Coaches how do you make cuts? How to trim off the fat

I have never heard of a HS team cutting their athletes. In HS my team had around 30 kids for xc 60 for indoor and 80 for outdoor. We had 1 xc coach, and 2 coaches in track.

If you are a college coach. You can cut kids for not running well.

We have 100 plus. High school

Does your HS have some sort of fee to play sports? Either way I would ask for a third coach. 100 is a lot of kids, but say you have 30 distance 20 throwers and 50 sprinters, if you have a coach for each of those 3, you should be okay.

I am assuming this is one gender?

My son's coach will immediately cut a new guy who can't run a half mile without walking.

After one season of running to stay on the team you have to be able to run 3 miles without walking.

Pretty minimal stuff, but it does eliminate people.

I suspect he has a soft heart and will give someone a second try.

Things to consider for cuts (we cut a lot of kids in our program):

1. What will this athlete contribute to the team (talent, leadership, teamwork, fundraising, etc.)?

2. Does this athletes now or projected in the future have the talent to make varsity?

3. What size group do I need for each event area?

4. You should be keeping current varsity athletes, next year's varsity athletes, and anyone you think could be a future varsity athlete.

5. You should cut any athlete that you believe: has a bad attitude, has bad teamwork, no team buy in, does not plan to contribute, is bought in elsewhere to a point they won't contribute on this team and will only be a distraction (club soccer?).

Do not keep kids that are not track athletes in either the physical or mental sense. Building a team requires building a group that is connected and working together towards a common goal. Make sure not to cut your future.

Best of luck.

Where I coached, track and XC are non-cut sports. But we were successful and started to attract a few kids who wanted to be part of a winning program without putting in much effort.

So I developed a "fitness test" for the first day of track practice. The kids were warned 3-4 weeks ahead of time that on the first day they'd have to complete a mile in xx minutes, xx push-ups in 1 minute, and xx sit-ups in 1 minute.

Those who were successful trained with their event groups at subsequent practices. Those who could not successfully complete all three phases of the test were brought back to repeat them every day until they could.

My rationale was it wasn't safe to let them train with the team until they could demonstrate a basic level of fitness. I don't remember ever testing anyone more than 3 times before either they passed or quit the team.

I would get 90-100 and coached sprints and distance myself. No cuts! But i have standards for attendence etc. Kids get one skipped practice before i say see ya later! Their were days i was the only coach. It happens but all kids deserve the opportunity if they want to work at it.

I would never cut a kid based on ability, some kids develop later than others. I only cut kids who are disruptive, who are not coachable. Sit them down, talk to their parents give them clear expectations s. From my experience kids cut themselves. They realize the sport is not for them and they stop coming. I sometimes would ask a kid that can't do the work if they want to be a manager.

Again only cut the disruptive, distracted kids.

But what did you do with random talented kids who weren't in shape for BS exercises like situps/pullups? That seems pretty silly. Would you actually cut people who seemed fast but couldn't hit X pushups?

br0ski wrote:

I have never heard of a HS team cutting their athletes. In HS my team had around 30 kids for xc 60 for indoor and 80 for outdoor. We had 1 xc coach, and 2 coaches in track.

If you are a college coach. You can cut kids for not running well.

Dana Hills has cuts in XC. And you have to "make" the track team--there is a qualifying stardard: 7:00 mile for girls, 6:00 for boys. Mo Farah's 12.98 sprinting "prowess" would barely make the team as a 9th grader. You also have to "make" the track team at Great Oak.

It's about W-I-N-N-I-N-G.

Just cut all the fat people. You can start with large Marge over there and professor Xavier and his special chair.

That sucks. We have 100 or so but 9 coaches. (3 are part time jumps and hurdles).

We do self cuts. 3rd missed practice & you are gone.

JuliusCeasar wrote:

Just cut all the fat people. You can start with large Marge over there and professor Xavier and his special chair.

I agree. It makes me sad to look at them.

Cut the ones that goof off. They obviously don't want to be there anyway.

Must be a nice problem to have. I was never on a team, high school or college, that did cuts. We always had the opposite problem: finding enough warm bodies to fill out the team.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I appreciate it

br0ski wrote:

Does your HS have some sort of fee to play sports? Either way I would ask for a third coach. 100 is a lot of kids, but say you have 30 distance 20 throwers and 50 sprinters, if you have a coach for each of those 3, you should be okay.

I am assuming this is one gender?

We have about 100 total, both genders. 40 distance with one coach. 60 throwers, hurdlers, sprinters, jumpers. No money in the budget for additional coaches.

The only fee is that the kids buy a uniform which makes a mid season cut kind of difficult.

God response. I think I struggle with these. Especially with #4

I unfortunately see the best in everyone. I see what a little tiny freshmen boy or girl can turn into after 2 or 3 years of consistent daily work. So obviously I think everyone has this potential. I need to figure out how to discover who doesn't have that drive within the first couple of weeks.

But some kids may not know they have that drive until day a month and a half. What then?

We've just found that having a solid attendance policy helps kids that don't want to be there cut themselves. After 3 absences, kids have to meet with their event coach and head coach before they can participate again. Kids that don't want to be there don't schedule the meeting and are off the team. If a kid does meet with us we set specific expectations for their behavior and send a written copy of the expectations home to their parents. If they don't meet the expectations set in the meeting they are done. Our administration will only support us cutting kids if there is clear documentation of the behavior issue and expectations, so this is how we make sure to have that documentation.