I thought i would rant about something else besides a particular coach or team this morning. How hard is it as a varsity coach to get enough girls that can run balls at a varsity game? At our game last night the first half they had one girl on each side running after balls and making both teams wait to get balls. When they did get a second person after an announcement to the crowd looking for ball runners another girl showed up and they only had 1 ball. They spent most of their time standing together on the 50 talking the whole time and not paying attention. I know there are more critical things to complain about these days but really. This school has a JV team that played right before us. You mean to tell me the coach couldn't get girls to run balls. At our program the JV girls run balls for the varsity games and it's mandatory. They are given a schedule at the beginning of the year and if they can't make one of their games they are responsible for finding someone to take their place. We have 3 on each side and everyone has a ball. Even our freshman run the same schedule for the JV team.Maybe it was a bad night and no one showed. OK my rant is over and i feel much better.

I think most schools have their squads not playing do the ball running. If we end up short of runners, they entice kids in the crowd to do it by offering up a free trip to the concession stand.

 

A shortage of runners can be a big deal if you are in a close match and attacking late in the game only to see the time run out while you are trying to get a ball to put back into play.

Parents can fill in......free food......

I do not agree that most schools use thier squads not playing to do the ball running. We all have horror stories regarding ball runners, even when they are kids from a "not playing squad". Just because you use kids that play on another squad does not mean they are paying any better attention to the game and getting balls back in quickly.

Parents can fill in......free food......

 

This was a pretty good gig until the nacho cheese somehow made it onto the game ball.

When I was in middle school I'd ball boy for all the home Varsity games. I never got any instructions from coach or players, but I was much quicker, more alert and threw more accurately when the home team was down late in a game. Don't let those girls chatting at midfield fool you... it's tactical.

Parents can fill in......free food......

 

Only after the game because it would slow me down and my hands would probably be greasy = less accurate toss to the players.

I ranted about this a couple of weeks ago in a Scott thread - 1 ball runner for the whole field.

I know what game you're talking about and yes, the home team should know better than that. Poor reflection on the home team program.

We are living in a different world now folks. When I played the JV team had a mandatory rotation for being ball runner. Now that would require someone to do more than their parents think they should. Hence no ball runners.

It's a pretty sad state when you see players sitting in the stands and parents or coaches ball running.

 

Clone this kid from Simon Kenton. Best ball runner on earth.

Reach out to the grade school and youth teams - Our fifth grade girls team got a huge kick out of being the runners at a recent NDA game (they did the JV & V games that night).

This counts as service hours for our middle school age kids who are ball runners for older siblings.

I agree. Our program don't have this issue. I guess my post was for those coaches who need to contact someone to get kids to run the balls down. I know head coaches have a lot on their plate but do at the beginning of the season.