May 3, 2019



To all clubs, teams, coaches:



In response to an inherent issue regarding the use of club pass players.



Background



Club passes were instituted by the league to assist teams and clubs with the need to field a team when injuries, short term availability, participation in other sports, or unanticipated numerical issues from registration presented themselves.  CPYSL had found that the practice of secondary players became a concern from several standpoints, one as primary coaches were not being made aware of player being secondary on another team, two the short notice teams that sometimes occurred could not get approval in time for a match by requesting secondary status, and third the cost to teams to cover the EPYSA fee for secondary play.



Findings



The policy for the use of club passes was instituted in good faith to help the smaller clubs participate with their limited registration to field teams and encourage maximum participation by providing a deeper pool to pull players up in short notice to assist in fielding teams on a weekly basis. The practice was to allow lower level & younger players to move up to be challenged while supporting other club teams as a club pass player role.  This policy was never meant to be a full-time tool for teams to field a complete team and certainly was not meant for coaches to undermine the divisions in place by having players to move down and show off their skillset to players who are participating at a lower division level.



The practice of bringing upper level player into a lower level team also undermines the divisions we have instituted to have equal teams playing competitively, with this practice a weaker team would show a synthetic positive win-loss record that realistically they would not enjoy without these upper level teams participating, and eventually the synthetic record can effect where teams are placed into the next season.



Policy Revision



Effective May 3rd the recognition of the club pass policy shall be players can be moved up in age or level to compete in a higher-level match as a club pass player without restriction. For the duration of the spring season 2019, if necessary to field a team, the allowance to utilize players from higher level teams will be tolerated however the league expects clubs to utilized discretion in this practice, the use of the highest caliber player from a roster should be dissuaded and the use of a player on more equal level shall be encouraged.



For the duration of the Spring 2019 season, the President will review the movement of club players and work directly with the member clubs to keep levels competitive in all divisions and age groups. Clubs may monitor the performance of teams using the club pass players and report directly to me with comments, situations, recommendations, and policy abuses.



Respectfully;



James Conners

President CPYSL