We are publishing our first rankings. We wanted to make sure we were out front with a few differences you might observe in these rankings as opposed to previous rankings.
First, there are only 5 teams currently ranked in 8u and 15 in the 9u age group. We have just not been able to separate enough teams in these age groups based on the current results from the fall season. We plan to expand these rankings to 20 teams in each age group, and are currently contemplating level of competition rankings (separated D1/Majors, D2/AAA, etc.) and/or regional rankings.
Second, we are going to be placing a heavier emphasis on level of competition. There are multiple teams ranked in these first rankings who currently have losing records. These teams generally have one or more quality wins over excellent opponents (or against older competition) and have most, if not all, of their losses against quality competition. The whole purpose of these rankings was to be so that teams could identify other top competition in and out of their own region. We don't want to penalize teams too harshly who go and find that competition.
Third, and most importantly, these rankings are in no way definitive. We readily admit we got things wrong with these rankings and over ranked and under ranked good teams. Feel free to reach out to us here, on twitter, or in the forums and let us know what we missed. We are going to try and let the results dictate the rankings as best we can.
Finally, congratulations to all teams. It's been an exciting start to the fall season and there have been some really incredible match ups already.