Birmingham Groves Highschool Girls Soccer

[GROVESHSCOACH]

Pvan4's idea was just too good, so I decided to do the same for my girls HS team as well. Our season starts a little later since we are up here in the cold and snow.

I am looking forward to the season. We shold have 70 to 75 girls trying out for the program. We run 3 squads, a Varsity squad, JV squad and a Freshmen squad. We are a public school with about 1407 kids. My girls come from various clubs such as Vardar, BBSC, Bloomfield Force, and Michigan Hawks.

I welcome any and all comments.

:)

[GROVESHSCOACH]

The pre-season meeting is this Thursday. I look forward to getting a feel for exactly how many girls a re coming out for the team. I already know I will need to cut at least 10 Juniors. It is unfortunate because 5 of them are really good players. Oh well, this is the worst part of the season. After this it's all fun.

[uniteo]

I already know I will need to cut at least 10 Juniors. It is unfortunate because 5 of them are really good players.

How do you know which one's you're cutting before tryouts? Can't Juniors play JV?

[GROVESHSCOACH]

How do you know which one's you're cutting before tryouts? Can't Juniors play JV?


At the highschool i coach at, the rule is if a player plays all 3 years for the program, I must take them as seniors. I currently have 22 juniors trying out. I make cuts at the junior level so I am not forced to take them as seniors.

Yes Junioors can play JV, but I will only take a Junior on JV that I know will contribute and possibly start the following season on Varsity.

We only cut at the Freshman level if more than 25 freshmen come out.

Usually we only cut 2 or 3 Soph. at most. ( the ones who really can't play)

The real cuts are made at Junior level. This gioves the players two years to get used to the system and to improve.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

Well, we had the pre-season meeting yesterday after school. 67 girls dhowed up to express their interest in the team. It breaks down as follows:

5 Seniors
20 Juniors
19 Sophomores
23 Freshman

The big problem is obviously the number of juniors that are coming out. Since it is school policy that players that play for the program F,S,J, years must play as Seniors, I must take no more than 12 Juniors and preferably only 11.

The girls all sounded really excited and are looking forward to getting started. 45 of them are currently playing for the highschool indoor teams and we get roughly 30 a night to the indoor preseason training sessions.

[uniteo]

Still wondering about this policy of weeding out juniors. If you have the policy of automatically keeping F, So, & Jr players, why not just make it very competitive for freshmen? Seems to me if you're a junior and get cut you are for all intents and purposes cutting them for 2 years. Whereas freshmen are still well tuned to club ball and would look at making the squad a big deal

Seems like you are really limiting the success of the varsity (where winning is presumably more of a goal) to bolster J.V participation. All these Juniors you're cutting could be learning every day, working out with Seniors, and preparing to take over as experienced Seniors. 5 Seniors at the meeting, right? Looks like they don't come back when they're cut. Not to mention 2 years of hard work actually leading to a great big 'no thanks' for half of them.

But hey, I could be way off base.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

Still wondering about this policy of weeding out juniors. If you have the policy of automatically keeping F, So, & Jr players, why not just make it very competitive for freshmen? Seems to me if you're a junior and get cut you are for all intents and purposes cutting them for 2 years. Whereas freshmen are still well tuned to club ball and would look at making the squad a big deal

Seems like you are really limiting the success of the varsity (where winning is presumably more of a goal) to bolster J.V participation. All these Juniors you're cutting could be learning every day, working out with Seniors, and preparing to take over as experienced Seniors. 5 Seniors at the meeting, right? Looks like they don't come back when they're cut. Not to mention 2 years of hard work actually leading to a great big 'no thanks' for half of them.

But hey, I could be way off base.


How my program works is like this:

We have a freshman team usually comprised of 16 to 18 freshman. Most schools our size have them in the area. This allows for more participation at the highschool level. Usually there are no cuts for freshman, however, if more than 25 try out we do cut freshman.

Junior Varsity team: Comprised of mainly soph. as well as higher level freshmen. Juniors may be kept on the JV team if they are expected to make an impact on the Varsity team the following year.

Varsity team: Comprised of Seniors, Juniors and qualified soph. When a freshman with the last name Pele comes to town the too can make Varsity.


I will try to describe my current predicament. Of the Juniors trying out this year, 7 played Varsity last year and 12 played JV. ( one new player trying out and 2 from JV last year that saw writing on the wall) There are also 3 sophmores that will make the team most likely. Add to that my 5 seniors and you get 27. That means at least 7 people need to be cut from the Varsity team. Why don't I just put those 7 girls on JV? I am forced to take all seniors that tryout that played the last 3 years. That means that next year I would have 19 seniors, huge problem!!!

