Varsity/JV Announcements

Post date: Mar 14, 2013 9:50:59 PM

As everyone knows, we decided to go with the Varsity/JV monikers over other options (Blue/Gold or A and B) to prepare them for high school baseball. When I was with Nordonia, we expected our Junior Varsity team to win on the field and we also expected them to try to push for a promotion to Varsity. We also wanted the Varsity players to not become complacent and to keep working hard with a great attitude. We will try to keep the same concept with the Buzzsaws. The league has agreed to allow us three roster changes during the season. We don't know if we will use them but we do have the option.

The game plan in summary - The players will be divided into two squads. We'd like to allow the players to play in a few scrimmages before making our decisions by about mid-April. I have not decided if the rosters will be posted online or if there will be an e-mail sent to each group and the coach. I'm sure there will be some very tough decisions but our goal is to divide them in a way that is best for everyone. Therefore, we won't just be taking the so called 11 or 12 best players and putting them on Varsity, leaving the JV team with the remaining players. If we did that, we might end up with too many players at one position and not enough at another. We will consider positions, team needs and the process of putting a TEAM together in our decisions. For instance, if your son is the 5th best pitcher in our opinions, would you want him on the Varsity where he would get minimal pitching time or on the JV where he would be the ace? There are several factors that go into that decision such as the players' other positions, non-pitching factors such as hitting ability, speed etc. There is a chance that a player in a player heavy position could end up on JV even though he may be one of the top players in the age group simply because there is another player at his position who we decide to keep on Varsity. We want the best for every player and we want both teams to be competitive so we will take all of these factors into consideration.

Opportunities - Keep in mind that the league roster has nothing to do with tournaments so a player may get more playing time overall by being on the JV team because he may be invited to participate in a few Varsity tournaments. The same may be true of a Varsity player helping out with JV tournaments.

I made the statement at the parent meeting that there is nobody who can earn their way onto a team except the player himself. As parents and coaches, we cannot do anything but support the player as he goes through the struggle of becoming a better player based on HIS own work ethic, attention to details, ability etc. In other words, a parent cannot buy their son a position on the varsity team, as much as they might like to. Everyone in the program pays for the training and we believe the LIFE LESSON is that at some point, your own abilities are what you are judged on. This is the principle that we hope to teach the boys and we HOPE that the parents will work with us to re-enforce this principle.

I will be happy to talk with any parent about what the player can work on to get better after a 24 hour waiting period after the rosters are posted. We will give you as much detail as possible about where the players skill level is and what they need to work on. We will NOT discuss your son in relation to any other player (ie "why did Willie Smith make it over my son"?) Again, Willie Smith may not be better than your son, there may be other reasons that we place the players where we do. Overall, I expect this process to be pretty smooth and I do not expect too many angry parents. All of our coaches only want the best for each player and the team and we are unbiased because we don't have a son on the team. Please remember that another LIFE LESSON that we want to teach the boys is that there WILL BE obstacles in life to overcome. As the old saying goes, "it's not what happens to you, its how you respond to what happens to you that matters". Sports are a great way to teach this principle even though we may not like it at the time.