ach fall the Draperton Parks and Recreation Department holds a series of tryouts for its boys' and girls' youth basketball leagues. All leagues are formed by age group,each usually encompassing a couple of ages. One such grouping is the 12- to 13-year-old girls' league. This is a particularly competitive age group because the girls are all trying to improve their skills in hopes of making the high school junior varsity team in the immediate future and the high school varsity in several years. Some of the girls even hope to make the high school varsity next year, when they are freshmen. This is also the first age group in which notall girls who try out are placed on teams; some are cut. Inthe younger age groups, all players are assigned to teams.However, at this age group, four teams are formed, eachwith only seven players. This policy was agreed on by acommittee consisting of the Recreation Department director,a group of parents of past players, and the high schoolboys' and girls' basketball coaching staff. The small rostersize allows each player to get a lot of playing time andmakes the games more competitive. It also makes the teamsmore competitive in tournaments with teams