WE CUT wrote:
We had over 180+ sign up for just boys track this year, and over 100 girls sign up. The fact is we are limited on our space, and in the number of coaches on our staff to monitor that many kids.
I've enjoyed the discussion in this thread, and feel that some good points have been made (though the name-calling really doesn't help).
As is so often the case, "I feel strongly both ways." As usual, I think that different things work for different people--and for different teams, athletic departments, schools, and communities.
The small piece I quoted above makes, I feel, a completely valid point. Some programs *are* limited in their facilities and their staffs. It does no good to say "get more assistants" if you don't have the money to pay them, or if the available volunteers would be more likely to hurt your program, rather than help it.
Moreover, if available space is limited you have to be extremely careful about avoiding accidents. And the same is certainly true if one or two people are supposed to "ride herd" on a couple of hundred kids. If an accident should occur, there's real potential for a negligence judgment that could impoverish not just the coach(es) but also the school, the district, and the community.
On the other hand...
IF the funding and facilities allow, I could see having a no-cut policy. Somebody mentioned Joe Newton's xc teams, which carry 100+ boys every year, including a lot of slow ones. However, Joe has, and enforces rigidly, rules requiring all the kids to come to practice every single day. He also has a number of conduct rules, etc., and does not hesitate to enforce them against his very best kids. (And that "enforcement," generally speaking, means cutting the kid from the team.)
So perhaps something like this would help keep numbers manageable for some programs: follow the team's policies, or be gone; conversely, if you *do* make the commitment (in time, effort, and organization) to follow the team's rules, you're welcome to stay. This way, you at least avoid the "dabblers" who'll drain coaching time and attention away from the serious kids. The problem, of course, is that you have to have the confidence in yourself and your program to be willing to cut your very best kid at the very worst time, if s/he breaks the rules...