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My son's coach (IMO) has somewhat of a dilemma on his hands this year. Typically he keeps about 18 players. This year he has 17 seniors returning. 10 played varsity almost the entire season last year. The other 7 had little to no varsity experience last season. There is one junior who was on the varsity all year last year. The remaining crop of underclassmen who were on JV or the Freshman team last year are just as good as most of these seniors--especially the 7 who had little varsity experience.

Would you keep the seniors just because they are seniors or do you cut some of them and keep the underclassmen that are equal in talent?

If I had to make the choice, I'd go with the underclassmen who have a real chance of playing time. My thought process being to consider the future and give these guys some experience so as not to have an entire team next year with absolutely no varsity playing time.
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You know that is a tough one.

On one hand, you have these seniors who have dedicated 3 years so far to your program. I don't think you can just kick them to the curb for lack of experience.

On the other hand, you don't want to be "up the creek without a paddle" for next year with having little varsity experience.

You say the underclassmen are "just as good as most of these seniors" so I don't think I can eliminate all of the seniors. If it were a HUGE different and I mean HUGE difference then I could see it.

In another thread it came up about "talent trumps all" and to me it doesn't. These seniors have shown great character (IMO based on what you've put) and they deserve to see some reward from it. They have probably been an asset to the program in some way that maybe isn't measurable.

My solution-- give a few underclassmen varsity uniforms and let them travel when the JV or freshman team are not playing.
I would hang tight for now. Some of this may take care of itself.

A team that top heavy no doubt has several players who didn't play last year and go in understanding that the same guys are back and still ahead of them in the pecking order for playing time.

Some of those guys may hang up the spikes and decide to take life easy down the home stretch of HS.

Some accept their role as friends, supporters, subs and insurance policies, and are good to have in uniform. Keep these guys for sure.

Some may have exhibited bad attitudes due to bench time last year. That will only get worse, so I would make a clean break by cutting them up front and preventing their sour attitudes from infecting the dugout all year.

I'd wager that if you just let this run its course, your numbers will get down to a manageable level when the final roster is announced.
quote:
Originally posted by Will:
quote:
The other 7 had little to no varsity experience last season


Last year why did he keep these 7? should have did it then.


Well, 3 of them were simply caught in a numbers game where there were then senior returning starters, and they wouldn't have got much playing time at all. The other 4 probably should have been cut.
I always looked at least a year ahead when i picked the team. I projected where i thought a kid would be. if a kid was a junior would he play senior year given the talent of the class behind him. If a sophomore is as good or better you have to make the decision the year before. Letting the junior go is a tough one but not as tough if you wait till senior year. I never wanted to put the program in a bind where you had seniors who would not play. By junior year after 2 years you should have a handle on who can do what. Hoping that a junior will develop by senior year can be disasterous.

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