Constant fear of being cut

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

Kids are still out there for hours - my kid practiced every night in the park, even on days he had team practice, often until 11:00 PM. Days he had practice, it would just be 45 minutes to an hour of ball handling and shooting. Other days it was 2 hours of drills and conditioning. I see other HS kids doing the same thing.

The difference is that most of those kids also now have individual trainers and access to tons of resources. Plus weight training, plyometrics, sprint training, and nutritionists.

The kids on my 1980s high school’s varsity team wouldn’t make my kid’s freshman team, and nobody at my high school was dunking as a freshman. Nowadays in the DMV, lots of kids are.

[Anonymous]

High schools in our area (not DMV) have A/B freshmen’s and JV teams in many sports to deal with growth stage issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not just size, but (at least on our MS basketball team) social factors can weed out kids too early. This year at least 3-4 solidly skilled, experienced kids got passed over in favor of kids who have hardly played before and aren’t quite as good, but they’re tight friends with the top players and got passed to frequently during tryouts. Lots of high fives, bro-ing around with each other, etc. The coach said he was looking for “strong team dynamics”.

There’s something to be said for having a close-knit team, but it seems like an odd thing to prioritize. It gives all the selection power to the top jock clique.

At the MS level, 2 good players is all you need for a championship team and happy parents that will pay whatever you charge.

What? What is an MS championship. My daughter goes to the winter series three times this winter. Any team with just 2 good players is getting blown out every game. Even in county, you aren't winning a championship with just 2 players

I should have said 2 stars.
You can build the rest.

PP here. They have 3 good players, 3 decent players, and the rest are bench warmers. Most of them can’t sink a simple layup and they’ve lost almost every game, but hey, at least the team dynamics are solid.

I expect the roster will shuffle around between now and high school, as the kids grow and the coaches change. Only about half of our current varsity lineup played middle school ball.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

It can be worse outside of the DMV. At least in the DMV there are nerds who recognize the kids’ livelihood will come from their brains. They refuse to let the kids play tackle football, and they have self-imposed limits on sports. One of our friends who falls in this category left a child on a supposedly “less elite” team. The child is now getting recruited.

So many constantly mention how the DMV is the most competitive area for sports. I imagine the most competitive place for football is Texas, New England is obsessed with hockey. But I do think your friends are in the minority and there are many more that spend a lot of time with private coaches, traveling, more than one sport at a time, year round, etc. It’s crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

Kids are still out there for hours - my kid practiced every night in the park, even on days he had team practice, often until 11:00 PM. Days he had practice, it would just be 45 minutes to an hour of ball handling and shooting. Other days it was 2 hours of drills and conditioning. I see other HS kids doing the same thing.

The difference is that most of those kids also now have individual trainers and access to tons of resources. Plus weight training, plyometrics, sprint training, and nutritionists.

The kids on my 1980s high school’s varsity team wouldn’t make my kid’s freshman team, and nobody at my high school was dunking as a freshman. Nowadays in the DMV, lots of kids are.

Your kid is committed and probably has the talent, all that work will probably be worth it. I don’t know your child’s race or height but to be realistic White basketball players make up less than 20% of the NBA plus about 20% of NBA players are from European or African countries. I don’t know the DMV statistics but the average height is 6’6”. Raw talent and height will win out fancy gyms and private coaches every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m seeing that now even with age 9. Coaches are prioritizing huge kids. Sometimes the parents are 5’2/5’6. They are just heavier or early bloomers. Jokes on them I guess.

It's a really short-sighted approach in a lot of sports. One kid grows tall earlier than another, and the coaches put all their time and effort into that kid while ignoring the others. So even when others catch up in development, they have either quit out of frustration and boredom (because often they are being ignored by coaches and put into practices led by unqualified teenagers). Coaches lose out on potentially excellent athletes that way, and kids who could be really good never even get a chance. It's a sad state that youth sports are in today.

I know. I've sadly noticed this with the late bloomers, smaller kids and younger kids in my child's grade in third. Very sad indeed! Just develop everyone equally and wait until high school to start deciding this.

I have a 5th grader and over the summer a coach forming a new team basically told my DH he would be recruiting DC if DC wasn't so short. Funny thing was: coach was forming a team of kids a year older than DC and DC is a fall birthday. Uh, yeah. Kid is short compared to kids a year and a half older.

