Playing varsity as a freshman means an athlete jumps right into the most competitive and serious level of high school sports. Playing on a freshman team gives a student more time to develop skills and confidence before a trip to the state tournament is on the line.
Bringing up young talent is specific to each sport. In basketball for instance, if brought up as a freshman for a passing guard position, the confidence to shoot might not be fully built since the athlete is relying on stronger, more confident upperclassmen to take the shots. For an individual sport like wrestling or track, bringing up young talent makes sense. It adds numbers to the roster, creating more opportunities to score points. Confidence is created young during these individual sports since the athlete is competing for a varsity title.
What leaves upperclassmen frustrated is the fact that freshmen and sophomores have teams specifically for them, where no upperclassman can play, yet are still trying out and making it onto the JV and varsity teams. When underclassmen compete on higher levels, they take junior and senior spots, cutting the juniors and seniors who otherwise would have a spot.
As learned from last year’s boys basketball season, student sections rely heavily on upperclassmen. When almost all seniors were cut from the team, the graduating class ‘boycotted’ boys basketball games, leaving zero student section at any home games. It is embarrassing when Dickinson has more of a student section than BHS does at a game in their own Karlgaard gym.
A big factor that plays into these decisions made by coaches is numbers. Volleyball always has a large amount of girls trying out, yet a slim amount of spots available on the team. Sports like football, basketball, and baseball all have more spots for athletes to fill, leaving fewer people cut.
Although it is extremely important for young athletes to get exposure to the more competitive side of their selective sport, it can also be extremely frustrating when this comes hand in hand with taking the spots upperclassman would have had on varsity otherwise.