Midstate01;1640619 wrote:Alright have a question I want opinions on. So I'm going to help coach a junion high soccer team. Its 7th and 8th graders. We have 15 7th and 18 8th graders. We will have 2 teams. The split with the coaches is how go devide the teams up. The 3 options are:
7th and 8th grade separate teams.
A varsity and jv type teams
Mixed equally.
Its boys and girls mixed as well. So give me how you'd rank the top 3 options.
Mine I voted on were
7th and 8th
Mixed
Varsity and jv
We will decide on Monday. Just curious to see what others would think.
What do the high school varsity and reserve coaches say? That would be one of the first avenues I venture to.
My first head coaching job was with a middle school girl's program. In the past, they had it 50/50 split in talent -- MANY complaints. When I took over the program, under the direction of the varsity coach (I was a varsity assistant too), we decided it was best to split the middle school into an "A" and a "B" team. We trained together, we often traveled together. This was done to increase the competitiveness of the program. Granted, we also had 5th and 6th graders involved too (small school, needed the numbers to field both teams).
In this case, youth sports is about PLAYER DEVELOPMENT. You want your better players to get pushed and you want your lower-level players to increase in ability. How can you best do that? That should be the #1 thing. Better players make better players better. But, at the same time, good players can help lower-level players get better too. Keeping them "together" but separate is essential to the "team" and "community" feel of a program. In the end, with the focus being PLAYER DEVELOPMENT, playing time will be necessary for all individuals. What will get playing time for most?
If you have a subpar 8th grader who may not see much playing time on an 8th grade team, but could end up starting on a "B" team...maybe that's the way to go? No sense in allowing them to sit the bench and not really having an opportunity to "test the waters" competitively.
Now...we also did make the decision (since we had 4 grades) to keep all 8th graders on the A Team and all 5th graders on the B Team. Again, important for the "community" atmosphere. But, 6th and 7th graders for us could be split either direction. In your case, if you only drop 1-3 8th graders down and only move up the same amount of 7th graders...maybe it's not so important (friends do like to play with their friends/classmates).
I left the middle school after that season, we went 6-4-1. Two years later, the same girls lost in the state championship game. I was so happy for them to make it that far, first time ever being there.
Mulva;1640636 wrote:Why the hell are they playing coed in Jr high?
Many places do that. Especially since a lot of states don't even "sponsor" middle school soccer. So, the districts can put a team together if they would like. Actually, here in Kansas, they just moved TO a coed middle school soccer setup in the spring.
but they still show a good number of games on that channel. firstrowsports.eu will get you any game you are looking for though!
