Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It isn't just height as a 9th grader, it is your potential for height. If you and your spouse are really tall then hang around those tryouts. If you are short then stay away.

You need to look to make a list- see how many seniors graduated last year, how many were juniors last year and how many were sophomore and freshman. Sometimes it is really just luck of the draw. You can have one kid tryout as a freshman and the year before they had a ton of seniors graduate. So then everyone moves up and there are more openings. If you have a tiny graduating class then there is a bottleneck and not many spaces open up.

It’s height and talent and they don’t care to look at everyone’s parents. My daughter’s boyfriend was on the freshman basketball team in a relatively large school. He was about 5’10” in 9th grade and a good player but not a standout. He was still growing I guess but he did not make varsity. Too many players that have everything that makes it so competitive.

If there is way more interest in playing basketball than there are spots hopefully someone will step up and create a program. Rec programs usually don’t cover high school. There needs to be another way where the players are accomplished and want to continue to play.

100% not true at least in northern virginia. maybe in the sticks.

My son does both soccer (V) and basketball (JV) in HS, he's a sophomore. In both programs, they had summer sessions and that was also for entering freshmen. By tryouts, coaches already have a pretty good idea of who will make it. If you just show up on the day of the tryouts, you're very lucky to make it and must be really good. Participating in AAU basketball and/or being on the A team in middle school is very common for boys continuing BB in HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wow I am the mom who originally posted and I am amazed at the several unhelpful comments. I am simply ignorant about what specifically high school teams are looking for. My kids have played for years but that doesn't mean that I have any knowledge of what a high school coach looks for?

Stay offended Jan

Oh dear. "Jan"? Time to update the ole humor textbook.

Anonymous wrote:wow I am the mom who originally posted and I am amazed at the several unhelpful comments. I am simply ignorant about what specifically high school teams are looking for. My kids have played for years but that doesn't mean that I have any knowledge of what a high school coach looks for?

Stay offended Jan

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

For high school? LOL. No. Boys soccer and boys basketball, everywhere.

To play D1 men’s tennis. You are competing against international players and the limit number of slots. Keep up

No because the best players in tennis are not going to college at all. In modern basketball the NCAA serves as a necessary step for American players to get to the pros. In the 2025 draft all of the top 10 players came from college teams.

D1 basketball recruiting is international, too. Of the top 10 picks, 2 were international students at US colleges.

Anonymous wrote:It isn't just height as a 9th grader, it is your potential for height. If you and your spouse are really tall then hang around those tryouts. If you are short then stay away.

You need to look to make a list- see how many seniors graduated last year, how many were juniors last year and how many were sophomore and freshman. Sometimes it is really just luck of the draw. You can have one kid tryout as a freshman and the year before they had a ton of seniors graduate. So then everyone moves up and there are more openings. If you have a tiny graduating class then there is a bottleneck and not many spaces open up.

It’s height and talent and they don’t care to look at everyone’s parents. My daughter’s boyfriend was on the freshman basketball team in a relatively large school. He was about 5’10” in 9th grade and a good player but not a standout. He was still growing I guess but he did not make varsity. Too many players that have everything that makes it so competitive.

If there is way more interest in playing basketball than there are spots hopefully someone will step up and create a program. Rec programs usually don’t cover high school. There needs to be another way where the players are accomplished and want to continue to play.

My kid is a freshman point guard. He's not hit his growth spurt yet (5'7"). He made the team based on ball handling and basketball IQ. He has strong hustle too, but is, by far, not the fastest nor strongest and he is definitely the shortest on the team.
I think what clinched it for him honestly was just going to every single training the coach offered leading up to the season, landing a spot on our town's AAU team even tho he was an alternate - head down, he showed up to every practice, played hard if given the chance to sub in, showed determination, and also played club. Basically played every chance he could and took every chance he could to be "visible" to the coach. It is competitive and took a LOT of work on his part to prove himself and it was stressful but he wanted it, and it paid off. Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

For high school? LOL. No. Boys soccer and boys basketball, everywhere.

Yes tennis and golf are super difficult because of the small number of players and no subs.

Basketball is tough because 5 on the floor and basically 5-7 subs

Soccer is hard because 150 kids try out because they played soccer once in 2nd grade. The travel kids get in at 9th grade and spots open as seniors graduate.

Basketball is also tough bc realistically you are recruited for a position… there are only so many slots for point guards and most point guards could never be “bigs.” There are often more generic tennis spots than there are point guard spots.

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

For high school? LOL. No. Boys soccer and boys basketball, everywhere.

To play D1 men’s tennis. You are competing against international players and the limit number of slots. Keep up

No, tennis at the ncaa level is not competing against the best as the best tennis players at that age will bypass college. The best basketball players generally have to play their one year at least in college.

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

For high school? LOL. No. Boys soccer and boys basketball, everywhere.

To play D1 men’s tennis. You are competing against international players and the limit number of slots. Keep up

No because the best players in tennis are not going to college at all. In modern basketball the NCAA serves as a necessary step for American players to get to the pros. In the 2025 draft all of the top 10 players came from college teams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

For high school? LOL. No. Boys soccer and boys basketball, everywhere.

To play D1 men’s tennis. You are competing against international players and the limit number of slots. Keep up

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

For high school? LOL. No. Boys soccer and boys basketball, everywhere.

Yes tennis and golf are super difficult because of the small number of players and no subs.

Basketball is tough because 5 on the floor and basically 5-7 subs

Soccer is hard because 150 kids try out because they played soccer once in 2nd grade. The travel kids get in at 9th grade and spots open as seniors graduate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

For high school? LOL. No. Boys soccer and boys basketball, everywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At a good sports school, boys' basketball will usually, statistically, the toughest sport to get on the varsity roster for based on the number of kids who want to play vs. the number of roster spots--usually 12 to 15, depending on where you are (we're not even talking about being one of the starting 5 here).

That's also true in college. Statistically, the number of kids who play in high school vs the number of D1 spots (NCAA rules make it so each college can only have 15 players total) makes it the hardest sport to play in D1.

Men’s tennis is the hardest

The best tennis players do not go to college, though. In basketball, the best US players are required to play one year in college before going pro. And far more kids play basketball than tennis.

if your kid is one of the few best where he plays he has a chance. if not, he doesn't.