Politics and Club BS has enter the HS scene

JCM that’s great perspective.
It’s so easy to be an armchair critic, about HS coaching, about DA, about WNT/MNT/YNT selection. Much respect to all the coaches at all levels who are out there contributing. Most are there doing their best for love of the game more than money.
 
JCM said:
I'm a former club coach, now just coach high school. We made it a point to see at least one game for every potential varsity player that we knew of this fall. For most we saw two or more. We did this because sometimes we imagine a player as one thing and their club coach sees them as something else. This caused us to turn one of our defenders in to a striker. One player that is playing two years up is a six for her club team. Great player, but not the type of six we want as she dribbles too much and we want someone to just sit in front of our back line. So she is going to float between JV and varsity because we see her as a 9 and have three others ahead of her. She wants to play varsity, but we think she will develop better by playing 80 minutes a game. Our starting right back is a forward on her low level club team, but fits our style because our cb's are slow and we are a high press team. She's super fast and physical.

I'm sure some coaches are biased, but most I've met just want to win. Our best left mid is a freshman, but has maturity issues so we have put her on the JV even though she's clearly more talented than players two years older. We have six kids who play CM on their club team but for our style of play the best one is actually a winger on club.

I could go on and I'm sure shenanigans happen, but in general every HS coach I've met is thoughtful and competitive. If your DD or DS will make an impact they will be on the field. By the way, on our roster of 19, we asked everyone what they see their role as. All but two think they should be starters who play almost the whole game. If only we could play 17 kids at once everyone would be happy.
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I concur with your assessment. And I would think that most coaches that are not related to any given club would have somehow the same philosophy. I have a system, send girls to JV to mature, get playing time, and eventually come up. Also take care of the seniors that committed to play all 4 years for the school among many other things.

When parental favors and other outside influences are blocking deserving kids from coming up to Varsity, that's an issue. There are a lot of inconsistencies at this school soccer program and what caught me offguard it was that the coach is not affiliated with any clubs.
 
coachsamy said:
One of the issues here that caught me by surprise is that the Varsity coach is not affiliated with any youth club. The school AD runs a very good athletic program within the school as far opportunities for all the kids. I haven't had any issues with any of the sports within the school (Cross Country, Track, Swimming, Wrestling, Field Hockey and Lacrosse) but it caught my attention as of why my DD a Jr, which has waited the last 2 years in JV to move up to varsity, was passed up for silver and bronze level girls that range from Freshman to Juniors. I believe that Seniors that have played Fresh/JV their first 3 years in the school do deserve to be in the Varsity team regardless of their skill level.

If the coach was a club coach, I would had expected this kind of debauchery...
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Deserve... earned yes. My younger DDs Senior year the coach cut a senior girl who was on Varsity the year before. My older DDs Senior year the coach cut two Seniors who had played JV the three previous years. I have my suspicion why but no facts so I can't say.
 
Nothing new here. This has been going on in HS sports, including girls soccer for 25 years.

In this day and age, unless your kid plays at a powerhouse, talented freshmen girls typically make varsity. In my experience, when juniors are on JV, they’ve been left here instead of being cut. I’m not saying this applies to the OP’s situation. But especially after DA took away talent, it was pretty easy to make varsity as a freshmen and it was a given as a sophomore.

Kids languishing on JV and not called up to Varsity for CIF, by sophomore year (Just to ride the bench and experience it) aren’t part of the program’s long term plans.

I’ve never seen “paying dues” apply in girls HS soccer. You’re either IN, or you aren’t. And they pretty much know it by the first summer camp.
 
Josep said:
Nothing new here. This has been going on in HS sports, including girls soccer for 25 years.

In this day and age, unless your kid plays at a powerhouse, talented freshmen girls typically make varsity. In my experience, when juniors are on JV, they’ve been left here instead of being cut. I’m not saying this applies to the OP’s situation. But especially after DA took away talent, it was pretty easy to make varsity as a freshmen and it was a given as a sophomore.

Kids languishing on JV and not called up to Varsity for CIF, by sophomore year (Just to ride the bench and experience it) aren’t part of the program’s long term plans.

I’ve never seen “paying dues” apply in girls HS soccer. You’re either IN, or you aren’t. And they pretty much know it by the first summer camp.
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first summer camp? curious which high schools have summer camps? my dd's HS in north county San Diego doesn't do this...
 
