Students at West High take pride in their extracurriculars, often showcasing their spirit on and off campus. However, this fall season, news of the recent discontinuation of junior varsity, freshmen or C-teams and restrictions on earning spots, have raised questions about player involvement — and the lack of it.

Most recently, the softball program, returning from their final-four run in the state tournament, canceled their JV team due to a lack of turnout. Even after the team’s past success, multiple players chose not to try out for their second or third time. With 20 players showing up to tryouts, coaches couldn’t form two 11 to 16 player rosters. Beyond players who received a roster spot, some athletes were cut and participated in team management instead.

“The worst thing in any program is having to make cuts,” assistant varsity softball coach and teaching assistant John Sloop said. “We wanted to have two teams because we’ve got some young kids that could benefit from the opportunities of the JV schedule. It became clear that playing two schedules wasn’t going to be a viable option especially because we had multiple injuries. We had to make tough decisions.”

Like softball, girls soccer, field hockey and both water polo programs lack a freshmen or C-team due to a lack of turnout. The shortage of athletes is a reflection of a broader issue pertaining to high school sports across the nation: according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, post-pandemic years show a decline in participation in traditional sports. 

“We have fifth to eighth graders coming up soon to play [high school] sports. We have numbers there.” Taggart said.”Hopefully, this is just a one-year thing and [player turnout] gets back to normal. It would be [ideal] to have three teams for every sport.”

Even though students have opportunities to be involved with athletics at a young age, not all of them choose to. The Aspen Institute’s annual report on trends in youth sports noted 27% of parents in 2022 cited a lack of interest as the reason their child, from the ages six to 18, is not involved in youth sports. 

“We can increase turnout by getting more people interested [in sports] at a very young level. There are so many options as far as what people can do. They can be involved with tons of sports or activities,” athletic director Jeff Taggart said.

To encourage sports participation from an early age, parents and athletes can look into West High’s summer youth sports camps which may elicit interest for participation later on in high school sports. Middle school programs are available during the school year for some athletics. Additionally, for the football program, there are non-school sponsored elementary and middle school feeder teams — Jr Longhorns Football Club. 

“It’s tough to get kids to play football in high school if they haven’t done it before. It’s an uncomfortable sport,” physical education teacher and head football coach Jeff Duncan said. “We used to have really small numbers, and there were years where we couldn’t field a team. Now I think our numbers are strong in all of our grade levels. We are seeing increased participation due to the Junior Longhorn program.”

Even though their program doesn’t extend to elementary schoolers, the softball program also offers the Junior Longhorn program for middle school students to get involved early on.

“For several years, we’ve had a Junior Longhorn softball program, so that kids are playing at younger ages,” Sloop said. “In the past, it has been a helpful driver in terms of creating numbers.” 

Freshman Carilynn Harfst was involved with the Junior Longhorns dance team throughout middle school before moving up to Longhorn Line, the high school varsity dance program. During her time with the Junior Longhorns, Harfst learned more about high school dance and learned from senior members.

“The Junior Longhorn dance team prepared me because it wasn’t my first time dancing when I came to high school. Longhorn Line helped us out at our practices, so we knew how they did things. I knew what to expect,” Harfst said.

Another issue impacting high school sports is an abundance of athletes trying out for a single program. Unlike the other sports, girls volleyball makes multiple cuts every year due to a high number of players. Additionally, they have specific regulations as to which players can earn a spot on a specific team. 

“Unfortunately, there’s a [limit on] the number of people that can play on a [volleyball] court,” math teacher and JV volleyball coach Kristen Judd said. “Having too many people on the court starts to become unsafe. You can’t have more than 15 players on any team, but we try to have [fewer] because that [increases] playing time for individuals.” 

Historically, volleyball has only allowed freshmen on their freshmen team and only sophomores or freshmen on their JV team. These grade level constraints have resulted in multiple juniors being released from the program, as well as cuts across the board.

“It’s been a long time since we put juniors on JV. If we don’t see them taking a starting spot the next year, at the varsity level, then all we’ve done is extended their time but not allowed them to find something that they’re going to contribute to,” Judd said. “It’s just a reality of a sport where there are cuts. We spend a lot of time looking through things. When we make those decisions, we have the hard conversations and help them understand where it’s coming from.”

This balancing act reflects one of the core challenges of high school sports — managing the number of players while also managing the quality of the team. While some programs face the tough reality of cutting players, others struggle to fill their rosters. 

Coaches and veteran players feel the reverberations of cuts, but for new and young players, there is a different set of challenges when trying out for a sport for the first time. The pressure, due to a variety of factors, can be immense, especially for those who haven’t experienced high school sports before.

“For the young athlete, who maybe hasn’t experienced sports earlier, they may have a fear of getting cut,” Taggart said. “There are times [when] students are coming in to try out for sports for the first time, so they have all kinds of emotions.”

At times like tryouts, coaches are responsible for assessing the skill set of new players while also meeting the physical and emotional demands of an athlete. Clear communication between coaches and athletes plays a crucial role in such processes.  

“Coaches need to be somebody that’s going to be easy to talk to,” Taggart said. “Individuals coming in need [to] relax and take the pressure off of themselves. Tryout times are the toughest, not only for players, but for coaches because teams may have to make cuts too. Everyone knows that that’s hard for people to hear.”

When students do get released from a program, some choose to explore some of West High’s no-cut sports — cross country, field hockey, etc. Sports that still need players offer opportunities to try out past the set tryout week. In the fall, cross country offers an opportunity for boys and girls to stay active, regardless of skill level or prior experience. 

“Some [athletes] have been running for a long time and some want to be part of a team for the first time,” freshman boys cross country coach and teacher assistant Kristen Witt said. “Whether they got cut from another sport or decided they wanted [to run] cross country from the get go, we [welcome] everybody.”

There are multiple opportunities for students to get involved at school, whether it may be through a sport or an in-school club. These activities, especially for those who start from a young age can be rewarding, as they teach responsibility and teamwork. West High’s end goal is to help students gain some life skills, through sports and activities, so they can be successful when they leave. 

“At West High, we like to have fun and we like to win, but that’s not the point. The point is to develop a relationship with our student-athletes and guide them in their path from the time that they’re a freshman to a senior. We give them the tools that they need to go out in the real world and be a good person,” Taggart said.