There are many variables to a good varsity team, and one class is only one of them. A varsity team is a team of four age levels Again, to many variables.

 

Give me solid (not great) classess of sophs, jrs and seniors and I will take my chances anytime against 1 strong class. Of course, as others have pointed out, there are still alot of other factors that come in to play as well. This last year Beechwood comes to mind. Their senior class had been talked about for years and they started nearly all seniors and were very good but still fell short of a title. Even with all the pieces in place it still often requires a little luck to get a team a championship

I think it is a solid indicator that you will have a good varsity team but many things can happen. Kids quit, stop growing, new transfers come in and chemistry is broken up, etc. Highlands has always had very good Frosh teams and many of those players eventually have contributed on the Varsity level to achieve success. Even the team that didnt win the Frosh Championship a few years back turned out eventual state champions.

 

Its the teams that hang their hats on Frosh championships that should beware.

 

You are right about that team. The kids who played that year as Freshmen half of them didn't contribute. One bite and some of the kids who didn't play at all grew into there bodies and played big roles there sr year. So it's hard to say a team will be good in the future just because they were as freshmen.

Give me solid (not great) classess of sophs, jrs and seniors and I will take my chances anytime against 1 strong class. Of course, as others have pointed out, there are still alot of other factors that come in to play as well. This last year Beechwood comes to mind. Their senior class had been talked about for years and they started nearly all seniors and were very good but still fell short of a title. Even with all the pieces in place it still often requires a little luck to get a team a championship

 

Point well taken Pick but the title of the thread asks the question about transition to "good" varsity team, not a state title team. So if Beechwood was "very good" then the hypothesis has been proven.

Point well taken Pick but the title of the thread asks the question about transition to "good" varsity team, not a state title team. So if Beechwood was "very good" then the hypothesis has been proven.

 

Point taken

Guess my measure of good is different than many. I still think it takes more than 1 class to translate into good

Point taken

Guess my measure of good is different than many. I still think it takes more than 1 class to translate into good

 

State champ or bust, right TP? If you aren't state champ, you aren't good.

I was also looking at it from the reverse side of things. If you have a bad Freshman season, I feel you are more inclined to have a poor varsity/senior campaign than the other way around. Then again, Freshman ball to a lot of schools does not even exist, and if it does it is overlooked as far coaching and instruction towards it. May be a little different at large schools.

If you have a group of kids that mature early or are old in their class, it could be very misleading. My son played with a kid who was 16 as a freshman, and of coarse he dominated.

For the most part Freshmen in high school are still growing and maturing as young men and players. If the freshmen team is bad, I would not read too much into it. Many times the teams consist of many kids who haven't played or have played very little together, so they are still learning eachother, the new playbook etc. High school ball is much different than pee wee and it takes an adjustment period. Granted there are some freshmen teams that are powers and could probably compete at the varsity level (Trinity, X (cincy), etc..) But back to the point at hand, in my opinion, No, a poor record as a freshmen team will not make for a bad varsity squad a few years down the road.

State champ or bust, right TP? If you aren't state champ, you aren't good.

 

THe bar has been high here as of late but last year did not end as I had drawn it up. Yours is high too!

 

Back to the topic, I might add that my team (Mayfield) often does not field a team as was the case in recent years but occasionally some frosh have started for us at the varsity level and many get alot of jv time