I looked at GA's U14 Boys classic teams wondering how their team faired in different divisions. Across divisions I - V, they have 65 teams. Most divisions have about 11 teams. Focusing on their Division I & II (as a surrogate to SC's Challenge level, two teams went 0-10 and had average goal differentials per game of -3.6 and -4.8. The next lowest winning team in Division I & II went 2-7-1 with a average goal differentials per game of -1.9. On the other end of the spectrum, there were four Division II, III, and IV teams with a winning percentage >= 0.85 and an average goal differentials per game ranging from 2.6 to 3.2.

In SC there are 78 teams in U13/U14 classic/challenge last fall. In classic teams, there were 8 teams with winning percentages > 0.83 with goal differentials of 2.62, 2.67, 4, 4.17, 4.42, 4.67, 5.11, and 6.08. On the lower end in the challenge division, the lower goal differntial generally topped out at -2.13 with two team in the -5s.

My take is that SC club/teams (at U13/U14) have generally be able to judge whether they can be competitive in challenge level soccer.

And of the 47 classic teams, there are relatively few whose record and goal differential might suggest they're candidates considering challenge down the road.

Does SC need mandatory promotion/relegation -- based on this data I say no. (I don't really like being told what to do either.)

Should SCYSA consider whether to create a third division at the U13/U14 level? And to avoid too many repeat games, perhaps provide some "cross-over" games. Taking U13B for instance where we had 7 challenge and 12 classic teams last fall, leave the 7 in challenge and break the 12 classic teams into two divisions (classic I and II), and schedule some challenge vs classic I games as well as some classic I vs classic II games.

Would this work?
How would state cup time work out?
How many teams does one need to form a third division?
Would creating a 3rd division bring more teams to consider "converting from rec to classic"?
Would this be good for player development?