[Anonymous]

We have a middle schooler and he’s in the middle of the pack or a bit shorter with height. He got tall parents, and I feel coaches see us and selfishly assume he’s not worried about DS’s height as long as he practices hard.

But yes, we have the fear of being cut watching the kids who look nearly full grown.

It’s a tough world. As other PP said, the team will do the best for the 13 year olds team. It has always been like that (except for the private coaching and money and time that DMV parents throw in)

[Anonymous]

I have a taller kid but when I went to the parents' interest meeting at our high school, I asked my tall husband to come as well. I know it sounds silly but I'm short and didn't want the coaches to automatically write off my kid based on my height.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a taller kid but when I went to the parents' interest meeting at our high school, I asked my tall husband to come as well. I know it sounds silly but I'm short and didn't want the coaches to automatically write off my kid based on my height.

I did this too! But my kid is still on the shorter end of the stick. Coach who’d just met us asked my son what sized shoes he wore as part of his (literal) sizing up. Kid happens to have big feet but good Lord. This is a 12 year old team!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a taller kid but when I went to the parents' interest meeting at our high school, I asked my tall husband to come as well. I know it sounds silly but I'm short and didn't want the coaches to automatically write off my kid based on my height.

My kid loves basketball and has great handles but he is shorter than most players so the basketball coach was polite but not overly interested
He is also wirey so the wrestling coach spent a lot of time with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN7r7nk0-zc&t=2s

Anything with weight classes can be competitive for smaller kids.
There are positions in most sports for the smaller guys but there is soooo much competition for them that the coaches never have to worry about those positions, they just sort themselves out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

Kids are still out there for hours - my kid practiced every night in the park, even on days he had team practice, often until 11:00 PM. Days he had practice, it would just be 45 minutes to an hour of ball handling and shooting. Other days it was 2 hours of drills and conditioning. I see other HS kids doing the same thing.

The difference is that most of those kids also now have individual trainers and access to tons of resources. Plus weight training, plyometrics, sprint training, and nutritionists.

The kids on my 1980s high school’s varsity team wouldn’t make my kid’s freshman team, and nobody at my high school was dunking as a freshman. Nowadays in the DMV, lots of kids are.

Your kid is committed and probably has the talent, all that work will probably be worth it. I don’t know your child’s race or height but to be realistic White basketball players make up less than 20% of the NBA plus about 20% of NBA players are from European or African countries. I don’t know the DMV statistics but the average height is 6’6”. Raw talent and height will win out fancy gyms and private coaches every time.

When you post about the NBA in a conversation about high school basketball, you’ve lost the thread. When you post about the race of NBA players as if there was a quota system, you’ve lost the thread. Players who are good go far regardless of race. What you’re seeing is correlation, not causation, except at a population level.

Try to stay on topic.

The reality is that height without talent AND lots of practice gets kids nowhere in competitive environments — when my kid played JV they cut a 6’10” kid who couldn’t protect the ball.

In competitive environments like many DMV schools, kids need not only height and athleticism, but also hard work AND fancy trainers. And it’s not the case that low SES kids don’t have trainers. The super talented kids my son played with had trainers lining up to work with them for free so they could brag about training those guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

Kids are still out there for hours - my kid practiced every night in the park, even on days he had team practice, often until 11:00 PM. Days he had practice, it would just be 45 minutes to an hour of ball handling and shooting. Other days it was 2 hours of drills and conditioning. I see other HS kids doing the same thing.

The difference is that most of those kids also now have individual trainers and access to tons of resources. Plus weight training, plyometrics, sprint training, and nutritionists.

The kids on my 1980s high school’s varsity team wouldn’t make my kid’s freshman team, and nobody at my high school was dunking as a freshman. Nowadays in the DMV, lots of kids are.

Your kid is committed and probably has the talent, all that work will probably be worth it. I don’t know your child’s race or height but to be realistic White basketball players make up less than 20% of the NBA plus about 20% of NBA players are from European or African countries. I don’t know the DMV statistics but the average height is 6’6”. Raw talent and height will win out fancy gyms and private coaches every time.

When you post about the NBA in a conversation about high school basketball, you’ve lost the thread. When you post about the race of NBA players as if there was a quota system, you’ve lost the thread. Players who are good go far regardless of race. What you’re seeing is correlation, not causation, except at a population level.

