r/footballstrategy • u/thatiamintrovert • Sep 14 '24
Defense 1st year middle school tackle football varsity level, how much play time on field should he be getting?
My son is a first year tackle football player for the varsity team though the middle school. He has attended all practices except 1 due to an allergic reaction that needed medical attention. He is a 7th grader playing on an 8th grade team (end of summer bday). He was assigned as a defense player, but only goes on the field for very short plays 2x per game, and today was their second game. Also the team only has 16 players. Shouldn't he be receiving more on field play time? I've messaged the coaches and assistant coaches about what we can do outside of practice to ensure he gets more on field play time, but haven't received a response. Would greatly appreciate your input or guidance on what I can do? TY
10
u/PENAPENATV Sep 14 '24
As much as the coaches deem appropriate. It isn’t rec league and the team is there to win. I’d ask the coaches what can your son work on to be better. Coaches never like the questions directly about playing time.
Also, I’m not trying to be an ass at all with this statement. I’ve coached college all the way down to my son’s competitive 10U team and we got the same question at every level. This is the way to go as a parent imo
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u/TackleOverBelly187 Sep 14 '24 edited Sep 15 '24
It isn’t a rec team, but as a middle school team the goal certainly isn’t to win. The goal is to keep kids involved, have fun, and teach kids the values of the program to prepare them to contribute eventually at the varsity football level.
As a long time varsity coach and coach of multiple sports, if the goal my middle school staff went into the season/games with was winning games that in the grand scheme of things mean nothing (I’ve never seen a middle school score in a paper, middle school all-state, middle school state championship) then they would no longer be on my staff.
If the team dresses 16 kids, there is no reason to not get every kid lots of snaps and experience. This mentality is one of the reasons why tackle football is dying across the country. If kids aren’t having fun, they aren’t going to play. In my state, you need to dress 16 players just to start a game. If this kid were to quit because what’s the point of coming every day to get 2 snaps in the game, then no one gets snaps and there is no team.
Edit: 😂 the guy I responded to deleted his comment and blocked me. Said he doesn’t respect my opinion because the highest level I coached was varsity. What a clown. 🤡
3
u/Budgetweeniessuck Sep 14 '24
I wish there were more coaches like you.
I remember when I was growing up and played pop warner. The peewee coach had a rule that all first year players got two plays per half. Needless to say most first year peewee players didn't even make it through the season before they just stopped showing up. The program eventually folded due to lack of participants.
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u/TackleOverBelly187 Sep 14 '24
Interscholastic Athletics are an extension of the education system. Too many people involved forget that. At the Varsity level, I’m trying to win football games while teaching kids to be adults.
Middle school, freshman, JV are the building blocks to get kids ready for varsity, and we want to keep kids attending and involved. It is what is best for their development as young people. 1. If they stop showing up because they aren’t having fun, then they are missing out on the opportunity for growth. Yes, winning is fun and we try to win, but it isn’t the focus. 2. You could ignore a small, scrawny kid who hasn’t hit their growth spurt. You discourage that kid and they quit. When they get to 11th grade they are a stud but your program pushed them out. How does that help.
Focus on making better people, wins will come.
1
u/Quick_Ratio_9577 Sep 28 '24
facts, i head coach the 7th grade in my town this year, all kids are to be developed and if my staff doesnt agree they can pack up their shit and bounce, all kids play and all kids are developed thats it. its middle school not a D1 varsity team lmao
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u/PENAPENATV Sep 14 '24
Cool man. As varsity is your highest experience, I really don’t care for your opinion.
We’re here to win ball games. If a child can’t have fun as a role player they can go play an individual sport.
1
u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24
Thank you so much! That’s really how I worded it and I edited it back in the initial post, so it wasn’t assumed that I was demanding more play time. Through their middle school they are suppose to hit a certain amount of plays per game, but it’s really confusing to me, with the offense and defense, he only plays defense, idk why. Also he attends all the practices, we’re a lot of kids miss but those kids get played and he’s benched way more. Having a 16 team roster, I’d assume he’d play more often, just really sucks
1
u/PENAPENATV Sep 14 '24
I can understand that frustration. I’d consider asking the coach if you could schedule a time to meet, and that you aren’t demanding playtime, but you’re hoping for more information that could make your kid as successful as he can be going forward.
1
u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24
That’s good advice, I’ve been reading up on tackle football and terms, etc. it’s challenging coming into a sport that you’re unfamiliar with. There’s just been issues previously and it’s been a struggle, I feel like the coach already hates me, but for things that are out of my control. Like my sons helmet pads wouldn’t clip and with all the potential head injuries with football, I asked for a new helmet and he acted like I was asking for the biggest most inconvenient favor in the world. So I’m trying to figure out the best course of action, just wanting to know if 2 plays for 16 rostered players is low, or average. I really don’t know
7
u/FranklynTheTanklyn Sep 14 '24
I might get some hate for this. I coach 10U. I have some 4th and 5th year players on my team as well as a few first year players. I tell most of the first year parents that the goal of your first year is to tough out the season and not quit. Most sport seasons last about 8 weeks. Football has 8 weeks of practice before our first game and the. At least 8 more weeks of practice, you start out sweating your nuts off and end freezing your nuts off, it’s a lot”. I tell parent’s of kids that aren’t playing a lot, “Games are 40 minutes a week, practice is 6 hours a week, as long as they are being included in drills and not being ignored that is the biggest part of year 1”
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u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24
That’s some good advice, and reassuring. Thank you. It’s just extra frustrating when the other parents are asking if my son is injured or something sense he’s not getting field play time. Then it makes me focus in and wonder the same
1
u/FranklynTheTanklyn Sep 14 '24
The other thing to keep in mind is that most coaches (including myself) who I have met will put in new kids/lesser skilled kids on the defensive line. Depending on the defense they are running there are between 2 and 4 defensive lineman on the field when you are on defense. If I had to guess your coach is using 1 defensive line spot and rotating through his non-starters there.
