DO you really think that a coach would not put his best 12 girls on the field? Even if the 7th or 8th graders were on varsity, they would play based on their ability to get the job done. To play a less skilled girl would be ludicrous. Now having an 8th grader and 10th grader all other things being equal, I may lean towards playing the younger player as I could get more years and development out of her. Let's face it if an 8th grader is as good as a 10th or 11th grader now at this point the upside to this player is greater. Many times an 8th grade travel girls with triple or more game (including big games in finals of tourns) that a non-travel but solid mutli-sport upperclassman. But there is much to be said for emotional maturity of a player as well. So many variables, and many ways to look at it. Depends on the coaches philosophy.
Yes, I do think there are coaches who do not play the best 12 kids. It happens in our district all the time. It creates a negative divisive environment for the team and a toxic sideline for the parents. For me to speak as to why this happens would be pure speculation but it has been happening for a long time. As a result the team consistently under achieves every year. Very unfortunate situation, all of the girls deserve better.
Coaches play their best athletes....only the parents who think their daughter is better but sitting on the bench think otherwise.
HS Coaches do not always play their best players. A HS team that makes no changes in the lineup, ever, from game 1 to the last game is doing so either to make it easy/simple for the coaches for due to the usual HS athletics baloney that goes on in many districts. Not every player will perform at their top level every day in every game. Each game brings a different opponent which likely would warrant tweaking in the players on the field. If this never happens, it's not because a kid or two or three on bench are not as good as a few of the starters who were named on day 1.
