Pro Tips for Preparing Your DD to Make HS Varsity Freshman Year

W

Woodwork

SILVER ELITE
My DD finished a summer HS soccer preview. To help your DD get noticed by the HS Varsity Coach you may want to have your DD:

1. Play soccer at the highest level. Maybe even play up a year or two at the highest levels and have a track record of success playing with more mature players already on local Varsity teams.
2. Have great first touch and speed of play.
3. Have high soccer IQ and field vision.
4. Make good off the ball runs and have smart positioning.
5. Have high-level speed, endurance, and agility.
6. Make strong tackles and win 50/50 balls and help the team keep possession.

Don't waste your time with those things. Make your DD be tall. Be tall and dribble until she loses it. Don't worry about her ability to receive a pass, make a pass, or win a 50/50 ball (she should work on fouling from behind and hoping the other player dribbles out of bounds). But, in the off chance she gets the ball, make sure she dribbles until she loses it. Tell her to stop being average height. Tell her to be tall. Tell her to go outside now, and practice being tall.
 
Ha score a hat trick at the first "tryout" vs other varisity prospects...

Run and don't stop, defend, keep possession, pass out of pressure, show you can play on both sides of the ball, be a team player.

Have the player discuss what it takes to make the team and expectations.

Good luck, ours where average or below height freshman but stood out anyway, they can grow a bunch in HS.
 
lafalafa said:
Ha score a hat trick at the first "tryout" vs other varisity prospects...

Run and don't stop, defend, keep possession, pass out of pressure, show you can play on both sides of the ball, be a team player.

Have the player discuss what it takes to make the team and expectations.

Good luck, ours where average or below height freshman but stood out anyway, they can grow a bunch in HS.
Click to expand...
LOL. Our high school you need to play positions like stopper, sweeper, trapper-keeper, seeker, and bludger. They think a hat trick is when you put on the hat and it tells you if you got into Griffindor.
 
Woodwork said:
My DD finished a summer HS soccer preview. To help your DD get noticed by the HS Varsity Coach you may want to have your DD:

1. Play soccer at the highest level. Maybe even play up a year or two at the highest levels and have a track record of success playing with more mature players already on local Varsity teams.
2. Have great first touch and speed of play.
3. Have high soccer IQ and field vision.
4. Make good off the ball runs and have smart positioning.
5. Have high-level speed, endurance, and agility.
6. Make strong tackles and win 50/50 balls and help the team keep possession.

Don't waste your time with those things. Make your DD be tall. Be tall and dribble until she loses it. Don't worry about her ability to receive a pass, make a pass, or win a 50/50 ball (she should work on fouling from behind and hoping the other player dribbles out of bounds). But, in the off chance she gets the ball, make sure she dribbles until she loses it. Tell her to stop being average height. Tell her to be tall. Tell her to go outside now, and practice being tall.
Click to expand...
So you are saying HS soccer is a lot like club soccer? The down side of HS soccer is the compressed season. There is very little time to develop players and truly understand what each kid brings to the game. Several years ago I had the chance to talk to one of the HS coaches in our area. The short story went like this: her boss, who coached at a rival HS, had a style of play. He played that style at club and at HS. At club he had more control of who was on the team. At HS he picked similar players (big, fast & strong), but they were not always as dominant. The coach I was talking to consistently beat him. Each year she looked at who she had available at her HS and designed a game plan around what she had. Good coaches are going to find the best players and design a strategy that works with what they have. Other coaches are going to favor big fast & strong, to their own detriment.

I am sorry for your kid. Hopefully next year the coach wakes up and takes her.
 
MyDaughtersAKeeper said:
So you are saying HS soccer is a lot like club soccer? The down side of HS soccer is the compressed season. There is very little time to develop players and truly understand what each kid brings to the game. Several years ago I had the chance to talk to one of the HS coaches in our area. The short story went like this: her boss, who coached at a rival HS, had a style of play. He played that style at club and at HS. At club he had more control of who was on the team. At HS he picked similar players (big, fast & strong), but they were not always as dominant. The coach I was talking to consistently beat him. Each year she looked at who she had available at her HS and designed a game plan around what she had. Good coaches are going to find the best players and design a strategy that works with what they have. Other coaches are going to favor big fast & strong, to their own detriment.

I am sorry for your kid. Hopefully next year the coach wakes up and takes her.
Click to expand...
Thanks. This certainly would vary HS to HS, so I shouldn't be generalizing, but it seems to be a style of play that has given up on style of play. Basically, the coach learned 30 years ago (same HS coach all that time) that you don't have the personnel to connect passes and decided that the only chance of scoring is if one of the players manages to dribble through two or three opponents. DD was all about that at 10 years old. The discussion yesterday with my DD was literally: "If you want to make varsity as a sophomore, you are going to have to forget about good soccer. Forget about what is good for the team. That was a great, smart pass you made yesterday. Don't do that anymore. That was nice of you to volunteer to play centerback (or whatever quidditch term the coach used) when no one else volunteered. Don't do that. I know as a left or right back you want to do a 1-2 and overlap. Don't do that. Its your ball now. Dribble dribble dribble. Maybe even don't play right or left back. Your winger is going to stand in front of you and block the open space. Volunteer to be winger. Don't let that person stand in front of you as you are dribbling anymore."
 
