I struggled with accepting the concept of Middle School Soccer, but now I'm OK with it. I guess every district (soccer program) is different. I've always thought that U-13 and U-14 girls were playing enough soccer already. The clubs and rec programs are active in the spring, why should tax payers have to support a school program? Plus, how many soccer coaches are there to go around?
Middle school soccer works like this in our district. 6th graders are not allowed to play, only 7th and 8th graders can participate. Any 8th grader is allowed to try out for high school JV, 7th graders can try out with written permission. Obviously if they don't make the high school JV team, they are free to back and try out for the middle school program.
The complexion of the Fort Mill HS JV Girls team has changed considerably over the past three years. Here's the roster breakdown:
Year.....7th....8th....9th....10th....11th
2007.....10......8......5......0.......0
2008......0.....11......6......1.......1
2009......0......1......9......8.......1
In our district, we have been able to support competitive middle school teams while still maintaining a quality JV team.
JB, looking forward to hosting your middle school teams up here in 2010. Keep up the good work.