This is very typical.

From what I see, he has a few options: 1.) Work his butt off at practice and in the weight room. Practice on weekends. Get better now.

2.) Lean in to strategy, seeing the floor. Make himself valuable as a teammate and practice player.

3.) Get on an AAU or other outside team to get himself more playing time.

Anonymous wrote:As PP have said, this is common. My kid barely played as a freshman. Grew six inches in a year, made JV, now is a starter - and a couple the kids who peaked as freshman stopped growing and get less playing time. A lot changes between freshman and sophomore year.

Same thing happened to my son. A year makes a difference. And get with an outside team/coach.

Anonymous wrote:My son is on a freshman team - billed as "development." Well the same six kids play all game, every game and the same six kids ride the bench and get one minute of playing time ice cold in the fourth quarter. My kid is getting demoralized. Advice?

I would not worry about it. That’s pretty normal. Even freshman teams play pretty competitively. I think you need to reframe it for him - he made the team, but other players are still better. Have HIM ask the coach what he can work on. If he does and grows (physically, but also skills-wise) in the off-season, next year could be completely different.