So to answer your question Winning is a top priority that is why we cut juniors. The reasoning is that if you are not good enough to make the Varsity program as a Junior it is time to go. They have had 2 years to learn with the seniors because the seniors occasionaly teach freshman practices.

This is not done to bolster JV participation, JV is there to feed the Varsity team, however I do not want to start from scratch each year because my entire squad just graduated.

Do players com back when they are cut? NO they don't and thats OK because they know it would be almost impossible for them to make a team when they did not play for one last year. It is a little unfair but in big public school programs it must be done.

As to this years Seniors, 3 played Varsity last year and 2 played JV all five are returning. It just happened to be a small class as compared to my other classes.

Hope this helps to describe my program, thanks for the great comments.

[CCTX SoccerFreak]

Well, we had the pre-season meeting yesterday after school. 67 girls dhowed up to express their interest in the team. It breaks down as follows:

5 Seniors
20 Juniors
19 Sophomores
23 Freshman

The big problem is obviously the number of juniors that are coming out. Since it is school policy that players that play for the program F,S,J, years must play as Seniors, I must take no more than 12 Juniors and preferably only 11.

The girls all sounded really excited and are looking forward to getting started. 45 of them are currently playing for the highschool indoor teams and we get roughly 30 a night to the indoor preseason training sessions.


Sounds like quite a pickle coach.

I don't know but how good is your sophomore class? It looks like equal amount on soph and junior levels right? maybe you ought to only keep the very, very best creating a killer varsity over the next three years....does that make sense??? :o Just trying to help man....cause that sounds like quite a predicament honestly. Is that your system or school system? If it's not the school system then you may want to revamp. Even in business marketing strategies change according to the changing environments. Maybe a change??? just an idea to ease the pain.....cause just thinking about it makes my head hurt... :D

[CG]

I wish I had your predicament of so many kids trying out. We had about 45 this year and that is the most we've ever had. Hardly any on JV play club soccer. I have a new asst that played at Birmingham Southern and I think she is gonna raise the bar of expectations. Good luck. I'll be following your season.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

Sounds like quite a pickle coach.

I don't know but how good is your sophomore class? It looks like equal amount on soph and junior levels right? maybe you ought to only keep the very, very best creating a killer varsity over the next three years....does that make sense??? :o Just trying to help man....cause that sounds like quite a predicament honestly. Is that your system or school system? If it's not the school system then you may want to revamp. Even in business marketing strategies change according to the changing environments. Maybe a change??? just an idea to ease the pain.....cause just thinking about it makes my head hurt... :D

The bummer is, is that it is SCHOOL policy to keep the Seniors. I would prefer to have the ability to cut Seniors. If I had the ability to cut them it would make for a better season. Currently every Senior that plays, that is not going to play in college, has Senioritis. When we start the season there is 3 months left in school and District Finals are over after school is already out. Players try harder when there is a chance they will get cut.

[bungadiri]

The bummer is, is that it is SCHOOL policy to keep the Seniors. I would prefer to have the ability to cut Seniors. If I had the ability to cut them it would make for a better season. Currently every Senior that plays, that is not going to play in college, has Senioritis. When we start the season there is 3 months left in school and District Finals are over after school is already out. Players try harder when there is a chance they will get cut.
That sounds like a difficult situation. I guess the logic is that it's bad to cut seniors because...they're seniors? I've known a number of kids who've gone through the system over here at Pioneer HS in Ann Arbor, and I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying that there is no rule requiring retention of seniors. In fact, seniors are not allowed to play JV so if they don't make the varsity squad they are SOL. Every season there is at least the potential for somebody who's played 3 years of HS soccer to get left out in the cold. I'm sure that's a really tough decision for the coaches, too, but at least the policy makes sense in terms of fielding a competitive team.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

That sounds like a difficult situation. I guess the logic is that it's bad to cut seniors because...they're seniors? I've known a number of kids who've gone through the system over here at Pioneer HS in Ann Arbor, and I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying that there is no rule requiring retention of seniors. In fact, seniors are not allowed to play JV so if they don't make the varsity squad they are SOL. Every season there is at least the potential for somebody who's played 3 years of HS soccer to get left out in the cold. I'm sure that's a really tough decision for the coaches, too, but at least the policy makes sense in terms of fielding a competitive team.

That is the logic. It is unfortunate as well. As I mentioned earlier, this gives the Seniors no reason to work their butt off unless they are playing college ball. it also makes me cut good players at the lower level.

Some times a player can be good at the younger ages and taper off at the older ages. Other times players don't fully develop until they are older.

Anyway, no use complaining about it. It is my first year as Head Coach of the program and all I want to do is turn it around. 2 wins last season and 1 win the season before. These girls are hungry to win.