Our High School didn't have a JV team so everyone was on varsity. We were tied 0-0 with a top 10 team after 20 minutes and our coach, due to pressure from parents, felt the need to sub in almost the whole bench. You can imagine what happened. But the parents of those girls that got to play must have been happy. :mad:
 
socalkdg said:
Our High School didn't have a JV team so everyone was on varsity. We were tied 0-0 with a top 10 team after 20 minutes and our coach, due to pressure from parents, felt the need to sub in almost the whole bench. You can imagine what happened. But the parents of those girls that got to play must have been happy. :mad:
Click to expand...
We had a Zoom meeting with all of the parents before the start of the season. My first question was about the team goals. As I saw it, there are 3 ways to handle the team:

  1. Play to win every game and there is no guarantee of playing time - play to win,
  2. Don't care about pre-season, but want to see what we have. Once the season starts, playing to win,
  3. Don't care about wins and loses, and want everyone to have a "fun" season and everyone gets playing time.
Seems like we started off as #3, then moved towards #1. It worked out OK as DD's team were the SD Division III champs, just made it harder to get there. I did feel bad for the other goalie as her minutes were greatly reduced as the season progressed. I thought the coach could have made it easier on everyone if the goals were laid out at the beginning. Communicate expectations = easier life as everyone knows what to expect.
 
As long as the expectation is made from the start. My kiddo doesn't do well with number 3 (despite many. conversations she just takes her game too seriously and when others don't it takes away the fun). We are having a hard time convincing her to play in the fall.
 
socalkdg said:
Our High School didn't have a JV team so everyone was on varsity. We were tied 0-0 with a top 10 team after 20 minutes and our coach, due to pressure from parents, felt the need to sub in almost the whole bench. You can imagine what happened. But the parents of those girls that got to play must have been happy. :mad:
Click to expand...

Those subs gave you plausible deniability, which is a gift.

I think very few people choose the High School based on the quality of the soccer program. The other side of the coin is an overly robust program where half the players on varsity make the team only as legacies in their senior year and never see meaningful playing time as a varsity player. In the club world, if the player is ECNL bench level on one team, perhaps just due to the coach's style preference, the player can shop around for another team. In high school you just have to accept your lot in life.
 
MyDaughtersAKeeper said:
We had a Zoom meeting with all of the parents before the start of the season. My first question was about the team goals. As I saw it, there are 3 ways to handle the team:

  1. Play to win every game and there is no guarantee of playing time - play to win,
  2. Don't care about pre-season, but want to see what we have. Once the season starts, playing to win,
  3. Don't care about wins and loses, and want everyone to have a "fun" season and everyone gets playing time.
Seems like we started off as #3, then moved towards #1. It worked out OK as DD's team were the SD Division III champs, just made it harder to get there. I did feel bad for the other goalie as her minutes were greatly reduced as the season progressed. I thought the coach could have made it easier on everyone if the goals were laid out at the beginning. Communicate expectations = easier life as everyone knows what to expect.
Click to expand...
If you go with 1 and 2, parents of players riding the bench always forget that #3 was dismissed at the start and will still be upset and file complaints. We've seen this happen many times.
 
Woodwork said:
My DD finished a summer HS soccer preview. To help your DD get noticed by the HS Varsity Coach you may want to have your DD:

1. Play soccer at the highest level. Maybe even play up a year or two at the highest levels and have a track record of success playing with more mature players already on local Varsity teams.
2. Have great first touch and speed of play.
3. Have high soccer IQ and field vision.
4. Make good off the ball runs and have smart positioning.
5. Have high-level speed, endurance, and agility.
6. Make strong tackles and win 50/50 balls and help the team keep possession.

Don't waste your time with those things. Make your DD be tall. Be tall and dribble until she loses it. Don't worry about her ability to receive a pass, make a pass, or win a 50/50 ball (she should work on fouling from behind and hoping the other player dribbles out of bounds). But, in the off chance she gets the ball, make sure she dribbles until she loses it. Tell her to stop being average height. Tell her to be tall. Tell her to go outside now, and practice being tall.
Click to expand...
Don't forget "Go to a school that doesn't have a lot of soccer players tryout" This can be a small private school. Or a school in a district that is closer to the "older" homes where less kids live around.
 