Enjoy the ride said:
first summer camp? curious which high schools have summer camps? my dd's HS in north county San Diego doesn't do this...
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It was a very common occurrence in our North Orange County conference. Our school had a three day camp for all players (including a couple of players going into 8th grade). Then a 2 day camp towards the end of summer for varsity prospect invitees. Other high schools in our conference had summer programs as well.
 
Many of the OC high schools have multi-week soccer camps and participate in summer leagues. My grandDD played for the original Newport Beach Slammers and attended the incoming freshman camp at her HS on its first Monday morning. She was asked to stay for the varsity camp in the afternoon and was a varsity starter at CB as a 9th grader in the Sunset League. It appears to me that a lot of the V, JV, Fr/Soph sorting occurs during these camps.
 
Enjoy the ride said:
first summer camp? curious which high schools have summer camps? my dd's HS in north county San Diego doesn't do this...
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Yeah, as was said - summer camps and summer leagues in OC. Despite my many complaints about Hs soccer, summer league I enjoyed.

Coaches have a pretty good idea which incoming freshmen are going to be varsity, or handed the reigns to lead JV.

This is why if you’re a junior on JV at a school that isn’t a soccer powerhouse, there are been a subtle message sent to you.
 
Josep said:
This is why if you’re a junior on JV at a school that isn’t a soccer powerhouse, there are been a subtle message sent to you.
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Subtle? Blatant if you ask me. What adds insult to injury is when the coaches give a false hope to the Junior(s) just to take a few more freshman.
 
coachsamy said:
Subtle? Blatant if you ask me. What adds insult to injury is when the coaches give a false hope to the Junior(s) just to take a few more freshman.
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My kids school is anything but a powerhouse but I can name kids who didn't make Varsity until their Senior year and then started. One girl was cut her Freshman year then later went on to play on an ECNL team. Then you have the four year Varsity player who can't find their way onto the field at a small college or the one that comes off the bench their Senior year after starting the previous two.Don't put too much stock in HS...
 
Multi Sport said:
My kids school is anything but a powerhouse but I can name kids who didn't make Varsity until their Senior year and then started. One girl was cut her Freshman year then later went on to play on an ECNL team. Then you have the four year Varsity player who can't find their way onto the field at a small college or the one that comes off the bench their Senior year after starting the previous two.Don't put too much stock in HS...
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I have zero stock in soccer past the high school years for my DD. The painful part for me is to pick up my DD after practice and see her down. In 13 years that she played at so many levels, bad/good teams, poor/great dynamics, Elite/Rec (Everything in between) soccer, she has never been feeling down coming out of practice. I could honestly careless if she plays JV or Varsity as long she's happy with her situation.
 
JCM said:
I'm a former club coach, now just coach high school. We made it a point to see at least one game for every potential varsity player that we knew of this fall. For most we saw two or more. We did this because sometimes we imagine a player as one thing and their club coach sees them as something else. This caused us to turn one of our defenders in to a striker. One player that is playing two years up is a six for her club team. Great player, but not the type of six we want as she dribbles too much and we want someone to just sit in front of our back line. So she is going to float between JV and varsity because we see her as a 9 and have three others ahead of her. She wants to play varsity, but we think she will develop better by playing 80 minutes a game. Our starting right back is a forward on her low level club team, but fits our style because our cb's are slow and we are a high press team. She's super fast and physical.

I'm sure some coaches are biased, but most I've met just want to win. Our best left mid is a freshman, but has maturity issues so we have put her on the JV even though she's clearly more talented than players two years older. We have six kids who play CM on their club team but for our style of play the best one is actually a winger on club.

I could go on and I'm sure shenanigans happen, but in general every HS coach I've met is thoughtful and competitive. If your DD or DS will make an impact they will be on the field. By the way, on our roster of 19, we asked everyone what they see their role as. All but two think they should be starters who play almost the whole game. If only we could play 17 kids at once everyone would be happy.
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While there is a lot of politics involved in youth soccer I honestly think it is more at the Club level over the HS level. There are definitely club coaches connected to the local club who will basically cut any player not with their club and at the end of the season when the kid asks what they need to work on their first response is to tell them about THEIR club tryouts. I am connected to a club and HS in the same area but if my HS kids can play then they make varsity. Regardless of their age. Plus it depends on the system and style. If they are a Junior forward and 6 other freshman and sophomores are better forwards than them and I know the freshman will get a lot of playing time then I take the freshman over the junior. If I think a freshman will sit the bench on Varsity most of the time then I will put them on JV to get more playing time and experience.

