Question for LL parents

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Question for the parents of girls in the better LL Programs (Glastonbury, Ridgefield, Darien, Staples, etc...)

1. Does your coach utilize his bench players or is he inclined to ride the starting 11 for the full game with minimal substitutions:

2. If your school has a talented Freshman coming in (ECNL or equivalent) does your coach immediately put them in the starting 11 at age 14 or does she work them in as the season goes along (or leave them on JV for year 1).

I'm trying to figure out how other schools do it compared to ours.

Thank you in advance.

[Unregistered]

Question for the parents of girls in the better LL Programs (Glastonbury, Ridgefield, Darien, Staples, etc...)

1. Does your coach utilize his bench players or is he inclined to ride the starting 11 for the full game with minimal substitutions:

2. If your school has a talented Freshman coming in (ECNL or equivalent) does your coach immediately put them in the starting 11 at age 14 or does she work them in as the season goes along (or leave them on JV for year 1).

I'm trying to figure out how other schools do it compared to ours.

Thank you in advance.

When he gets deeper into the post season, the bench gets longer and shorter if that makes sense. When I say it gets longer, he rewards the kids from jv that improved by calling them up. They don’t get much playing time, but they practice with varsity and are there to bond with varsity and understand what it is like and takes to be successful at that level. It gets shorter because he sticks with starters more during the game and only subs in a few players 3-4 during the course of the match. During the season, based on opponent and score, he uses the majority of his bench each game.

Freshman make varsity and start if warranted. A Freshman have started for the 4 years I have watched. For the most part, best players make varsity. Some times he will carry a senior that is not one of the top players if they have been in the program for three years and have a good attitude, but, he will tell them at try outs that they won’t see much playing time and he understands if they want to quit. Jv is not a wasteland though. Professional coach and same training concepts and style of play. Kids get call ups every year to reward the best players and hardest working ones. Kids are told that could happen and then coach does it so everyone knows it can and does happen.

[Unregistered]

Question for the parents of girls in the better LL Programs (Glastonbury, Ridgefield, Darien, Staples, etc...)

1. Does your coach utilize his bench players or is he inclined to ride the starting 11 for the full game with minimal substitutions:

2. If your school has a talented Freshman coming in (ECNL or equivalent) does your coach immediately put them in the starting 11 at age 14 or does she work them in as the season goes along (or leave them on JV for year 1).

I'm trying to figure out how other schools do it compared to ours.

Thank you in advance.

Most coaches will go four to five players deep into their bench. This is during the regular season. So if your kid is 16-22 they will not get plenty of playtime

2. The answer to this question is more variable. If freshman player is clearly better they play varsity. Most of the times freshmen will start on bench or JV and gradually make it into Varsity. A lot depends on depth and quality of varsity team.

If your child will be an incoming Freshman there are no guarantees that your kid even makes varsity. Get your expectations in check.

[Unregistered]

Question for the parents of girls in the better LL Programs (Glastonbury, Ridgefield, Darien, Staples, etc...)

1. Does your coach utilize his bench players or is he inclined to ride the starting 11 for the full game with minimal substitutions:

2. If your school has a talented Freshman coming in (ECNL or equivalent) does your coach immediately put them in the starting 11 at age 14 or does she work them in as the season goes along (or leave them on JV for year 1).

I'm trying to figure out how other schools do it compared to ours.

Thank you in advance.

most teams went 4 deep (mostly wing mids and strickers)

the FCIAC was loaded with Freshman starters this year ( 2 made all FCIAC)

[Unregistered]

Question for the parents of girls in the better LL Programs (Glastonbury, Ridgefield, Darien, Staples, etc...)

1. Does your coach utilize his bench players or is he inclined to ride the starting 11 for the full game with minimal substitutions:

2. If your school has a talented Freshman coming in (ECNL or equivalent) does your coach immediately put them in the starting 11 at age 14 or does she work them in as the season goes along (or leave them on JV for year 1).

I'm trying to figure out how other schools do it compared to ours.

Thank you in advance.

Freshman have to be able to take the physicality and more demanding schedule (more games and training 5 days a week). Even then the Freshman has to play their way on. Earn the trust of the coach and respect of the players for chemistry issues.

However, if your ECNL daughter is not on Varsity and not starting or first off the bench there is an issue and it's not the highschool coach.

[Unregistered]

However, if your ECNL daughter is not on Varsity and not starting or first off the bench there is an issue and it's not the highschool coach.

I get what you're saying, and there's some validity, but the real answer is that it might not be the coach. Nothing is so binary, especially with judgments about talent and abilities. Or what if the coach just has a philosophy of rewarding upperclassmen for time served (so to speak).

But your point is still a good one - if your kid is a true stud whose talent is glaringly obvious, hard to see a coach not putting her on varsity.

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Best players play at our LL school. That goes for Boys and Girls. Age does not play a factor at all and yes each program has won mulitple times.

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You said ECNL equivalent. Very different levels at ECNL level. The top 5 players on an ECNL team start and star as Freshmen. Players 5-11 on an ECNL team make an impact and start as Freshmen in HS. Players 12-22 from ECNL have different experiences depending on HS caliber or needs. Some start, some don't.

