For the past eight years my kids have played soccer here in Moorpark through AYSO. Every one of those years my wife and I have participated as a coach, team parent or team sponsor and it has been a wonderful experience.

However, this year was different. We registered my daughter, or tried to register her, for her sixth year in AYSO only to find out she had to be placed on a waiting list along with eight other girls.

We were told they were working on it, but nobody was very optimistic that any of the girls would be placed on a team. This was not because of a lack of coaches or volunteers, but because the AYSO board was more concerned about having the correct amount of players on each team.

You see, according to the AYSO "everyone plays" philosophy, each player must play at least half of every game. So adding an additional player to each team might jeopardize that rule.

But how about adding an additional team? It seems that option might require some scheduling changes, but there was plenty of time and it would give everyone more playing time, or more importantly, it would give all those interested in playing the chance to play.

Instead, AYSO decided not to create an additional team and those eight girls did not get a chance to play at all. To make things worse, there was no denial letter, no phone call, no communication at all.

AYSO has another philosophy about open registration which states "Our program is open to all children between 4 and 19 years of age who want to register and play soccer. Interest and enthusiasm are the only criteria for playing." I agree with this philosophy and believe it is even more essential than the "everyone plays" rule.

I understand that the Moorpark AYSO is a volunteer organization, but just like any organization, they need to re-evaluate their priorities. It is absurd that these girls cannot play this year. In an organization that is supposed to be "all about the kids" they sure missed the target this time.

Maybe they couldn't have made an additional team work, or maybe it's just time for some volunteers to pass the torch. Ed Mangola Moorpark