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Varsity soccer is a competitive team. The focus at varsity is on winning to obtain conference/regional/sectional/state championships. To do this we try to take the best 22 players of the program for each match. I want to play the best 11 for that match.
Not every player can make Varsity. Not every varsity player will get to play in every match.
Most importantly I feel that every player has to earn their team and starting position every day. From Captain to Freshman, poor practices or match performances can reduce the athletes playing time and / or affect the team they play for.
At the same time, players who have poor tryouts or miss tryouts are able to earn a varsity spot all season. There will be some matches where I will want to rest players who’ve accumulated a lot of load, and JV players may be called up to help. There may be players who are on the edge of varsity and I might feel they will gain insight by sitting on the bench with Varsity, this doesn’t mean they’ll play.
I feel that there are two ways to improve your game. The most important is to play. Some players will be asked to play for JV if they are not getting minutes at varsity. Sitting on the bench doesn’t help them improve. The second most important is to study the player in your position. What would you do in each situation, what did they do? Why did I pick them to start? Sometimes the difference is big, sometimes it isn’t. But if you’re on the bench or in the stands and not paying attention to the player that is in your spot, then you can’t figure it out.
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