Varsity Roster..cutting girls

[JBG]

HS season is rapidly approaching. The question i have is our HS varsity team the last couple of years has had what i feel is too many girls. 17-19 on varsity. This year i can say 19 girls will be Juniors and Seniors. Thats not counting any of the 1 or 2 freshman that played varsity last year, that will be sophomores this year.

How many girls should normally be on a varsity Roster? I am seeing older girls who you would think have no chance at playing time being carried on the team. Haven't seen any cuts in the past years.

I personally think several girls who are regulated to JV and have much potential to contribute at the varsity level are being held back. I also see many girls on the JV team who have zero chance at ever playing varsity and rarely play on JV being kept on. The JV number will probably be over 20 girls this year!

Thoughts?

Just seems to me you are hurting the development of some of the younger girls by keeping the older girls who have slim and no chance of ever playing.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Does the HS allow cuts? And do the junior and seniors miss games due to trips or other senior responsibilities? That is a lot of girls to even transport to other schools. It would take 4 coaches to supervise them.

 

[Steve Huff]

HS season is rapidly approaching. The question i have is our HS varsity team the last couple of years has had what i feel is too many girls. 17-19 on varsity. This year i can say 19 girls will be Juniors and Seniors. Thats not counting any of the 1 or 2 freshman that played varsity last year, that will be sophomores this year.

How many girls should normally be on a varsity Roster? I am seeing older girls who you would think have no chance at playing time being carried on the team. Haven't seen any cuts in the past years.

I personally think several girls who are regulated to JV and have much potential to contribute at the varsity level are being held back. I also see many girls on the JV team who have zero chance at ever playing varsity and rarely play on JV being kept on. The JV number will probably be over 20 girls this year!

Thoughts?

Just seems to me you are hurting the development of some of the younger girls by keeping the older girls who have slim and no chance of ever playing.

I always kept 13 on the HS roster. I had girls on JV that would be rewarded by being put on the roster after a big game or special improvements or efforts, so sometimes that increased to as many as 15 in some situations. But these girls would usually pinch run or bunt; something like that. I think 17-19 is ridiculously high.

 

[JBG]

Yes the HS does allow cuts. I was thinking like max 15 from my point of view...as "one of those parents"..LOL

For the most part i dont remember any seniors ever missing games...and they do have 3 coaches.

 

[FPMark]

There is a lot of politics in HS sports, including SB. If a girl plays JV for the first 2-3 yrs of HS, the coach may put them on varsity just as a reward for playing JV. At our HS, seniors can't play JV, but juniors can. What coach wants to cut a senior, who has been with the team for 3 years? If they have been participating in all the practices and fund raising, making varsity may be a reward for loyalty, even if they don't play. If a junior only makes the JV team, while freshmen and sophmores make varsity, they pretty much know they wont ever be a starter on varsity, so just let them hang out with the team if they want. JMO.

 

[sluggers]

Tough problem.

I suspect if you start cutting seniors, you will have a mess on your hand with the parents. So, my suggestion is to cut juniors who have no chance of playing, but not the seniors.

If a girl has been on the team for 3 years, I think they should be able to finish it out.

 

[dadof3girls]

Why cut? If a girl wants to come to practice and put forth an effort and does not "mind" minimal playing time, why would you cut her? Her friends and family will come to the games fill the stands and and support the program. Sure if she is a supervision problem that IS a reason to cut her, but if she wants to be on the team and gives good effort... why cut?

Yes i know no good deed goes unpunished.

 

[PA SB Dad]

Underclassmen won't get shortchanged playing time if they are better than upperclassmen (at least they shouldn't if the coach is interested in putting the best team on the field and winning games). Having extra seniors on the bench as a reward for sticking it out makes sense to me. Having extra players at practice is always a big plus as well.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Thoughts?

The HS my DD's played in would have about 120 kids show up at tryouts for all three levels. The coach would cut about 60 of them at the end of the first day. From there she would take the kids who she thought were strong enough to play varsity and moved them to the varsity tryouts the next day. She would move the rest to the freshman and sophomores tryouts for final evaluations. The school did not have a JV team.

She generally kept 15 on the roster after finding out the hard way that the 21 she was allowed did not work, but that was a whole different story. In the end she settled on 15 as the number that worked the best.

 

[JBG]

Why cut? If a girl wants to come to practice and put forth an effort and does not "mind" minimal playing time, why would you cut her? Her friends and family will come to the games fill the stands and and support the program. Sure if she is a supervision problem that IS a reason to cut her, but if she wants to be on the team and gives good effort... why cut?

Yes i know no good deed goes unpunished.

I agree with you to some extent...but the problem i see is those older girls who are seniors, who have no chance of playing are usually those with the parents that grumble because they think their DD should be playing just because they are seniors. When younger players are clearly better already and have more potential to become even better with more playing time.

Those parents that often fill the stands are the ones complaining about the coaches and muttering about how these younger kids (including my DD and others) shouldnt be playing. To me this doesnt create a very good supportive "team atmosphere". Often i hear the coaches complaining about such parents after those parents tried to talk to the coaches.