7th/8th Graders Playing JV

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Oct 10, 2018
305
63
NY (our district anyway) 7th graders have to play MS "modified" (shudder... scary bad and dangerous IMO to have serious ball players throwing lasers to girls still afraid of the ball and flinching away from good pitching). In 8th they have to take a seriously hard physical fitness test as the APP (advanced placement process) is looking to provide the proper channel of play for the exceptional athlete, not just let any girl try out for the HS team. Even then after passing this test 8th graders can only be considered for JV or V if there is room on the roster without the coach making any cuts to existing rosters.
 
Aug 3, 2019
156
28
NY (our district anyway) 7th graders have to play MS "modified" (shudder... scary bad and dangerous IMO to have serious ball players throwing lasers to girls still afraid of the ball and flinching away from good pitching). In 8th they have to take a seriously hard physical fitness test as the APP (advanced placement process) is looking to provide the proper channel of play for the exceptional athlete, not just let any girl try out for the HS team. Even then after passing this test 8th graders can only be considered for JV or V if there is room on the roster without the coach making any cuts to existing rosters.

An interesting thing I’ve seen happen in Pennsylvania is the opposite of this phenomenon.

I have actually observed parents hold their child back in eighth grade to give them a better shot at being a state champion wrestler in high school.
 
Jun 19, 2016
858
63
We don't have middle school ball here in Texas and from what I have heard they only let 9th -12th play high school softball. In general, JV ball in my area is really bad.
 
Nov 20, 2020
995
93
SW Missouri
MS/JV/HS ball here is pretty competitive. DD’s school only takes 20 kids to field two teams (A & B). Tryouts started yesterday and go through tomorrow. DD said 30+ girls showed up. So cuts will be made.

I’m honestly not sure what the school/district/state rules are on 7th/8th graders playing high school. Supposing she makes the team...could DD play JV if offered? Probably from a fielding/hitting perspective. Not pitching. Do I want her to? As a 7th grader....no. As an 8th grader....maybe as long as she gets playing time.

It would be a cool feather in the cap to play up but I’d rather her play on the Jr High A team and get more playing time to develop. The Jr High team here is run by the HS coaches. So she’d be learning the HS system and how they want her to play no matter what.

Edit: I did find that (per our states athletic association) 7th/8th graders cannot play with/against students in the 10th grade or higher. There seems to be an age exception to the rule, but that’s handled by the individual principal.
 
Last edited:
Jul 14, 2018
982
93
DD is in eighth grade, and our middle school has two legit TB pitchers. Over at the high school, there are two varsity pitchers but enough players to have a varsity and JV team, but not enough pitchers to field two teams.

The MS season is still a big question mark due to Covid, so I’d like to think that the would-be JV team would call up DD and the other pitcher to allow those girls to play.

Of course, we’ve got a new coaching staff at both schools and nobody played last year. So as someone who coached rec in our town for six years, I probably have a better handle on the available players than any of the coaches.


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Apr 1, 2017
535
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Our district doesn't have middle school softball, so no real experience. However, my opinion is it's school ball, not travel. If a good 12 year old is playing 16u in travel, fine. For school ball, I think you should be attending that school.
 
Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
I believe its a state association thing. In Alabama students can move up to play at the HS they feed into.

DD is in her 6th year starting for our varsity. Sorry but a dad brag point is she was the first position player to do it from a school that has produced all american college players and an Olympian.
 
Apr 16, 2010
924
43
Alabama
I think HS sports should be exclusively for High School 9-12 grade kids. I would have loved to see my DD play varsity or JV while she was in 7th or 8th grade. But that wouldn't be fair to those kids in 9-12. Same would be true if she was a senior playing and an 8th grader took time from her. Not normally my position as we pushed her to play 18u when she was 15 but travel is a different situation in that it's not grade based more skill based. The other side is when you put a 7th grader around seniors the age gap is significant. At the travel level as a parent you have a little more control around that.

For us it was actually a good thing. First our coach told the parents in the very first parent meeting he didn't care if you were a senior or a 7th grader the player that produced would play. Second she faced much better competition than she would have at the middle school and even 12U travel with the level of HS ball we played. Her first varsity AB was against a snior DI signee. She faced probably 10 pitchers that went on to play some level of callege ball.

One thing about school sports are some participate to be a part of something and some are there to give everything for a win. Once the competitive older players saw my DD wanted to win and could hold her own they basically became big sisters to her. She suffered through several years of last games where the girls were not just teammates but practically family because of how they looked out for her. Our only issues with things being said or done around her came from girls a year or two older not from the upper classmen. Mine also learned how to treat the younger players coming into the program and has given back what she was given.
 
Nov 20, 2020
995
93
SW Missouri
I believe its a state association thing. In Alabama students can move up to play at the HS they feed into.

DD is in her 6th year starting for our varsity. Sorry but a dad brag point is she was the first position player to do it from a school that has produced all american college players and an Olympian.

Don’t ever apologize for being a proud Dad!
 
Apr 28, 2014
2,316
113
I believe its a state association thing. In Alabama students can move up to play at the HS they feed into.

DD is in her 6th year starting for our varsity. Sorry but a dad brag point is she was the first position player to do it from a school that has produced all american college players and an Olympian.
Thats great!
Congratulations! You should be super proud!!
I think smaller schools with challenges filling a roster may be an exception but larger schools still should be 9-12 imo. We get 85ish girls trying out for varisty. Our coach has a hard enough time cutting kids for freshman he would probably quit if he had to consider 6th , 7th and 8th in the mix ;)
 

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