When did it get so hard to play at the high school level?

[Anonymous]

It just blows my mind that in sports like lacrosse, there are rarely any players that are under 6 feet tall at the high school. You need play for years AND have a ton of natural talent just to make the JV team, which doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things

[Anonymous]

I'm not familiar with lacrosse but a friend's son plays it and our high school was no-cut this year. I believe the neighboring school has an excellent lacrosse team so not sure why there was a discrepancy in turnout.

I do think kids in general are taller. I have a 6' 14 year old freshman and I'd say he has quite a few friends who are of similar height, with some much taller and of course some who are much shorter.

[Anonymous]

It is all so school dependent.

At our large UMC suburban high school it is very difficult to make most cut sports teams, yes. Kids have been doing private lessons and travel teams since elementary school.

There are a few smaller private schools and public schools in our area where pretty much all the sports teams are no-cut (though not everyone will get much playing time in games). Same with the smallish town I grew up in.

The large working class high schools are a mixed bag- really depends on the particular sport. Easier to make the “country club” sports teams over there- but I think it is still very competitive for all ball sports.

There are kids who don’t make the JV teams at my kids’ school who would probably start on varsity at other schools.

[Anonymous]

Sports that cut need to evaluate if they need more JV sports or practice teams. I call it practice teams, but this doesn’t exist. You know what I mean .. inventing something where people get to play at a practice level because they are obviously interested.

[Anonymous]

Highly school dependent. If you go to a top rated public full of Type A parents, yes this will be your experience. It has not been ours at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sports that cut need to evaluate if they need more JV sports or practice teams. I call it practice teams, but this doesn’t exist. You know what I mean .. inventing something where people get to play at a practice level because they are obviously interested.

Problem is $$ for coaches and field space

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sports that cut need to evaluate if they need more JV sports or practice teams. I call it practice teams, but this doesn’t exist. You know what I mean .. inventing something where people get to play at a practice level because they are obviously interested.

Who is coaching/supervising these practice level teams and where is more field space to allow them to practice and play? This is what the local rec leagues offer. The high schools don’t have the resources to offer every interested person an opportunity to play.

[Anonymous]

I graduated HS in 1998 from a large suburban HS and even then it was hard to make teams. I was cut from a team junior year. I think there’s just more pressure now to have a complete portfolio as part of college applications and there’s more transparency about who is/isn’t doing sports, so it feels like they are even bigger and more competitive than they used to be. But in many places at a certain socioeconomic level and student body size, it’s always been an achievement to make a HS team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sports that cut need to evaluate if they need more JV sports or practice teams. I call it practice teams, but this doesn’t exist. You know what I mean .. inventing something where people get to play at a practice level because they are obviously interested.

Problem is $$ for coaches and field space

+1

I agree.

However; why is it setup this way? A public high school with enrollment of 700 kids will have a JV and varsity and one field. A public high school with enrollment of 4000 kids will also have a JV and varsity and one field. And the same number of coaches as the small school. So small schools are spending massively more $ and resources on sports per student.

It won’t change, obviously, but it isn’t really setup well- and is a major contributor to overuse/overspecialization in youth sports (and at increasingly young ages).

Our large HS doesn’t have more room for fields even if they wanted to add more. Most don’t. Perhaps something that could be considered with new builds. Even offering freshman or JVB teams through the school goes a long way- some schools in our area do, some don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anyone can walk on at our high school. If playing matters to you, choose a high school that will let you play.

[Anonymous]

This depends on the popularity of the sport at that school. Our large FCPS high school cuts more than half the kids who try out for freshman basketball or JV soccer, but JV lacrosse is no cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sports that cut need to evaluate if they need more JV sports or practice teams. I call it practice teams, but this doesn’t exist. You know what I mean .. inventing something where people get to play at a practice level because they are obviously interested.

Problem is $$ for coaches and field space

+1

I agree.

However; why is it setup this way? A public high school with enrollment of 700 kids will have a JV and varsity and one field. A public high school with enrollment of 4000 kids will also have a JV and varsity and one field. And the same number of coaches as the small school. So small schools are spending massively more $ and resources on sports per student.

It won’t change, obviously, but it isn’t really setup well- and is a major contributor to overuse/overspecialization in youth sports (and at increasingly young ages).

Our large HS doesn’t have more room for fields even if they wanted to add more. Most don’t. Perhaps something that could be considered with new builds. Even offering freshman or JVB teams through the school goes a long way- some schools in our area do, some don’t.

We have one field that needs to be shared by JV and Varsity girls soccer, boys soccer, football, flag football, and field hockey in the fall. All practices and all games must be played on one field.

Sometimes JV and Varsity teams of a sport are sharing 1/4 of the field. There is simply no more room.

[Anonymous]

This is a very crowded region with huge schools. Move to a small midwestern suburb where the class size is 200 per grade if you want your child to play sports.

[Anonymous]

Yep, it's nuts. Most familiar with baseball, but at our large suburban school there were lots of kids who didn't make the JV team who are very good and have played travel for years. Plus the team was so large that even the kids who do make it rarely play.

But right down the road they didn't even have enough kids to have a JV team - they field varsity only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep, it's nuts. Most familiar with baseball, but at our large suburban school there were lots of kids who didn't make the JV team who are very good and have played travel for years. Plus the team was so large that even the kids who do make it rarely play.

But right down the road they didn't even have enough kids to have a JV team - they field varsity only.

I think we're at the same HS and if so, playing time on the large JV is definitely a struggle. There are also some tall kids on the team!