Emma said:
If you go with 1 and 2, parents of players riding the bench always forget that #3 was dismissed at the start and will still be upset and file complaints. We've seen this happen many times.
Click to expand...
How many #1 type coaches are willing to openly tell a kid that they are only on the team as a backup plan in case of injury to one of the important kids?

Of course the parents file complaints. The coach was only honest about half of it. You can't recruit someone for a starring role and only later explain that they are the understudy.
 
timbuck said:
Don't forget "Go to a school that doesn't have a lot of soccer players tryout" This can be a small private school. Or a school in a district that is closer to the "older" homes where less kids live around.
Click to expand...
This can be a frustrating experience too because you’ll get a lot of non club soccer players on the team too and maybe play lower division. What’s worse is you may even need to make the choice in 6th grade. My kid had to choose between my alma matter which is a really good soccer school (though as a keeper he’d always run the risk that a higher level keeper relegates him to the bench for several years) or his current school (which had both math and band programs better suited for him and he’s be guaranteed at least a slot on the field but 1/2 the players are rec or lower level club). He chose his school because he’d start honors right away instead of waiting a year and they’d let him challenge for percussion first chair right away to play the kit as opposed to my alma matter which forced everyone to start with bells and then move up to marching snare even if they had years of experience on the kit.[/QUOTE]
 
dad4 said:
How many #1 type coaches are willing to openly tell a kid that they are only on the team as a backup plan in case of injury to one of the important kids?

Of course the parents file complaints. The coach was only honest about half of it. You can't recruit someone for a starring role and only later explain that they are the understudy.
Click to expand...
I hope this isn't a unique situation, but maybe I am naive. Friends with GK coach at a local school. Five keepers tried out for varsity & JV. There was a clear #1, clear #2 and #3 was a senior. Took all three after having a conversation with the #3, about playing time and expectations. #3 understood her role. Was Ok with the role, and they play in the top division in the area. I spoke with him after the season and it worked out OK, because the communication and expectations were set early.
 
socalkdg said:
Wait, the High School had a GK coach? :rolleyes:

Communication is the key, and I believe kids want to win, but I think some parents, especially those with kids that are seniors, want their kid to play result be damned.
Click to expand...
Of course parents want their kid to play, even if the kid is low skill. They are parents.

You can try a model where only the top kids are allowed to use the sports fields. But, if you shrink the participant pool, you shrink your support for sports programs.

When the school proposes removing the sports field to build a new science wing, who do you want on your side? The 5% of families with skilled athletes or the 25% to 50% of families whose kids like to play?
 
dad4 said:
How many #1 type coaches are willing to openly tell a kid that they are only on the team as a backup plan in case of injury to one of the important kids?

Of course the parents file complaints. The coach was only honest about half of it. You can't recruit someone for a starring role and only later explain that they are the understudy.
Click to expand...
I agree parents have the right to be upset if the communication conveyed a starring role. I'm talking about when there has been no starring role communication but parents think their kids should have a starring role, then team work be damned and let it be rec soccer all over again with equal playing time even if it's varsity soccer.

If we want to build more playing time for everyone in high school, keep the JV team alive for seniors too. Let the JV team be the one where results don't matter and equal playing time is required. The problem occurs when parents want their kids in varsity because they think they've paid their dues for 3 years in JV.
 
Grace T. said:
This can be a frustrating experience too because you’ll get a lot of non club soccer players on the team too and maybe play lower division. What’s worse is you may even need to make the choice in 6th grade. My kid had to choose between my alma matter which is a really good soccer school (though as a keeper he’d always run the risk that a higher level keeper relegates him to the bench for several years) or his current school (which had both math and band programs better suited for him and he’s be guaranteed at least a slot on the field but 1/2 the players are rec or lower level club). He chose his school because he’d start honors right away instead of waiting a year and they’d let him challenge for percussion first chair right away to play the kit as opposed to my alma matter which forced everyone to start with bells and then move up to marching snare even if they had years of experience on the kit.
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]
Nice that your kid was able to do soccer and band. My son's HS had marching band practice every evening that directly conflicted with club soccer. It was his choice to skip HS band and play soccer. He loved band but wanted to play soccer more. The HS has a good marching band, but it is tiny due to the fact that many incoming freshman chose to stick with their sports instead of dropping them for band. In the end it worked out for my son, he had a great senior year of HS soccer and has a metal band that is playing in the backyard on the 4th.
 
outside! said:
Nice that your kid was able to do soccer and band. My son's HS had marching band practice every evening that directly conflicted with club soccer. It was his choice to skip HS band and play soccer. He loved band but wanted to play soccer more. The HS has a good marching band, but it is tiny due to the fact that many incoming freshman chose to stick with their sports instead of dropping them for band. In the end it worked out for my son, he had a great senior year of HS soccer and has a metal band that is playing in the backyard on the 4th.
Click to expand...

Jazz band. The downside is they meet 7:30 am.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top