Vista Pop Warner

VPW Draft Guidelines

In February 2010 the Vista Pop Warner Board of Directors adopted new rules to build teams in the competitive divisions. The board believes that a Draft that includes evaluations will provide a safer, more equitable and competitive environment for all players and VPW teams participating in the Palomar Conference and Wescon Region.

Who Is Affected?

The Draft affects four age/weight divisions of tackle football (Junior Pee Wee, Pee Wee, Junior Midget and Midget). Flag teams, Junior Mitey Mite and Mitey Mite will be formed as in past years, through tracking returning players and adding new players in a blind draft run by the Player Agent. Flag through Mitey Mite are for player instruction that focuses on learning the fundamentals of the game, safe playing techniques and participating on a team.

Explanation Of The Draft

In the Draft, all players returning and new (JPW, PW, JM & M) are evaluated on football skills and experience at an evaluation session in May and then ranked within their age/weight division. If there is only enough players for one team in these divisions there will not be an evaluation of those players.

The Head Coaches within each division will use the evaluations of all of the players to select players for their team. As there are no try outs to play football in Pop Warner all of the players will be placed on a team until the maximum numbers of players per team is reached.

General Info

To facilitate an orderly and fair draft process, there will no longer be “requests” accepted to play for a certain coach, team and/or to play D2 or D3. Players are also assigned to the lowest age/weight division for which they qualify. The only exception to this is if the parents sign a waiver specifically requesting the player move to a higher age/weight class. This is a Pop Warner Rule. Please note that if the player goes up an age/weight division, there is no guarantee that the player will end up tracking with friends or a certain coach since they will be placed in the draft pool.

In practice, many players are likely to track with their coaches from the previous year. However, unlike previous years there are no team placement guarantees and VPW is not granting any exceptions to the placement rules without full board approval.

The VPW Board recognizes this represents a change from past seasons. The process is not perfect, however, there has been significant research and effort put into developing the Draft process and we ask for your patience and understanding as we roll out this new method for choosing teams.

FAQs

Why Did Palomar Conference Move to a D2;D3 System?

The Presidents of the Associations within Palomar Conference voted to move to a D2;D3 system to provide a safer and more competitive environment for all our players. D2 is essentially D1 and for teams that want to advance to the National Championships. D3 is the new D2 and is still a competitive level and will have different levels so that teams are playing similar teams in ability. Players develop at different speeds from their peers. By providing a multi-layered system in D2;D3 the players can be placed on teams competing with other teams of like skill sets. This is safer and more fun for the kids.

Will There Be Play Off Games for D3?

Palomar is currently working out a Play Off and Championship for the D3 level that will likely include Inland Empire Conference and San Diego Conference. This would be a fun and competitive setting.

Why did VPW drop Tracking for a Draft?

Every association fielding more than one team per age/weight division in the Palomar Conference has moved to some type of draft since 2008. VPW is one of the last associations in the conference to use tracking in the competitive divisions. This led to unbalanced teams in the divisions that led to serious safety issues on some of the teams.

Can I Request My Child Play for a Certain Coach, Friends or for Carpooling?

No. Such requests will not be honored under the Draft.

Honoring such requests for team placement defeats the purpose of the draft. The more exceptions to the rules that are allowed, the less likely we will be able to create balanced teams. A draft achieves three goals: 1) It creates a safer environment for players; 2) It gives players a chance to compete for starting positions and playing time on teams against players with similar skills at both the D2 and D3 levels; 3) It means VPW teams can better compete against teams from other associations that create their teams using a draft.

Please let us know if you have additional questions.

Thank you,

The VPW Board of Directors