I think the official starting date is Monday, isn't it? My son's school has been doing "voluntary" 3 days a week all winter. Any thoughts of 9th grader's playing up? My son played JV as an 8th grader and did great. Not sure if he is ready to jump to Varsity yet. [/quote]
Unless he's phenom or the varsity NEEDS him, then no - let him get reps on JV.[/quote] My thoughts exactly.[/quote]
I had a similar conversation with my son about why he wants to play Varsity do badly as a Freshman. My argument was to get a lot more play on JV as opposed to Varsity, but he had a valid point. The games itself are only a fraction of the time on the field. He wants to practice with and against bigger and stronger kids to develop as a player. I am sure people here will find fault with that argument, but to me I think he is right and will root for him and his teammates whether it is JV or V.[/quote]
Depending upon your school's program, there are some coaches that will mix the JV in with the V for portions of the practice, in which case you get the best of both worlds. Our coaches seems to be leaning towards that model but it is to be seen if that will continue throughout the season. I still hold to my original premise though - if he isn't needed, he might not get enough reps on varsity in practice either, in which case his logic doesn't really hold water. To me, this is better served with a discussion with the V coach to set expectations for both sides of this.
