HS JV vs Varsity

[Unregistered]

There's also the social aspect to consider - especially if the OP is new to the area. Being a frosh on a a predominantly older team isn't easy. the older players all know each other, have been playing together a long time etc. They don't always intend to be exclusionary but they are less likely to include the odd freshman in things. Then there's also the simple fact of not being able to drive. One of mine made it as a frosh to V (almost never ever happens at our big HS). He enjoyed it and got to play a lot, but he had no friends his age on the team and couldn't even carpool much to practices and games because all his freshman friends were on JV. He also really had to prove himself.

If possible I think the best bet is to put a top freshman on JV so that they can play, gain confidence etc and then move them up to V quickly once the inevitable injuries start racking up. They also prove themselves to all that they're a top JV performer and more worthy of the nod.

Why would you ever have your child play down? Always play at the highest level you can. If you boss said to you "your skills are good enough to move up in the company." No boss I would rather stay in my entry level position so I can hang with my friends.

My son started varsity since he is a freshman. I feel it helped them socially. Rember if your child is in a higher level math class or AP classes as a freshman there will be upperclassman in those classes.

[Unregistered]

My son has played and started varsity since he was a freshman. The skill level is so low on most high school teams if he has any skill will make the Seniors look silly as a freshman.

Good experience.

Agreed... HS here is a glorified kickball game with all past skills taught at club out the window. It will take your kid at least a month after HS to get rid of his new bad habits. My son started as a freshman and quickly realized how bad it was, he will sit out this year and focus on rest for second half of club season and showcase tourneys. Besides you will NEVER see a college coach at a HS game until maybe State playoffs... no matter what the gym, I mean soccer coach tells you !

And to follow up when he told his coach he needed to sit this year he was threatened with not having the chance to play his Jr. or Sr. years lol

[Unregistered]

Agreed... HS here is a glorified kickball game with all past skills taught at club out the window. It will take your kid at least a month after HS to get rid of his new bad habits. My son started as a freshman and quickly realized how bad it was, he will sit out this year and focus on rest for second half of club season and showcase tourneys. Besides you will NEVER see a college coach at a HS game until maybe State playoffs... no matter what the gym, I mean soccer coach tells you !

And to follow up when he told his coach he needed to sit this year he was threatened with not having the chance to play his Jr. or Sr. years lol

If most players on varsity are club grown then the soccer should be comparable to club soccer. It should not be kickball and bad habits unless the clubs are teaching them badly.

[Unregistered]

Agreed... HS here is a glorified kickball game with all past skills taught at club out the window. It will take your kid at least a month after HS to get rid of his new bad habits. My son started as a freshman and quickly realized how bad it was, he will sit out this year and focus on rest for second half of club season and showcase tourneys. Besides you will NEVER see a college coach at a HS game until maybe State playoffs... no matter what the gym, I mean soccer coach tells you !

And to follow up when he told his coach he needed to sit this year he was threatened with not having the chance to play his Jr. or Sr. years lol

The best teams in the larger school divisions do not play kickball, that is why they win.

[Unregistered]

Agreed... HS here is a glorified kickball game with all past skills taught at club out the window. It will take your kid at least a month after HS to get rid of his new bad habits. My son started as a freshman and quickly realized how bad it was, he will sit out this year and focus on rest for second half of club season and showcase tourneys. Besides you will NEVER see a college coach at a HS game until maybe State playoffs... no matter what the gym, I mean soccer coach tells you !

And to follow up when he told his coach he needed to sit this year he was threatened with not having the chance to play his Jr. or Sr. years lol

"Besides you will NEVER see a college coach at a HS game until maybe State playoffs..." In my experience this is largely true, however, do not underestimate how often potential College Coaches will contact HS coaches to discuss a recruit relative to the kids character, attitude, let's say "social habits" (does the kid party?), success in the classroom, etc. We have a daughter that is being recruited and there has been a 3-way conversation between her HS coach, Club coach and College coach on a few occasions.

