looking ahead to next year. Having heard of the number of programs that couldn't field freshmen teams, sophomore rosters in the 20's. How does the long term health of football in your town look? Curious, seems to be dying a slow death in some areas.
Moving forward
- Thread starter Oldcoach32
- Start date
Our town just got to the State Championship game, and we have some real concerns about numbers, since we aren't able to recruit outside of our school district. Lots of parents moving their kids out of football and into other activities. The youth program has gone from having 6 teams in a particular weight class down to 2 teams, and cannot sustain a house league anymore. In the 4 years my son played, including this year, his class went from 25 players down to 14 players. 11 stopped playing between Freshman and Senior year. Somehow, we have to find ways to stop the decline in participation.
4A school..... return 17 juniors and hopefully most of the 28 sophs and 21 freshmen return.. we had 31 8th graders playing youth
I went to a freshman Lake Zurich, Stevenson game during the season. With the 22 kids already on the field I counted 10 kids suited up on the sideline for Stevenson and 9 for Lake Zurich! Could this be, 21 kids total for Stevenson (8a) and 20 kids total for Lake Zurich (7a) for the freshman teams? If true, not good!
I know it would have been an A game if there was A & B teams. Got there in the second quarter at about 6pm on a Thursday! I hope there was a B game played earlier. I hope I only seen half the numbers too!
I'm guessing it was a B game. Stevie frosh roster: http://www.d125.org/athletics/boys-sports/football/freshman-rosters
Thanks for the roster! It was definitely an A game! Recognising the player's name on the A team list and counting 21 players lining up with what I saw on the field! Good! Not as bad as I thought!
As depressing as it may seem on the HS school level in the area where I live football is no longer looked on as the "sport" to play. It is all soccer and lacrosse. Maybe that changes but I doubt it. I currently have a high school football player and other parents are shocked and even question why would even let my child play such a "sport" when there are safer alternatives than football ? My guess is where I live HS football will be dead in the next 5-10 years replaced by helicopter parents eating kale salads while drinking Starbucks watching their kids play "Dodgeball" with helmets and of course the "soft Dodgeballs" and ensuring everyone gets a trophy.....welcome to America.......
Still - under 50 kids for a School the size of Stevenson with 4000 kids? not good. everyone is seeing #'s drop. I wonder what the 2006 Stevie Frosh # turnout was?