HS Tryout Process

[Unregistered]

I was excited to play hs soccer this year as an incoming freshman. I hoped to tryout and hopefully make varsity. However, I quickly figured out my town automatically grouped the freshman together and has not allowed us to participate in any sort of tryout with upperclassman. I am now on a team with kids from the lowest level town teams which I left behind years ago and the level is so poor. We recently scrimmaged another town and beat them by about 8 nothing. After years of doing club I don't know how long I can hang on playing like this, but my coach really doesn't care and seems to be dealing with a lot of political factors. Any suggestions?

[Unregistered]

This would be a reasonable debate to have and interesting enough, but for the distraction of the parent writing in the first person of their child. Lame.

[Unregistered]

I think it's hilarious that there might actually be a coach who can't or won't evaluate players based on ability, regardless of age, and select the best players based on merit (which is probably specifically stated in the school's athletic program manual).

It's a complete contradiction with the approach of the most successful coaches, including high school school.

Then again, some kids (and their parents) think they rocked their tryout...but didn't. A self-inflated pedigree doesn't mean a whole lot at that point.

[Unregistered]

I was excited to play hs soccer this year as an incoming freshman. I hoped to tryout and hopefully make varsity. However, I quickly figured out my town automatically grouped the freshman together and has not allowed us to participate in any sort of tryout with upperclassman. I am now on a team with kids from the lowest level town teams which I left behind years ago and the level is so poor. We recently scrimmaged another town and beat them by about 8 nothing. After years of doing club I don't know how long I can hang on playing like this, but my coach really doesn't care and seems to be dealing with a lot of political factors. Any suggestions?

So you just figured this out NOW how the high school coach ran his team??? Right

Or could be a troll implying that high school soccer is no longer relevant

[Unregistered]

I was excited to play hs soccer this year as an incoming freshman. I hoped to tryout and hopefully make varsity. However, I quickly figured out my town automatically grouped the freshman together and has not allowed us to participate in any sort of tryout with upperclassman. I am now on a team with kids from the lowest level town teams which I left behind years ago and the level is so poor. We recently scrimmaged another town and beat them by about 8 nothing. After years of doing club I don't know how long I can hang on playing like this, but my coach really doesn't care and seems to be dealing with a lot of political factors. Any suggestions?

Shouldn't you be study math or science right now?

[Unregistered]

I was excited to play hs soccer this year as an incoming freshman. I hoped to tryout and hopefully make varsity. However, I quickly figured out my town automatically grouped the freshman together and has not allowed us to participate in any sort of tryout with upperclassman. I am now on a team with kids from the lowest level town teams which I left behind years ago and the level is so poor. We recently scrimmaged another town and beat them by about 8 nothing. After years of doing club I don't know how long I can hang on playing like this, but my coach really doesn't care and seems to be dealing with a lot of political factors. Any suggestions?

Yeah, join the chess club.
And next time you post, mom/dad, please remember that freshmen will only know about political intrigue from you.

[Unregistered]

This would be a reasonable debate to have and interesting enough, but for the distraction of the parent writing in the first person of their child. Lame.

Exactly my thought. Sounds like a club kid whose parent thought the red carpet would be rolled out and that the coach would wash his feet.

[perspective]

I was excited to play hs soccer this year as an incoming freshman. I hoped to tryout and hopefully make varsity. However, I quickly figured out my town automatically grouped the freshman together and has not allowed us to participate in any sort of tryout with upperclassman. I am now on a team with kids from the lowest level town teams which I left behind years ago and the level is so poor. We recently scrimmaged another town and beat them by about 8 nothing. After years of doing club I don't know how long I can hang on playing like this, but my coach really doesn't care and seems to be dealing with a lot of political factors. Any suggestions?

Hmmm. A new thread from a phantom parent.

[fattydaddy]

The poor kid

This is at best a feeble attempt by a parent doing their best to write like a kid. to use a term like "political factors" just doesn't flow from kids especially entering 9th grade.

Nothing more than disgruntled parent who thinks their kid is the next Diego or Alex Morgan. So this HS apparently does not have a JV team either it appears. No sense feeding this dumpster of a post, I don't know why I did.

[Unregistered]

I was excited to play hs soccer this year as an incoming freshman. I hoped to tryout and hopefully make varsity. However, I quickly figured out my town automatically grouped the freshman together and has not allowed us to participate in any sort of tryout with upperclassman. I am now on a team with kids from the lowest level town teams which I left behind years ago and the level is so poor. We recently scrimmaged another town and beat them by about 8 nothing. After years of doing club I don't know how long I can hang on playing like this, but my coach really doesn't care and seems to be dealing with a lot of political factors. Any suggestions?