Try to stay on topic.

The reality is that height without talent AND lots of practice gets kids nowhere in competitive environments — when my kid played JV they cut a 6’10” kid who couldn’t protect the ball.

In competitive environments like many DMV schools, kids need not only height and athleticism, but also hard work AND fancy trainers. And it’s not the case that low SES kids don’t have trainers. The super talented kids my son played with had trainers lining up to work with them for free so they could brag about training those guys.

NP but that just sounds like short-sighted stupidity to me. A good coach would take the 6’10” kid and then, you know, COACH him. Maybe TEACH him how to protect the ball…

I’m sure the varsity coach is thrilled that the JV coach fundamentally doesn’t understand his job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

Kids are still out there for hours - my kid practiced every night in the park, even on days he had team practice, often until 11:00 PM. Days he had practice, it would just be 45 minutes to an hour of ball handling and shooting. Other days it was 2 hours of drills and conditioning. I see other HS kids doing the same thing.

The difference is that most of those kids also now have individual trainers and access to tons of resources. Plus weight training, plyometrics, sprint training, and nutritionists.

The kids on my 1980s high school’s varsity team wouldn’t make my kid’s freshman team, and nobody at my high school was dunking as a freshman. Nowadays in the DMV, lots of kids are.

Your kid is committed and probably has the talent, all that work will probably be worth it. I don’t know your child’s race or height but to be realistic White basketball players make up less than 20% of the NBA plus about 20% of NBA players are from European or African countries. I don’t know the DMV statistics but the average height is 6’6”. Raw talent and height will win out fancy gyms and private coaches every time.

When you post about the NBA in a conversation about high school basketball, you’ve lost the thread. When you post about the race of NBA players as if there was a quota system, you’ve lost the thread. Players who are good go far regardless of race. What you’re seeing is correlation, not causation, except at a population level.

Try to stay on topic.

The reality is that height without talent AND lots of practice gets kids nowhere in competitive environments — when my kid played JV they cut a 6’10” kid who couldn’t protect the ball.

In competitive environments like many DMV schools, kids need not only height and athleticism, but also hard work AND fancy trainers. And it’s not the case that low SES kids don’t have trainers. The super talented kids my son played with had trainers lining up to work with them for free so they could brag about training those guys.

NP but that just sounds like short-sighted stupidity to me. A good coach would take the 6’10” kid and then, you know, COACH him. Maybe TEACH him how to protect the ball…

I’m sure the varsity coach is thrilled that the JV coach fundamentally doesn’t understand his job.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my kid is a DI college athlete in a non-revenue generating sport. With the changes coming to college sports roster sizes are likely going to be cut. All the freshman are stressed they’ll get the ax B4 they have a chance to develop. Cant wait to hit the transfer portal and start the whole recruiting process over again. . . But. The key lesson here is enjoy the present. No one ever knows when they’ll play their last game due to injury or roster cut. You can make a plan, for if he is cut, but then refuse to engage on the rumination of the worry. One-day-at-time must be your mantra. This is a good skill to have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m seeing that now even with age 9. Coaches are prioritizing huge kids. Sometimes the parents are 5’2/5’6. They are just heavier or early bloomers. Jokes on them I guess.

It's a really short-sighted approach in a lot of sports. One kid grows tall earlier than another, and the coaches put all their time and effort into that kid while ignoring the others. So even when others catch up in development, they have either quit out of frustration and boredom (because often they are being ignored by coaches and put into practices led by unqualified teenagers). Coaches lose out on potentially excellent athletes that way, and kids who could be really good never even get a chance. It's a sad state that youth sports are in today.

I know. I've sadly noticed this with the late bloomers, smaller kids and younger kids in my child's grade in third. Very sad indeed! Just develop everyone equally and wait until high school to start deciding this.

I have a 5th grader and over the summer a coach forming a new team basically told my DH he would be recruiting DC if DC wasn't so short. Funny thing was: coach was forming a team of kids a year older than DC and DC is a fall birthday. Uh, yeah. Kid is short compared to kids a year and a half older.

Kids grow at different rates but you know that. Younger kids can be much taller than the older kids in 5th grade. That doesn’t mean anything. I can’t believe they are judging height on kids who haven’t even started puberty. So wrong.