Interesting. I know Beechwood football has traditionally always had one or two 8th graders playing up. I wonder if that will have any impact on that.

 

It is allowed, but many school districts go stricter on it than KHSAA interprets it. If specific school board policy states that they can in that district. I think that it is ok in soccer, I wouldnt do it in football.

 

Just my opinion

Edited February 27, 201511 yr by Johnny_Utah

I read today that the KHSAA is implementing a new rule regarding 8th graders who play up in soccer (and football).

 

They can only play frosh/JV (not sure if that's new or not).

 

They CANNOT play in a game if there is a JR playing. So if the 8th grader plays JV and plays a team that plays a JR on the JV team the 8th grader cannot play.

 

First of all, old rule. Secondly, that is not how it worked at Highlands this past year. The Juniors were simply told that they could not play. In fact, they went to one game and the coach was not there, so they stayed around until after the varsity game was over and then were told thanks for coming, but you cannot play.

I have never been a big fan of 8th graders playing JV. If it is high school sports, why are the coaches giving spots to kids that are not even in the high school? Also, my daughter's high school has a policy that does not put juniors on JV for soccer. Last year there were only 3 spots available on Varisty and there were around 12 girls that were juniors that had previously played JV. I think only 4 juniors tried out for varsity and one junior was cut from varsity. The other girls just quit playing. The school lost a lot of good players.

Both of my boys played on our Frosh team as 7th graders and on JV as 8th graders. Unfortunately not all schools have enough players interested in playing to maintain three teams. In order to try and grow our JV and Varsity teams we welcome the younger players. When a younger player is able to prove himself talented enough and capable enough to play against older players why should they be held back? The best way to develop as a soccer player is to continue to play talent that is as good or better than you are. I do not believe in throwing a younger player on the field with the JV team just for the numbers but if they have proven their ability to play at that level then why should they be denied?

This rule is not new nor is it enforced by the referees but is completely on the coaches. I have seen it work so that all players get in by subbing all jrs. out when eighth graders are given playing time and I have seen teams say our jv team is dominated by eight graders and we will not play if we cannot play our eighth graders the whole game hence the Jrs. don't play. Coaches usually work this out pregame. Juniors probably should not play Jv. but coaches have a hard time cutting them and then (coaches) have boxed themselves in when they have senior's who are not as skilled as juniors. And yes soccer is a contact sport with a wide variety of skill sets, so some teams play quality soccer and some teams more resemble rugby. There is also the teams that are coached to play physical and are skilled.

The enforcement is 100% on coaches.

My daughter is a 7th grader. She played JV this past fall. The coaches were very conscious about not playing or even practicing her with any juniors or seniors.

 

The coach didn't have enough players for JV. Not bragging but she is good. I was concerned about her playing JV. She held her own and actually excelled.

Soccerforlife , I'm pretty sure I have an idea of what school your boys played for and I will say that it does it correctly......

 

Meaning that it does not cut HS students to let the younger players play. The younger players may play above the HS students because of talent, which I am ok with, because they dont cut the HS students and give a roster spot to a middle school player.....

I get football. But wrestling is less physical than soccer?? I'm not familiar with soccer and rarely watch it. But is high school soccer that much more physical than other sports (aside from football)

 

I get what you are saying rjs, although not familiar with HS wrestling, I would also call it a "physical" sport.

 

I guess the term physical, is relative when it comes to comparing soccer, and wrestling. My take is that wrestling is much more of a sport in which strength, and technique, play a large part in determining who prevails and I would guess that in many cases the kid that is more physical comes out on top. I would consider the physical aspect of wrestling to be a much more controlled than the physicality you see in HS soccer.

 

When it comes to soccer, the term physical is usually referenced when you are talking about beating, banging, pushing, and kids running into each other. From my experience, there are many different types of soccer being played nowadays, let's just say if you like rugby there are some HS matches that you might like to take in.

 

In wrestling, each opponent must be within a certain weigh range so that a larger more physical kid is not paired with a smaller opponent. So even if there is a large difference in age, and one's muscles are more developed, at least they are about the same size reducing the likelihood that one is over-matched.

 

In soccer, you may have a big strong kid running at full speed to get to the ball meet up with a smaller kid making the same effort and you get an instant lesson in the laws of physics and the law of non-contradiction at the same time. This could be disaster for an 8th grader, and unnecessary too.

 

Yellowcard, your instinct about strength and skill being more important to wrestling than pure physicality is correct, though I've seen some occasions when a strong physical kid just wiped the mat with an opponent.

I'm all for it in football. I think they should be allowed to play basketball. I'm not sure how I feel about soccer. It's a very physical sport.

I'm all for it in football. I think they should be allowed to play basketball. I'm not sure how I feel about soccer. It's a very physical sport.

 

Wireman, I think you just decided if you are for it in soccer. :up:

Wireman, I think you just decided if you are for it in soccer. :up:

 

I think I'll pass on soccer and football. I'm ok with it in basketball.

This is tough. Some schools can't have JV teams without juniors swinging between JV and varsity. Some schools can't have JV teams if middle schoolers cannot play JV. Freshman teams are easy - at least to me - let them play. So if you make a blanket rule it will eliminate, or at the very least really hurt, some programs. The numbers are just not there. This is even more prevalent in girls soccer.

 

I have always said why do we make this rule by grade? It should be by age. It is not as common these days for same aged kids to always be in the same grade. You can have kids who are juniors who are the same age as freshman with how many kids are ahead in grade. Combine that with kids who are held back and you can have quite a large grade range of kids at similar age. So a kid who is a freshman but who started school early so is the same age as an 8th grader can play against seniors who may be 18 or 19, but the 8th grader who may be the same age as the freshman can't play against juniors? That doesn't seem to be promoting the spirit of the rule, which is to protect the kids.

 

I personally have no problem with juniors playing JV and no problem with middle schoolers playing JV as well. There are plenty of freshman and sophomores who much bigger physically and more aggressive than a lot of juniors. I don't think the current rule really prevents middle school players from getting hurt - which is what it is intended to do. Along with what I mentioned above, physical growth varies from kid to kid, not grade to grade. But age restrictions would get us closer to what the KHSAA is trying to accomplish with this rule.

....

 

Where it gets more interesting, is kids playing FROSH as an 8th grader at a school they won't attend as a freshman. Not sure how I feel about that one.

....

 

Where it gets more interesting, is kids playing FROSH as an 8th grader at a school they won't attend as a freshman. Not sure how I feel about that one.

 

This is one scenario that I do not like.

 

I feel that they should only be permitted to play for the school that they will attend as a freshman.