entry fee and be fined $750.00.

F.      For teams that play only one game in the preliminary round due to forfeit/forfeits these penalty fees may be used to defray their expenses.

G.     It is the responsibility of each League to ensure that all CYSA State Cup fees and fines are paid to CYSA.  Leagues with outstanding fees and fines will be ineligible for CYSA State Cup play until they pay their fees and fines.

VI. AWARDS

A.      A commemorative team trophy will be presented to the winning team's coach.

B.      Participation pins will be given to all teams up to a maximum of twenty (20) per team for U10-U15 teams and twenty-four (24) per team for U16, U17, U18 and U19 teams.

C.      Individual championship game medals will be presented as follows:

1.       A maximum of twenty (20) medals per team for U10-U15 teams and twenty-four (24) medals per team for U16, U17, U18 and U19 teams.

VII. AUTHORITY

A.      The CYSA Board of Directors reserves the right to change any rule prior to the competition, and such changes will take effect five (5) days after written notification has been made to all teams entered/remaining in that competition.

B.      During the competition, questions regarding interpretation of these rules and matters not addressed herein shall be resolved by the CYSA State Cup Coordinator on site or the CYSA State Cup Committee Chairman.