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Freshman have to be able to take the physicality and more demanding schedule (more games and training 5 days a week). Even then the Freshman has to play their way on. Earn the trust of the coach and respect of the players for chemistry issues.

However, if your ECNL daughter is not on Varsity and not starting or first off the bench there is an issue and it's not the highschool coach.

We go through this every season. Playing in a league does not guarantee greatness!

We had a kid my daughter's team last season from ECNL that didn't see the field as a frosh. Team was loaded with seniors and even though she had the skill set, it probably wasn't enough to warrant playing over a few young women that were nearly 4 years old and physically stronger.

Fast forward to Sophomore year, the same kid played every minute of every game, was a leading scorer and all conference.

You can make the argument that she would have matured over the course of the 9th grade season but at larger High schools sometimes you just have to be patient.

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We go through this every season. Playing in a league does not guarantee greatness!

We had a kid my daughter's team last season from ECNL that didn't see the field as a frosh. Team was loaded with seniors and even though she had the skill set, it probably wasn't enough to warrant playing over a few young women that were nearly 4 years old and physically stronger.

Fast forward to Sophomore year, the same kid played every minute of every game, was a leading scorer and all conference.

You can make the argument that she would have matured over the course of the 9th grade season but at larger High schools sometimes you just have to be patient.

Very true it can be situational. Also true having a badge doesn't mean you're a top player. The big schools have deep benches. Many players want to make V as a frosh but don't realize they may not play much. Ours sometimes has this type of player practice with V then play with JV too give them significant PT and confidence. Often a few V injuries into the season and that frosh is getting good PT.

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For the most part, the incoming Freshman that have played CFC ECNL and some Yankee players have started from day 1. They come in with a reputation and they show what they can do during summer training. They need to earn the captains respect and the coach will take notice. I have also seen teams we play against with Freshman starters from FSA ECNL and Oakwood. Bottom line, if your kid has played against the top competition in the region and was a top player on their club team then they will play as freshman

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For the most part, the incoming Freshman that have played CFC ECNL and some Yankee players have started from day 1. They come in with a reputation and they show what they can do during summer training. They need to earn the captains respect and the coach will take notice. I have also seen teams we play against with Freshman starters from FSA ECNL and Oakwood. Bottom line, if your kid has played against the top competition in the region and was a top player on their club team then they will play as freshman

Thanks Dad. Can 100% guarantee that this isn't accurate. My daughter's ECNL has committed players that hardly touched the field as frosh. This includes players on the All State list.

As a prior poster mentioned it's all situational.

Just tell your kid to put her head down and work hard.

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When he gets deeper into the post season, the bench gets longer and shorter if that makes sense. When I say it gets longer, he rewards the kids from jv that improved by calling them up. They don’t get much playing time, but they practice with varsity and are there to bond with varsity and understand what it is like and takes to be successful at that level. It gets shorter because he sticks with starters more during the game and only subs in a few players 3-4 during the course of the match. During the season, based on opponent and score, he uses the majority of his bench each game.

Freshman make varsity and start if warranted. A Freshman have started for the 4 years I have watched. For the most part, best players make varsity. Some times he will carry a senior that is not one of the top players if they have been in the program for three years and have a good attitude, but, he will tell them at try outs that they won’t see much playing time and he understands if they want to quit. Jv is not a wasteland though. Professional coach and same training concepts and style of play. Kids get call ups every year to reward the best players and hardest working ones. Kids are told that could happen and then coach does it so everyone knows it can and does happen.

I don't think JV call ups should get any playing time in the post- season unless there are catastrophic injuries and there's no other choice. The varsity teams have too many players already and the varsity players should play over all call ups. If the JV players were so great, they should've already been on varsity. I JV player playing well in JV games (and God forbid in freshmen games) does not justify post-season playing time over existing varsity bench players.

[Unregistered]

When he gets deeper into the post season, the bench gets longer and shorter if that makes sense. When I say it gets longer, he rewards the kids from jv that improved by calling them up. They don’t get much playing time, but they practice with varsity and are there to bond with varsity and understand what it is like and takes to be successful at that level. It gets shorter because he sticks with starters more during the game and only subs in a few players 3-4 during the course of the match. During the season, based on opponent and score, he uses the majority of his bench each game.

Freshman make varsity and start if warranted. A Freshman have started for the 4 years I have watched. For the most part, best players make varsity. Some times he will carry a senior that is not one of the top players if they have been in the program for three years and have a good attitude, but, he will tell them at try outs that they won’t see much playing time and he understands if they want to quit. Jv is not a wasteland though. Professional coach and same training concepts and style of play. Kids get call ups every year to reward the best players and hardest working ones. Kids are told that could happen and then coach does it so everyone knows it can and does happen.

Either we are thinking of the same school here or your coach does what ours does as well.

SCC school?

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I don't think JV call ups should get any playing time in the post- season unless there are catastrophic injuries and there's no other choice. The varsity teams have too many players already and the varsity players should play over all call ups. If the JV players were so great, they should've already been on varsity. I JV player playing well in JV games (and God forbid in freshmen games) does not justify post-season playing time over existing varsity bench players.

It's good then that your coach makes these decisions and not you.


Nothing is ever black and white when it comes to sports.