Anonymous wrote:Why hasn’t she been running all summer? It’s incredible that people think they can just go join a team with no skill.

It used to be that school based sports were where you learned to be better at your sport. Now you are expected to have been doing your sport since elementary if you want to make the HS team. I dont think XC needs to have such a high bar for entry since it's the cheapest sport for the school to operate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why hasn’t she been running all summer? It’s incredible that people think they can just go join a team with no skill.

To be fair, we're talking about High School XC here, no skill involved.

Have you looked at the XC teams around here? There is definitely skill. And while the teams might be big only the top 10 compete in the invitational races

You are confusing athletic skill with work/training ethic, baseline genetics and capacity to suffer and push through discomfort, which is what is needed for HS XC.

At the base level for the vast majority of HS XC there is no skill involved except for a select few at the very top who understand how to race and utilize race strategy.

The top level in XC have both real talent and strength. Decidedly so. Even track focused guys can run three miles in XC very fast. On flat courses the per mile pace for boys in XC is 4:30, and you need wheels to do that. My late brother was a 4:05 high school miler in the 70’s, disliked XC, ran only 40 miles a week, and ran 14:05 for 5k in XC in high school. On that same 40 miles a week won a major college D1 XC championship (10k). This while running the school’s All American 4 x 4 in track. 46 second 400 talent is rare for a middle distance guy. He had no XC race strategy, other than to float along and on the right course for him you didn’t want him anywhere near you in the last 400m. Like Alan Webb, having speed and talent is a big advantage and guys like this are in no way just hard working grinders. In fact, limiting their mileage is often a success factor.,

It truly, truly depends on the school. OP, the best thing your daughter can do is to show up and give it a shot.

Some schools are no-cut, but if the school is very large, capping at 40 for boys and 40 for girls is certainly reasonable.

I live in a non-NOVA town with a shaky program. We can barely fill out a JV team.

The "best" school around us has 10 each on varsity and JV. Everyone else competes in dual meets, but doesn't usually get taken to invitationals. Some invitationals have freshman or novice races, though. That's a great opportunity to work on racing skills at a slightly shorter distance.

Good luck to your daughter! I hope she makes the team and likes it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our FCPS school- there is never an opportunity for everyone to run

That's the impression we get. How do kids keep motivated if they never see a race? It doesn't seem inclusive to me.

Can only speak to my kid’s school, but half the kids (the fastest ones) are 100% about XC, and the other half do it to be fit for another sport. But they still like to support the kids who do race.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our FCPS school- there is never an opportunity for everyone to run

That's the impression we get. How do kids keep motivated if they never see a race? It doesn't seem inclusive to me.

It’s certainly more inclusive than many other sports.

More participants than are needed for a Varsity Squad (7-10) are able to be a part of a team, and come to practice everyday after school.

More than the number needed for a varsity and jv team (14-20) are likely to have an opportunity to compete at a race.

In most cases, even a slow runner that is hard working and dedicated will have an opportunity to race during the season.

But yes, an athlete that rarely shows up for practice, and does not try, will likely not have an opportunity to race.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our FCPS school- there is never an opportunity for everyone to run

That's the impression we get. How do kids keep motivated if they never see a race? It doesn't seem inclusive to me.

Uhhh- it is a competitive sport. I don’t think it is designed to be inclusive. Your kid needs to run faster to be included.

Anonymous wrote:At our FCPS school- there is never an opportunity for everyone to run

That's the impression we get. How do kids keep motivated if they never see a race? It doesn't seem inclusive to me.

At our FCPS school- there is never an opportunity for everyone to run

Anonymous wrote:We are under the impression that only the best get to compete. Is that correct? And how is that evaluated?

top 10 girls/top 10 boys based on time compete in invitationals and are considered varsity.

It might change 1-2 racers through the same but not that much at our school. we have some good runners who start off strong and finish stronger. there is rarely some dark horse that improves that much. Recent years- it have been a freshman or two coming in who was athletic before arriving and gets into the mix of racers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are under the impression that only the best get to compete. Is that correct? And how is that evaluated?

Time trials and/or race results throughout the season. It's all about time (99%).

And when I say throughout the season, I mean if a kid gets a huge PR in a race on Saturday they could bump someone else off varsity for the next race on Wednesday. The varsity lineup is constantly changing, especially the bottom 2-3 runners. At least here (not DMV), everyone runs JV, but then the top 8 do the varsity race and events.

Anonymous wrote:We are under the impression that only the best get to compete. Is that correct? And how is that evaluated?

Time trials and/or race results throughout the season. It's all about time (99%).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why hasn’t she been running all summer? It’s incredible that people think they can just go join a team with no skill.

To be fair, we're talking about High School XC here, no skill involved.

Have you looked at the XC teams around here? There is definitely skill. And while the teams might be big only the top 10 compete in the invitational races

You are confusing athletic skill with work/training ethic, baseline genetics and capacity to suffer and push through discomfort, which is what is needed for HS XC.

At the base level for the vast majority of HS XC there is no skill involved except for a select few at the very top who understand how to race and utilize race strategy.

We are under the impression that only the best get to compete. Is that correct? And how is that evaluated?

Our fcps hs tryouts have no time requirement. Kids only have to complete 1.5 miles. It is a welcoming team for new runners willing to work hard. The head coach is great!

All XC courses are different- the fastest VA girl on a VA course was 16:54