this is my first post, but i have a big question. i'm a jv coach at a local high school which is building a very competitive program. i have some sophmores that probably won't play for the varisty next year and won't really contribute to my team this year. do you think it wise to cut them? i don't want to waste their time b/c they won't get much playing time and i also realize that soccer is more than just a sport. any comments on what i should do?
I'm 8th grade student play J.V. Yeh our team has some sophmores that aren't that good, but the coach doesn't play them that much, and hye it's a possibility they will play varsity, not cuase there not good, but becuase there a good attitude and bring the team togeher. So I'd keep a few of them but not all but keep teh good spirited and ones that have the right attitude. And let this year be a lesson for them to get better at soccer, and maybe they'll improve enough to play at the higher level. Just my two cents.
First of all, if you have 8th graders playing on the varsity team, that is a big problem. I can't believe that he is that good to play varsity or the upper classmen are that bad. Its could also be a little dink school. Most schools on the east coast have 3 teams. Freshman team, exclusively freshmen. A JV team that might have a few freshman, mostly sophmores and possibly a junior. Varsity is Seniors, Juniors and then any sophomores or an exceptional freshmen. If you cut a sophmore or two, what will you have left the following 2 years. My sons team last year had well over 100 people try out. In conclusion,,,,, keep the sophmores.
First, I am assuming that you have already checked with the proper administration officials to determine the applicable school and/or district policies regarding JV cuts, and that cuts are permitted. Many schools and school districts would strongly discourage cuts from a JV soccer team. Second, you need to consider what you hope to accomplish with your JV team. The emphasis must be consistent with the school's goals and expectations for all sports. In general terms I suspect that would be to provide student athletes with a fun and safe competitive team experience. Particularly at a JV level where your best players are always going to be grabbed for the varisty team, you need to de-emphasize winning and losing as being the measuring stick for your success. I would say that the number of kids that you keep on your team would largely be dependent on the number of kids that you can safely and effectively coach in practice. If you are the only coach I would think that figure is in the mid to high 20s given the age of the kids. If more kids come out than that, then I think you have a very strong argument for an assistant. In terms of playing time, coaches and programs obviously differ. However, I think that few kids at that age would object to an argument that you earn your way onto the field. Kids at that age playing on a school team want to win and they want to play. They know who the better players are, and will not be surprised that they play most of the time. I am sure that over the course of a season you will find a way to get everybody at least some limited playing time. Also, I would suggest stealing a page from the large high school football powerhouses and make the "real" games the scrimmages in practice. You can even set it up so that parents come to a weekly or bi-weekly practice game to see their kids who do not get a lot of playing time in the regular games play in a match. Keeping parents and kids happy about their experience on your team will go along way to advancing your own coaching career. Finally, it is never a waste of time for a kid to play on school team with a coach who cares about the kids. Good luck
Sophomores are 15 years old and will be physically changing to a large degree over the next year. I would keep them. They can also play JV as juniors probably. Unless you are forced to cut by roster limits, I would keep them all. If you are forced to cut, consider adding a Freshman team.
The the most succesful coaches around here do it is keep sophomores. they are your developemental players. The Juniors who aren't everyday starters for at least JV and probably getting big chunks of time at varsity is where cuts are made. Seniors don't stay on unless they are starters for varsity. Last years make up of our state champs looked about like this. 14 sophmores 9 juniors 6 seniors That includes both JV and varsity rosters. What that left the coaches with is your varsity starters plus a couple experienced back ups/ potential starters and then deveolping players. Varsity Started 6 seniors, 4 juniors and 1 sophomore most of the time. Then you had 5 juniors and about 5 sophmores who were the core subs for varsity. Coaches would give 5 of the ten core subs starts in JV and very little time in Varsity on a rotating basis. Those who didn't start JV would get healthy chunks of time in varsity games. This is just a basic idea of what was done... not an exact outline that was never strayed from. But it worked 81 to 7 was the cumulative season score. the state final was a 6-0 blowout where everyone with a pulse got PT and the senoir goal keeper even got a chance to play striker (he scored 1). Just an idea of how some people do things around here. So long story short... keep sophomores
Having spent 2 years as a JV coach and 2 years as a varsity coach, my opinion would be that cutting these Sophs would go against what I personally outlined for my program...i.e., that JV teams should hold onto as many players as possible. These players may not eventually contribute to the varsity, and that is a black and white statement that could eventually be true. However, I wouldn't want to be the one who got blamed for "never giving the player a chance", which is what I use my JV squad for anyway. In my opinion, you'd possibly waste a season of a 15 year old's time, but in the long run that will be much better for the player than cutting them from the JV team before they even get a chance to show themselves.