[bungadiri]

That is the logic. It is unfortunate as well. As I mentioned earlier, this gives the Seniors no reason to work their butt off unless they are playing college ball. it also makes me cut good players at the lower level.

Some times a player can be good at the younger ages and taper off at the older ages. Other times players don't fully develop until they are older.

Anyway, no use complaining about it. It is my first year as Head Coach of the program and all I want to do is turn it around. 2 wins last season and 1 win the season before. These girls are hungry to win.
Given the previous seasons have been losing ones, then maybe the fact that so many seniors aren't trying has more to do with accumulated frustration from those previous years. Which in turn might be easier to fix than senioritis, now that they've got a new head coach (he said, hopefully).

[IASocFan]

For comparison, my son is a senior in high school, and getting ready for the spring season. As far as I can tell, the school has a no-cut policy. Last year they had 50-60 kids out for three teams (varsity, JV, and frosh). The team priority is to win games and develop as a team. The top 11 start varsity, and sub only when needed to maintain top performance. The defense rarely substitutes. There is some position sharing in the midfield and forward line.

Those that don't play varsity are eligible for JV - which is mainly to develop players for varsity. Weaker sophomores, juniors, and seniors may get a few JV mop up minutes. Discipline cases, players who miss practice (like for other school functions), and other players not in the coaches favor sit or see minimal playing time. The freshmen have a separate coach, and for the most part work apart from the older players - though they may scrimmage the JV. A rare freshman may get called up to the JV or varsity, but not often.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

[QUOTE=IASocFan]For comparison, my son is a senior in high school, and getting ready for the spring season. As far as I can tell, the school has a no-cut policy. Last year they had 50-60 kids out for three teams (varsity, JV, and frosh).

i forgot tyo mention the funniest part. There have not been cuts in the last 5 years. The two previous coaches before me were afraid to make the tough decisions.

Now to cut the previous coaches a little slack, last year only 55 girls tried out. In last years case, (I was the JV coach), I had 23 players on my squad. The freshman coach had 16 and the Varsity Squad had 16. This is where I think the previous coach went wrong. I had too many players to handle, especially on a JV squad. When you take into account the fact that girls will get injured over a season, 16 was too few for varsity. This is where my current proble lies. If the previous coaches had some B$#%@!! I would not be in this predicament.

On the positive side, it is a good problem to have. As Pvan4 said, many programs are dying to have to cut girls. In addition, I will hopefully see more effort, (Bungadiri), on the part of those girls trying out because they do not want to get cut.

[IASocFan]

For my son's school, the no cut policy works. The early season conditioning does a good job of culling those that realy don't want to work. If you explain you'll play those who work hardest, show the best skills, and make the best team, you should have them motivated to improve as a team or quit if they can't make the commitment.

Good Luck. I'm ready for the snow to melt and to get outside.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

Getting closer to the season. The girls are on Winter Break this week. They have been training two nights a week as well as Indoor games on Saturdays. I am really starting to get excited about this season.

[newsocdad]

I'm curious if as a high school coach you ever scout your own players' club games, and do you speak with their club coaches about your current or prospective players?

Given the clubs you listed I suspect that you should end up with some very good players. But, I would think that their respective club teams use styles of play that best suit the collective talents of their teams and the philosophy of their coach. Does that create a problem for you when you are attempting to bring together players from different clubs?

[uniteo]

I'm curious if as a high school coach you ever scout your own players' club games, and do you speak with their club coaches about your current or prospective players?



Yeah, I wonder as much...I doubt it's possible here with so many different teams from each area...but I coach 8th graders and have tried to contact the coaches where they'll be going to high school and not gotten a response. I would think they'd be more interested.

[GROVESHSCOACH]

I'm curious if as a high school coach you ever scout your own players' club games, and do you speak with their club coaches about your current or prospective players?

Given the clubs you listed I suspect that you should end up with some very good players. But, I would think that their respective club teams use styles of play that best suit the collective talents of their teams and the philosophy of their coach. Does that create a problem for you when you are attempting to bring together players from different clubs?

I do scout their club games as well as talk to their coaches.

It is funny that you mention the styles of play. One club in particular produces forwards with good finishing skills, but absolutely no skill off the ball. If a wing switched the ball to the in an open space they can finish. \
I utilize the games I watch and the coaches I speak to, to figure out how best to use a particular player in my scheme. I may turn mids into forwards or wings into wingbacks. It all depends.

The main aspect is that I do not have very much time 2 1/2 months to make these girls into a team. I must focus most of my time on tactics and not technique. That is where it is helpful to talk to the coaches and figure out what each player can and can't do.