[Unregistered]

"Besides you will NEVER see a college coach at a HS game until maybe State playoffs..." In my experience this is largely true, however, do not underestimate how often potential College Coaches will contact HS coaches to discuss a recruit relative to the kids character, attitude, let's say "social habits" (does the kid party?), success in the classroom, etc. We have a daughter that is being recruited and there has been a 3-way conversation between her HS coach, Club coach and College coach on a few occasions.

High school coaches should be a part of the conversation.

[Unregistered]

Going through a similar situation (just moved to area recently) with my 9th grader, but a girl instead. Tryouts are coming up. I'm positive she has the skill lever to make varsity, but if for some reason they put her in JV, I will not let her risk an injury, specially since her soccer club is good. I'm just concerned the coach will hold that against her next year. Any thoughts?

My daughter is a freshman this year and is going to try-out for the boys varsity team. She can hold her own against any boy at any school around. Coach is a little fair minded about giving her a chance to try-out. But with the right attorney I think she has a good chance on making the team.

[Unregistered]

Agreed... HS here is a glorified kickball game with all past skills taught at club out the window. It will take your kid at least a month after HS to get rid of his new bad habits. My son started as a freshman and quickly realized how bad it was, he will sit out this year and focus on rest for second half of club season and showcase tourneys. Besides you will NEVER see a college coach at a HS game until maybe State playoffs... no matter what the gym, I mean soccer coach tells you !

And to follow up when he told his coach he needed to sit this year he was threatened with not having the chance to play his Jr. or Sr. years lol

Just becsuse your hs has a cra* program doesn't mean all the rest are. Even when it's less than optimal soccer it affords many other benefits. Clearly your son doesn't do DA. So now he's not playing high school so no state honors or captaincy to help fill in his resume. My D who is who being recruited now just had a long conversation with a college coach about the challenges she has faced with her struggling hs team this year.

[Unregistered]

To the parents complaining about HS, you do realize that your child is far more likely to succeed in life by developing their character than their soccer ability, right? I mean, you do know that the likelihood of you child making a career of playing soccer is slim-to-none, right???

Putting coaches, programs, and other players down because it's "high school" ball is only fostering behavior of blaming others and making excuses instead of embracing opportunities and taking advantage of the experiences you get with HS.

Most HS teams are less competitive than decent club teams, there's simply no arguing that. But 99% of kids don't need to worry about how competitive their HS team is because, at most, they might get a partial scholarship in college. What they should worry about is developing socially, taking pride in what they do, working hard no matter what the circumstances, respecting authority, and respecting their teammates. You should be teaching your kids to give 100% in everything that they do whether that's school, work, marriage, parenting, or taking care of you when you can't take care of yourself. If you child doesn't want to play HS, fine, it's no big deal. However, if they do want to play, you should teach them to be 100% committed instead of making up reasons why they shouldn't give their full effort.

By the time kids are in high school, you should be letting them make these type of decisions and stop being a helicopter parent. You'll regret it when they move back in after the "real world" wasn't good enough for them...

[Unregistered]

In Tampa area, if you get the shot play varsity. JV is so bad your player will start to hate the game. Getting kicked in the shine every time gets old after a while.

Tampa does not have JV soccer at the public schools just varsity. We had 80 kids try out last year and the coach took 21 for varsity. It is a shame that we don't have JV because I am sure you could have made a team out of the 60 turned away.

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My son's high school coach (last year) decided that all freshmen and sophomores only play JV. Only juniors and seniors on V. He did end up taking 1 freshmen as he was something like 6'2 and an exceptional player. Note: We have school choice which means the school district chooses your school. Not you. The kids can be bussed to school for over an hour all over the County. This means you do not necessarily go to school with your neighbors or club friends. Every given year is different on who comes into the school but last year, the V team lost all but 1 game. JV won all but 2. That particular year, numerous club kids went to that school as freshman so the JV team did very well. Once you are in the school, you are in. The next year may have a bunch of club kids come in or no club kids come in. Its a crap shoot. I was very happy my kid was on JV. 4A school. And yes, it is very very possible to have a linebacker or a few of them on the Varsity team because they did not make football. I would prefer no freshmen get the shin kick from one of the angry 280lb varsity linebackers who have never played soccer and just got on the team because they were a senior.