Timed mile for high school soccer tryouts?

[Anonymous]

My 9th grade son is trying out for his high school soccer team (Chantilly HS, if that matters). The coach is insisting that Varsity kids run a mile in 5:30, and that JV kids run a mile in 6 minutes flat. That seems reasonable to me, and my son can do it. However, it appears that a lot of the other kids trying out cannot. Is it a hard-and-fast rule for most area high school teams? If not enough kids can run the mile appropriately, does the coach open up the tryouts to other slower kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grade son is trying out for his high school soccer team (Chantilly HS, if that matters). The coach is insisting that Varsity kids run a mile in 5:30, and that JV kids run a mile in 6 minutes flat. That seems reasonable to me, and my son can do it. However, it appears that a lot of the other kids trying out cannot. Is it a hard-and-fast rule for most area high school teams? If not enough kids can run the mile appropriately, does the coach open up the tryouts to other slower kids?

Don't know for the boys. On the girls side CHS did not cut girls who couldn't make the target time. Only the freshmen did not know this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grade son is trying out for his high school soccer team (Chantilly HS, if that matters). The coach is insisting that Varsity kids run a mile in 5:30, and that JV kids run a mile in 6 minutes flat. That seems reasonable to me, and my son can do it. However, it appears that a lot of the other kids trying out cannot. Is it a hard-and-fast rule for most area high school teams? If not enough kids can run the mile appropriately, does the coach open up the tryouts to other slower kids?

This is a poor test of soccer fitness and shows that the coach is clearly not knowledgeable about the sport. While I assume your son's participation in hs athletics is as much social as anything else, I would be ready for a season of subpar coaching, potentially dangerous "fitness" routines, and likely a frustrating experience for your son unless he's a starter. Welcome to world of HS sports in VA.

[Anonymous]

This is to weed people out, not sort people out.

[Anonymous]

While the times seem really hard to meet unless you are in shape, I agree it is just to weed those out that are out of shape. The frustrating thing about it is that there are probably plenty of super fast sprinters that hate running distance and can't hit those targets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While the times seem really hard to meet unless you are in shape, I agree it is just to weed those out that are out of shape. The frustrating thing about it is that there are probably plenty of super fast sprinters that hate running distance and can't hit those targets.

and there are plenty of lazy coaches who don't want to observe large numbers of players at tryouts- Chantilly apparently has one of those

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While the times seem really hard to meet unless you are in shape, I agree it is just to weed those out that are out of shape. The frustrating thing about it is that there are probably plenty of super fast sprinters that hate running distance and can't hit those targets.

and there are plenty of lazy coaches who don't want to observe large numbers of players at tryouts- Chantilly apparently has one of those

Unless, of course, he just sets a tough target to encourage the kids to work towards it, but does not enforce it strictly at the end of tryouts.

[Anonymous]

Our son’s high school has a 2 mile in 12 minute fitness test, as well as the ManU fitness test. Colleges have multiple fitness tests, and the 2 miles in 12 minutes seems fairly common for a number of colleges.

[Anonymous]

It gets the kids running before tryouts but also after 1l lap onthe track it is clear who is taking the tryouts seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While the times seem really hard to meet unless you are in shape, I agree it is just to weed those out that are out of shape. The frustrating thing about it is that there are probably plenty of super fast sprinters that hate running distance and can't hit those targets.

5:30 should be attainable by any high school soccer player who has trained for even a few weeks. And a kid who can't do this is going to struggle to put in a full 90 minutes.

[Anonymous]

It is stupid. No professional soccer player ever out-jogs someone to the ball. It is sprint and recover, which does not translate to a long distance timed run.

I guarantee neither Messi nor Ronaldo come anywhere close to the best 2-mile timed run on their own team. We all know Maradona was a marathoner.

Why not do a sprint and cut the slowest kids who can't run an 11 second 100m? Both metrics are physically unattainable for a certain population of kids, and both are a poor measure of how the athlete will perform on the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 9th grade son is trying out for his high school soccer team (Chantilly HS, if that matters). The coach is insisting that Varsity kids run a mile in 5:30, and that JV kids run a mile in 6 minutes flat. That seems reasonable to me, and my son can do it. However, it appears that a lot of the other kids trying out cannot. Is it a hard-and-fast rule for most area high school teams? If not enough kids can run the mile appropriately, does the coach open up the tryouts to other slower kids?

This is a poor test of soccer fitness and shows that the coach is clearly not knowledgeable about the sport. While I assume your son's participation in hs athletics is as much social as anything else, I would be ready for a season of subpar coaching, potentially dangerous "fitness" routines, and likely a frustrating experience for your son unless he's a starter. Welcome to world of HS sports in VA.

The only thing missing from this ridiculous comment is to blame failed US Soccer on this type of coaching. Yes I'm sure the coach is not knowledgeable about the sport. Oh and potentially dangerous "fitness" routines, oh my this is so scary. Im worried for the children.

They are running a timed mile!!! My daughter was doing this in elementary school. Was it any more/less dangerous then? How is this a potentially dangerous fitness routine? Quite the contrary, if your kid cant run for 5 minutes any reasonable distance they are not fit enough to run two 45 minute halves at any speed.

Just another parent wanting to give a trophy to every kid for showing up. Lets not make sure they can do the job or have any baseline fitness expectations. Lets just blame the coach because your little Jimmy cant run a mile and call it bad coaching and dangerous fitness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While the times seem really hard to meet unless you are in shape, I agree it is just to weed those out that are out of shape. The frustrating thing about it is that there are probably plenty of super fast sprinters that hate running distance and can't hit those targets.

IMO, these types of tests result in players training in the wrong manner - too much fitness, not enough speed and acceleration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is stupid. No professional soccer player ever out-jogs someone to the ball. It is sprint and recover, which does not translate to a long distance timed run.

I guarantee neither Messi nor Ronaldo come anywhere close to the best 2-mile timed run on their own team. We all know Maradona was a marathoner.

Why not do a sprint and cut the slowest kids who can't run an 11 second 100m? Both metrics are physically unattainable for a certain population of kids, and both are a poor measure of how the athlete will perform on the field.

Every single word you just wrote is total nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our son’s high school has a 2 mile in 12 minute fitness test, as well as the ManU fitness test. Colleges have multiple fitness tests, and the 2 miles in 12 minutes seems fairly common for a number of colleges.

A fitness test is that. It test fitness. There are many kids who can train and make the standard but not many can have an impact on the field. High school level sport including “elite” travel teams can have a dominant player who is athletic and out of shape.