It's tough either way you look at it. In my kids' cross country league, the honors are based on one race. That removes politics from it, of course, which is kind of nice. However, sometimes the kids who have been at the top all season long have a terrible race that day and wind up getting nothing.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks. Last year DD got 2nd team and coach told her she put her up for 1st team but the other coaches said her stats didn't support it. She was fine with that - just happy to get the honors. But a teammate with equally good stats got honorable mention with the same explanation and was pretty upset. This all led us to believe it was actually about stats. Guess not. Just trying to understand it and have reasonable expectations

For some leagues it’s definitely not just about that stats. Coaches absolutely make back room deals where they commit to vote for each others players. Sometimes it’s for the players benefit, but sometimes it’s because the coach really wants the accolades for the program.

OP here. Thanks. Last year DD got 2nd team and coach told her she put her up for 1st team but the other coaches said her stats didn't support it. She was fine with that - just happy to get the honors. But a teammate with equally good stats got honorable mention with the same explanation and was pretty upset. This all led us to believe it was actually about stats. Guess not. Just trying to understand it and have reasonable expectations

Stats can be very misleading as to how good someone is in team environment. The kids who do the dirty work on a team have low stats but are often the ones who drive up the stats of other kids on the team. That of course is sport dependent - some sports have enough stats to overcome that problem.

The way I understand it, coaches all meet together to make these decisions. There is probably some sort of ranking and voting process.

For individual sports, it’s much more clear cut.

There are a lot of politics in this. It’s unfortunate because there are always kids deserving who are left out. And kids, who probably should not be put forward put forward anyway because the coach likes them better.

As someone else already said if the other schools don’t like your school or your coach, that can also work against you. Some coaches have the mentality that every school should get players put on the list but in reality that’s just not true. Some coaches form a pact - something like I’ll vote for your player if you vote for mine.

Your coach determines who to recommend and for what team, then all coaches in district or region meet and agree on selections. For team sports the better the team is ranked the more slots they will get.

I figured that it was just the coaches all voting for the best players they got to see during the season. So, pure stats never really come into the picture as a criterion. Granted, the best players should have the better/best stats, but hustle doesn't always bear itself out in numbers.

I do believe that All-Region selections start with the pool of All-District selections, so there is at least a minimum bar to meet for an All-Region selection.

Does the actual criteria matter? I always thought/viewed it as political. I certainly know that kids with better stats last year were only 2d team while Kids with lesser stats were 1st.
And if other HS coaches don’t like your school, then they pick faves and dont vote for the most accomplished coach.

Does anyone know where to find the criteria for All District/All Region Honors for VHSL? Can't find on website, coach is vague when asked. Caused some tension on the team last year re: who got 1st team vs 2nd team among equally strong players, and it's getting to be that time in the season. FCPS