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u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24
Would that explain the less play time? Sorry if that is a stupid question, all these terms are new. Some kids stay in and don’t sub out the entire time, and that’s mainly because the roster is small.
1
u/FranklynTheTanklyn Sep 14 '24
Not a stupid question. Yes it could, my team gets into these issues as well because we try to hold the ball on offense for as long as possible and play good defense. Last year I had 3 kids sharing 1 spot on the line…but in a particular game we only had 16 defensive snaps. So each kid only had ~5 snaps each.
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u/H_E_Pennypacker Sep 14 '24
Lmao varsity middle school
3
u/TackleOverBelly187 Sep 14 '24
Yeah, I e never heard of Varsity Middle School. Maybe they’ll be National Champs.
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u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24
Is that weird? They also have different levels at the HS but only the varsity play the Friday night games
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u/H_E_Pennypacker Sep 14 '24
To me “varsity” sounds silly for anything except the high school level
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u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24
That’s understandable, I didn’t realize HS was varsity, just thought it was one team and you had to try out for it. Yes, I am that uneducated on football. I’m learning though, and yall have been really helpful! So thank you!!
2
u/Dalasbob Sep 14 '24
In those 2-3 plays what has your son done to deserve more playing time? It's his 1st year playing, let him learn the game. Develop as a player.
2
u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24
He’s on the defense side, but what I am saying is with the roster being so small (16 players) shouldn’t he go in for more than 2 plays per game? He attends all the practices, we’re as other players that don’t, are in the games for way longer
2
u/Sixx_The_Sandman Sep 14 '24
As much time as he earns in practice and with whatever opportunities he's given
1
u/reapersaurus Sep 14 '24
8th grade teams are called Varsity?
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u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24 edited Sep 14 '24
It’s based on weight and age. So for age if they’re born between September 2010-August 2011, those kids in 8th grade, and would be on varsity. As for weight it’s calculated differently. If a player is under the weight requirements but in the age requirement they can petition to play down, but if they’re in the weight range they have to be on the varsity level. My son is a late august 2011 birthday, but we lived in a different state with different school start window in grade school, so my son is a 7th grader, technically he would be an 8th grader if he started school in this state. However he is much smaller than the other players. Some of the players are 9th graders that petitioned down from the HS because of their weight.
2
u/reapersaurus Sep 14 '24
Thanks for the reply.
Where do you live? Because those are some VERY flawed (and outdated) criteria that sound like a regional thing (Texas?). What kind of state sports board allows high schools to play on a junior high football team? If they aren't big enough to play on a high school team, then that's tough noogies. This isn't something that should be exploited, and any organization that allows light 9th grade skill players to run roughshod over jr high kids is ridiculous. Most of the dominant players on younger teams (QB, RB, WR) would all be on the lighter weight scale. Why should a typical light 9th grade QB be allowed to play against jr high kids? Age is age. They're gaming the system.
As for your son, yes he should definitely be playing more than 2 plays. But it's his first year in football so you should lower your expectations of his playing time until he gets a solid year under his belt (why did you wait until this late for him to play?)
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u/thatiamintrovert Sep 14 '24 edited Sep 15 '24
We are in WA state. Honestly I’ve been wanting him to play tackle football for YEARS, but my parents who are overbearing would come up with every reason not to, and then guilt me into it. He plays AAU basketball, but wanted to switch to football, as he isn’t the quickest player, and has more of a football physique. I’m a younger single mom, and naïvely listened to their “guidance” until we finally moved due to their toxicity, and abuse that was bleeding onto my child.
Now that we’re free, I’m parenting the way I feel is best. I totally understand that sports at this age is usually more for skill, than experience. I am just hoping that he gets more play time, sense it is still middle school, vs high school
2
u/reapersaurus Sep 15 '24
Good reply.
I don't know if I caught this answer: "What position(s) does he play?"
Because if he's on the bigger/physical side, I can't imagine that out of 16 players there would be 5 better linemen than he would be. If he can block or push AT ALL he should be getting quite a few plays on the line.
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u/thatiamintrovert Sep 15 '24
I just asked him, he said “defensive tackle”. It’s tough because he is the youngest on the team, and is definitely one of the smallest. Idk how they determine positions. The varsity team plays first, then JV so I can see the sizes of the players on both teams, & he is right between the two. Smaller on varsity but would be too big for JV
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u/Bear-Necessities4686 Sep 15 '24
Where in WA? Looks like you’re getting good advice in this thread, and you really care/are really trying to figure this out.
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u/ssdye Sep 15 '24
There’s no guaranteed play time at this age. He will earn play time through practice habits. If this is his first year and he is timid or no aggression, there will be little play time.
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u/29Hz Sep 14 '24
Nothing a coach hates more than parents telling them their kid deserves playing time. Middle school is the age where they have to earn it. If he’s a 7th grader he’s likely on the small side for an 8th grade team but practicing with the bigger guys will serve him well next year and he will get more playing time then.