ASCENSION ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
PLAYER ELIGIBILITY AND TEAM FORMATION GUIDELINES
A. PLAYER ELIGIBILITY
1. BASKETBALL
All boys and girls, K through 8th grade, are eligible for participation in the basketball program if
the child’s family is a registered member of Ascension Parish.
2. GOLF
All boys and girls, 2nd through 8th grade, are eligible for participation in the golf program if the
child’s family lives within the Ascension Parish boundaries (unless your parish does not have a
program).
3. SOCCER
All boys and girls, Pre-K through High School, are eligible for participation in the soccer
program if the child’s family resides in the Ascension Parish boundaries, or is a registered
member of Ascension Parish, or attends either Ascension School or the Ascension School of
Religion.
4. TRACK & FIELD
All boys and girls, 6 through 15 years of age, are eligible for participation in the track program if
the child’s family is a registered member of Ascension Parish. The eligibility of a child to
participate in a given age division is determined by his/her age as of June 30th of the previous
year. For example, a child that was 10 years of age on June 30th would be eligible to participate
as an athlete in the 9-10 age group even though they may now be 11 years of age.
5. VOLLEYBALL
All boys and girls, 3rd through 8th grade, are eligible for participation in the volleyball program if
the child’s family is a registered member of Ascension Parish.
6. WRESTLING
All boys and girls, 3rd through 8th grade, are eligible for participation in the wrestling program if
the child’s family is a registered member of Ascension Parish.
7. ADULT VOLLEYBALL
Participants must be at least 21 years of age.
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8. EXCEPTIONS
Any exceptions must be approved by the Program Director and West County CYC. The
Program Director for each sport should maintain a list of families for whom exceptions are made.
Students at St. Joseph's Institute of the Deaf are eligible to participate in AAA sports programs.
B. TEAM FORMATION GUIDELINES
1. TRAINING LEAGUE
Training league teams will be formed by grouping children by subdivision, school, or by requests
for a given a coach, up to the assigned maximum number of players per team.
2. REGULAR LEAGUE
All players are expected to play at their grade level. Any exceptions will be handled by their
Grade Level Coordinator. Teams should remain intact from year to year, as much as possible.
All players who have played and finished the previous season on an Ascension team, and who
registers on or before the last regular registration date is assured a spot on the same team, unless
that team is dissolved or merged with another team. Players whose team has been "dissolved"
due to lack of returning players will be given preference over new players. Grade Level
Coordinators will make an effort to keep players from "dissolved teams" paired together as they
are placed on new teams.
Grade Level Coordinators will work with players and Coaches to place players from "dissolved"
team onto existing teams.
All new players will be placed in a "pool" and assigned to teams based on space available on
each roster. The Grade Level Coordinator, with the goal of balancing the number of players on
each team, will place new players after existing players have been assigned. In all cases,
individual requests for team assignment will be considered, but cannot be guaranteed.
Players requesting to move from one existing team to another may do so in writing at the time of
registration, and may be moved, provided it creates a balance among the number of players on
each team. This request must come from the parents of the player, not from either Coach. The
Grade Level Coordinator will make the final decision.
Each year, the respective program will set the minimum and maximum number of players per
team. If after assigning no more than the maximum player limit to each team, there are a number
of unassigned players which is less than the minimum player limit for a team, then the Grade
Level Coordinator may take one or more of the following actions:


Assign the unassigned players to existing teams up to the maximum player limit, or,
Reduce the minimum player limit and form a new team with the unassigned players, or
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

Increase the maximum player limit and assign the unassigned players to existing teams
up to the new maximum player limit, or
Rescind the registrations of the unassigned players and refund their registration fees.
This last option shall be used as a last resort only.
In determining the above assignments, the Grade Level Coordinator shall give preference to
players who registered on or before the last regular registration date. Every effort will be made
to place all players who register during the regular registration period on a team. Players who
register late will be placed on teams only when space is available.
All coaches must accept on his roster any player assigned to the coach’s team by the
Coordinator, following the guidelines set by the Ascension Athletic Association. A Coach may
not remove a player from the Coach’s roster for any reason.
At no time may a Coach encourage a parent/guardian to request a player reassignment from the
coach’s team to another Ascension team for any reason. At no time may a Coach encourage a
parent/guardian to request a player reassignment from another Ascension team to the Coach’s
team for any reason.
A coach found to be in violation of any of the above rules will be reprimanded and face possible
suspension or expulsion from coaching in the Ascension program.
The Grade Level Coordinator will consider approving a voluntary player reassignment to another
Ascension team only in the following cases:


A parent/guardian of the player notifies the Grade Level Coordinator and both coaches
involved (current team and new team) of the player’s intent to play for a specific different
Ascension team, and both coaches involved are notified, or
A parent/guardian of the player or the coach notifies the Grade Level Coordinator of
his/her desire for the player to be reassigned to a different Ascension team due to
irreconcilable differences between the parent/guardian/player and the coach.
The Grade Level Coordinator will evaluate player movement on a case-by-case basis. The
Grade Level Coordinator will approve or disapprove voluntary player reassignments based on
the best interests of the program, the player/parent/guardian, and the coach, and the balance of
number of players of all the teams at that grade level. Any player reassignments must comply
with these Team Formation Guidelines and rules established by the league(s) in which the
current and new teams play.
The Ascension Athletic Association Program Director must approve any exception to these
guidelines in writing prior to final team formation. Issues with policy enforcement may be
brought to the Ascension Athletic Association Board. All grievances must be submitted in
writing to the Ascension Athletic Association Program Director or a Board Member at least one
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week prior to an Ascension Athletic Association meeting. This document should clearly state
the issue, all parties involved, and the desired resolution.
C. INDIVIDUAL SPORTS
The following sports are seen as individual sports, even though the players are part of an
Ascension "team". These sports do not require grade level coordination, and team
placement/formation may be handled by the overall Coordinator for that sport.


Wrestling
Track
D. ROSTERS
The minimum/maximum number of players per team shall be as follows. Coaches may make a
request to the program Director, with a valid reason, to have a larger roster.






Basketball: 6 - 10 players
Golf:
8 - 10 players
Soccer:
7 - 10 players (Pre-K)
8 - 10 players (K-1st)
10 - 12 players (2nd-3rd)
12 - 17 players (4th-8th)
14 - 21 players (High School)
Track:
n/a
Volleyball: 5 - 9 players
Wrestling: n/a
June 16, 2011: Charles Clemens
Updated “Player Eligibility” section for each sport (Section A)
Consolidated roster minimum and maximum information (Section D)
Voted on and approved: Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Effective: January 1, 2006
Mike McDonough, President
Bridget Nations, Vice President
Ken Adler, Treasurer
Renee Bleyer, Secretary
Ted Federer, Past President
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