The whole idea of a senior SHOULD make varsity is ridiculous. This whole entitlement with the kids is the biggest problem and stems from parents. Why should a senior, who really hasn't worked that hard, hasn't trained to get better but did just enough to be a mediocre JV level player get priority over a freshman or sophomore who HAS worked hard with their club team and off season to get them ready for the HS Varsity level. The freshman and sophomores who show up to summer camps/league and prove they can play at the varsity level when juniors and seniors decide to skip the summer because they think they already have it in the bag. A lot of seniors tend to lose a lot of interest and motivation to get better but then get upset with their playing time or not making a team.

If I have a senior who is a great kid and has worked hard but may not be the most skilled, I have no problem keeping them in the program, but on the JV team with opportunities to play up with varsity as well as come up on senior night and play.

Parents always think that players get priority if their parent helps with fundraising or donates to the program and sadly it does happen at times but for the most part. The best players play. It doesn't matter what the player does on the club team if it doesn't show at HS.

We hope that the politics would be removed from HS and the coaches I know tend to want to win and will take the best players regardless of age or club affiliation. But there are always going to be those parents with blinders on thinking their kid is the best thing out there and if they don't get what they want then it must mean favoritism
 
MFranco said:
If I have a senior who is a great kid and has worked hard but may not be the most skilled, I have no problem keeping them in the program, but on the JV team with opportunities to play up with varsity as well as come up on senior night and play.
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I agree with most of your post but..... you are a HS coach so you should know that Seniors can't play JV.
 
Multi Sport said:
I agree with most of your post but..... you are a HS coach so you should know that Seniors can't play JV.
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Unless rules have changed where does it say a senior cant play JV. A student cant play on a freshman team once they've reached their 16th birthday. A player who turns 19 cannot play. A player cannot play on a "sophomore" or "frosh/soph" team if they turn 17 before June.

But where does it say a senior cant be on a JV team? A lot of coaches tell players and parents this to give them an excuse to cut the player. They say things like "you know seniors cant be on JV so if you aren't ready for varsity we will have to cut you...so come join my club team so we can get you better" then the favoritism comes into play at that point.
 
As my kids went through high school, I saw plenty of seniors playing on the JV team. Most won't because they think that there is a stigma attached to it, others will to get out of PE, which is why they don't make varsity. They are joining the team, not because they are motivated and want to play but rather look to get out of something else.
 
MFranco said:
The whole idea of a senior SHOULD make varsity is ridiculous. This whole entitlement with the kids is the biggest problem and stems from parents. Why should a senior, who really hasn't worked that hard, hasn't trained to get better but did just enough to be a mediocre JV level player get priority over a freshman or sophomore who HAS worked hard with their club team and off season to get them ready for the HS Varsity level. The freshman and sophomores who show up to summer camps/league and prove they can play at the varsity level when juniors and seniors decide to skip the summer because they think they already have it in the bag. A lot of seniors tend to lose a lot of interest and motivation to get better but then get upset with their playing time or not making a team.
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School Athletics aka Varsity Sports, are extracurricular school activities for the enjoyment and growth of the student athlete. You are here bashing Seniors like they don't deserve this or that? Because they can't play nor play for you in your club team?

There is a reason ALL Varsity sports have a Senior Night. Not a Freshman, or a sophomore nor a Junior. A Senior Night. Why should a Senior on their last summer needs to worry about some freshman or sophomore taking their place, when they have bigger and better things to do during that summer. Of course those freshman/sophomores are not just competing for a spot on the Varsity team, they are trying out for your club team.

I played Varsity Baseball and Basketball in HS, and comparing to the dynamics with non soccer Varsity sports that my kids play in HS, not much has changed, as far the pecking order and what not. Once you understand what Varsity sports are about, you will treat your seniors a little better.

To give you a little perspective, a friend of mine called me last week to share that his DD a good friend and former teammate of my DD made Varsity in their powerhouse school (And that school is loaded, their JV team might beat lots of Varsity teams). As we are speaking he's telling about this girl that is a senior and made the team and we both concur that it was nice to see that kid that barely got any playing time and probably will not step in the field, gets to be part of the Varsity team and enjoy her last year in HS as part of the Varsity team.
 
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