FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

HEAL POINT SYSTEM

The HEAL point system is intended as an alternative to using a strict Win/Loss method of determining playoff seating.  The HEAL system as used by the SMYFL takes into account each organization's school system size or the total school population of the organization's sphere of influence (see the SMYFL bylaws for each organization's sphere of influence).  Since we do not play every team in the league each year, a straight Win/Loss system would not always be able to be used for playoff seating.  So the HEAL system was adopted.
 
You can read more about the HEAL system on the Maine Principal's Association (MPA) site at: http://www.mpa.cc/hpmenu.html
 
Along with the HEAL system comes a mountain of questions as people look at the results as the season progresses and scratch their head from week to week.  Even when you do out the math to see the weekly results, it is still staggering how much of an effect a game played between Teams A and B can have such a ripple effect on all the other teams in the league.
 
The SMYFL uses a spreadsheet that implements the HEAL points system for calculating the points.  Each week, the teams that win their games have the name of the team they beat entered into their team's worksheet.  The calculations are done, and the scores are generated onto a master page used to generate the webpages that are viewable on this website.
 
The HEAL point system is difficult to understand until you really dig in to the calculations.  But here is the basics:
  • Each team starts off with a basic value they are worth, based on their organizations weighting
  • When a team loses, they do not lose any points.  A team can only gain points, or stay at the same number of points.
  • When Team A beats Team B, Team A earns points based on the current value of Team B
  • If Team A beats Team B, every game that Team B wins during the season, Team A also earns points.
  • Even if Team B loses a game, they *could* still gain HEAL points that week.  If team(s) that Team B have beaten in previous week(s) win against their opponent on the same week that Team B lost, Team B will gain points.  For example, if Team A defeats Team B in Week 1, every time that Team B wins during weeks 2-8 against opponents that are worth points, Team A will gain points as well as Team B
  • A win is always worth at least a fraction of a point, even against a winless team
  • The number of games played affects the number of HEAL points.  The total number of  points earned by a team is divided by the number of games that team has played to determine the number of HEAL points.

    Its a complex system.  The state no longer uses the HEAL point system for football, as they no longer have mixed class leagues (class A, B, C, D).  They use the Crabtree System, which is similar to the HEAL point system, without the different weights for teams based on their school population.  Because SMYFL has various size schools, we opted for the HEAL system.  Both HEAL and Crabtree are more accurate (in theory) than straight win/loss records, since each team does not get to play every team in the league. 

    Currently, the SMYFL teams have the following class weighting assigned to them:

        Class Weights Team Names Class
    A 40 Biddeford A
    B 35 Bonny Eagle A
    C 30 Gorham A
    D 25 Kennebunk B
    Kittery A
    MarshwoodA
    MassabesicA
    NobleA
    Portland(1)A
    Portland(2)A
    Portland(3)A
    SacoA
    SanfordA
    Scarborough A
    Somersworth B
    South Portland A
    Wells B
    Westbrook A
    Windham A
    York B
     
    Hopefully this helps explain it better.  Remember when looking at early HEAL point standings, that one team may appear to be very far ahead of others, depending on the teams that they've played.  If a team has not lost any games through Week 4, they might be ranked behind a team that is 3-1 if the undefeated team has played teams that have no/few wins. 
     
    Yes, teams whose schedule happens to have a larger number of winless teams (or teams with losing records) on their schedule do suffer in the HEAL points.  But it's luck of the draw, as we randomly draw names for slots on the schedule.  And, once we reach the playoffs, the HEAL points are only used to seat the teams, but have no direct bearing on which team wins the championship.  It still comes down to head-to-head competition between teams throughout the playoffs and championship.
     

    DISPLAY PROBLEMS

    Q: When I view the STANDINGS page, I don't see the latest results, I see last week's results. What do I do?

    A: Assuming that the standings have been updated, your web browser may be showing you a stored copy of the old web page. This storing of old web pages is called caching, and is used to display the requested web page in your browser more quickly than if the browser had to read the page from the website.

    Changing the caching setting to check for updates every time is the best way to avoid this issue. But the process for changing that setting varies for every web browser.

    A quick solution is to force your browser "refresh" the page.

    The text for that section of the web page will update and show you that latest version from the server.

  • Some browsers do not display the lines in the various tables displayed on pages.  If this happens with your browser, click the CLICK TO PRINT THIS PAGE link in the top corner of the page to see the PDF version of the page which will show you everything, regardless of the browser you are using.



    PRINTING PROBLEMS

    Q: I want to print a page that does not have a CLICK HERE TO PRINT link, but it keeps printing the wrong part of the webpage. How can I print the part that I want to print?

    A: Place your mouse cursor over a section of text you wish to print (do not highlight any text). RIGHT-CLICK with your mouse, and choose PRINT from the menu that pops up.