Quote:

.

How many would you need to have varsity and JV? Seems to me that about 16-18 for each is the need. If I have less for JV, may do only tournaments. I plan to have letters, meetings with middle school this Friday, etc. to see if interest is 35 participants or above. We had 34 show up this year until we mentioned running 4 miles per day.

Thoughts?



I don't believe you need 4 miles a day of running. One or two miles would be fine, and use the extra time playing fast paced small sided games instead. The anaerobic benefits of the small sided game will better prepare the players, and they won't realize they are getting a workout.

A 13 or 14 player jv team is great. The kids want to play!

For example, my son plays on the jv team of a small independent school. It is not a powerhouse program. However, as a young, middle school player, he is getting lots of playing time. His team was recently defeated by school with a stronger program, which had 6 or 7 players on the bench. A member of the other team, a good young player whom my son knows from club ball, told him after the game that he lucky to be on a team where he got so much playing time. To that player, who had spent much of the game on the bench, getting playing time was as important as the win.