While you are cooling your jets as a freshman why don't you try crystal meth and get pregnant? Once you attain your rightful status on the varsity next year you won't be able to get wasted and drag a baby bump around. And it will be better than hanging around with your parents who wrote this post for you.

[Unregistered]

Regardless of who wrote it, this is often the experience of many kids playing HS soccer and for any kid with a competitive bone in their body it's a wasted year.

Of course, in today's world of "everyone gets a medal" you aren't suppose to complain, because if you do, you'll be mocked and ridiculed.

[Unregistered]

Regardless of who wrote it, this is often the experience of many kids playing HS soccer and for any kid with a competitive bone in their body it's a wasted year.

Of course, in today's world of "everyone gets a medal" you aren't suppose to complain, because if you do, you'll be mocked and ridiculed.

More about paying your dues than anything. The issue has absolutely nothing really to do with everyone gets a medal and while politics certainly can be an issue at times they are not necessarily bad. There always has been a natural order to things. Parents of freshman never seem to get that emotional and physical maturity as well as experience are issues. High school athletics are not just technical skill alone. Intensity is usually one element that freshman are clueless about. They usually are just not ready to compete full out yet. On the boys side it is extremely rare to find a freshman who has the physical maturity to match up with a 17/18 yo senior. No matter how good they are with their own age group they are still going to lose most physical battles to the upper classmen and make experience related mistakes that will cost games. Another aspect is the social piece. It is rare to find a 13-14 yo who has the emotional maturity to be treated as an equal by the rest of a varsity team. Parents need to face the reality that some of the stuff that juniors/seniors are thinking about is light years ahead of what a typical freshman is. Letting freshman grow up and get used to high school is not a bad thing. Usually kids coming in from middle school/club sports are just not prepared for the 6 day a week grind or the pressure to improve that comes with high school sports. Unless the child is already playing up several age levels for a high level club soccer program most coaches are going to use the freshman year as sort of an internship to let them mature and get some experience playing high school sports. Especially a fall sport. Each program is different. Some will keep the freshman together and some will move kids to the JV. It usually all depends upon how competitive those levels are and how good the kid actually is. No matter what anyone says, high school sports has its own set of challenges and in today's environment educators are more concerned than ever with the emotional well being of the kids. Most are going to downplay the competitive elements and err on the side of caution. They will actually instruct the coaches to keep kids down unless there are more than a few compelling reasons to move them up. A lot of parents clearly don't like this when they are confronted with it, but in the end it is actually better for their child.

[Unregistered]

well done - interesting that St John's has a Freshman on the varsity for the first time in 30 years - Why??

[Unregistered]

Our HS has no Freshmen teams only JV & Varsity.

[Unregistered]

More about paying your dues than anything. The issue has absolutely nothing really to do with everyone gets a medal and while politics certainly can be an issue at times they are not necessarily bad. There always has been a natural order to things. Parents of freshman never seem to get that emotional and physical maturity as well as experience are issues. High school athletics are not just technical skill alone. Intensity is usually one element that freshman are clueless about. They usually are just not ready to compete full out yet. On the boys side it is extremely rare to find a freshman who has the physical maturity to match up with a 17/18 yo senior. No matter how good they are with their own age group they are still going to lose most physical battles to the upper classmen and make experience related mistakes that will cost games. Another aspect is the social piece. It is rare to find a 13-14 yo who has the emotional maturity to be treated as an equal by the rest of a varsity team. Parents need to face the reality that some of the stuff that juniors/seniors are thinking about is light years ahead of what a typical freshman is. Letting freshman grow up and get used to high school is not a bad thing. Usually kids coming in from middle school/club sports are just not prepared for the 6 day a week grind or the pressure to improve that comes with high school sports. Unless the child is already playing up several age levels for a high level club soccer program most coaches are going to use the freshman year as sort of an internship to let them mature and get some experience playing high school sports. Especially a fall sport. Each program is different. Some will keep the freshman together and some will move kids to the JV. It usually all depends upon how competitive those levels are and how good the kid actually is. No matter what anyone says, high school sports has its own set of challenges and in today's environment educators are more concerned than ever with the emotional well being of the kids. Most are going to downplay the competitive elements and err on the side of caution. They will actually instruct the coaches to keep kids down unless there are more than a few compelling reasons to move them up. A lot of parents clearly don't like this when they are confronted with it, but in the end it is actually better for their child.

There are a lot more boys out there capable of succeeding on varsity as a freshman that you think. Virtually every player on my son's DAP team played varsity as a freshman. There should not be arbitrary rules against it.