What do most programs do when kids come in and can't pass the fitness test they demand? Do they allow them to practice and do supplemental fitness?
Not sure if it's the case again this year, but Illinois has had a fitness test that must be passed if a player wants to start. They can still earn minutes off the bench without passing it, and of course they can still practice. The test can be taken again if the player wants to attempt it in order to be eligible for the starting lineup.
You will find a broad variety here. Most of what I have heard is more strict than Bmoline is describing. Some programs, you don't get issued a uniform until you pass. Some, the rest of the team is expected to help get you to pass and no one even gets into the locker room until that happens. I heard once that Baylor will cut you, but don't have first hand info.
My daughter said everyone had to attend the 7am retest for those that had not passed. How's that for peer pressure!
You get one-on - one fitness runs in the morning with the fitness guru, and get to repeat it in the afternoon with a coach or team captain. Day, after day, after day....You don't play if you aren't fit. Doesn't happen often.
Purdue cut a kid for failing a fitness test a couple years ago. She transferred home to MD and started for a top-20 team. Of course, she got fit enough but not for Purdue. Was the message sent by the Purdue staff to the rest of the players by cutting this kid worth losing a kid that can start in the ACC? IMHO - Death penalty fitness standards are for coaches looking for excuses and for shortcuts. Fitness is a habit that can be learned and is one part of one way you might evaluate a player. It is necessary to reach a certain fitness level to play and play a lot but it's not a personal insult to the coach that requires them to cut you. Would you cut a kid who can't strike a ball 40 yards in the air with the outside of her left foot? Or are you willing to work with her to improve that part of her game? Fitness is the same kind of learned behavior. Willingness to run, knowing where and when to run, is much more important than how much or how fast you can run as a soccer player. That is, if the coach really wants a team that can play soccer.
At my daughter's school, FGCU, you get one chance to pass the fitness test. If you don't, you do extra running. Passing the fitness test has no bearing on starting either. Lots of girls don't pass the test and they start, while conversely there are those who do pass the test but ride the bench.
Baylor will cut you for not passing first time-interesting that each athlete may have a different set of standards to achieve, though. At teh end of the day, does this make a better player-the results speak for themselves.
Expectations for off season training and conditioning are very high. Coming in not fit shows a lack of comittment to the team. If you don't pass fitness, you get penalty training in addition to the double or triple sessions. 3 days later you retest, if you fail you get cut.
I hear from a lot of kids in a lot of programs. It seems the most successful in terms of summer fitness rely on very solid communication among returning players as well as incoming freshmen. The best coaches rely on their leadership within the team to reinforce summer fitness training. One method that seemed popular was pairing a player known for solid testing with either a new freshman or a less solid tester early in the summer...phone calls back and forth about how is the program working for you, what are your times, who are you running with, do you need help. This is a supportive rather than punitive environment. Captains are of course integral to the process. Then if there is a persistent problem, the coach might be asked for help/ideas to bring that person along and fix the problem well before preaseason reporting. Some schools obviously offer training with the team and inhouse trainers for those who want to be on campus more during the summer, let the players work camps for money. That works for a lot of schools depending on demographics and location. UNC and Portland do well with it. A few mandate (illegally but they call it "volunteer') that student athletes report early July to monitor fitness training. That pretty much punishes the most motivated and fit kids on your team if they have to leave home to be "monitored" and doesn't do much for teambuilding with the less motivated kids because of resentment of the former. Bottom line is fix it in June, not in August.