This year, all Lick-Wilmerding juniors and seniors that wanted to play a winter sport — soccer or basketball — had to try out for a spot on the varsity team for the first time.
Try-outs started during the fall sports season, when 10 junior girls “were possibly on the fence” of making the Varsity Girls Volleyball team, said Eliot Smith, LWHS Director of Athletics and the coach of the Boys Varsity Basketball Team.
The athletics administration announced there was no guarantee they would be able to play volleyball this season because so many girls were trying out.
At the beginning of the winter sports season, a sign was put up outside of the gym announcing that all junior athletes would have to try out for varsity, with no opportunity to be a JV player. The sign was posted seven weeks before tryouts to give all athletes a thorough heads up.
In the first week of November,24 LWHS boys signed up to tryout for the Boys Varsity Basketball Team, 12 of whom were juniors. Of the 24 who tried out, only 13 boys made the team. Only juniors were cut and not allowed to play on JV. All the seniors that tried out made the team.
“You can’t have two varsity teams and youcan’t have one team with 24 boys. There is no set number, but you can’t take 24,” Smith said.
Some juniors stopped attending tryouts after a couple of days because they realized they would not make varsity. Some were told at the end of tryouts that they did not make it. A couple of juniors who did not make either team told Smith that they had just wanted to tryout to have fun and expected to be cut.
For Girls Soccer and Girls Basketball, the initial plan was to have the same system where juniors and seniors tried out for varsity.
However, Girls Soccer and Girls Basketball ended up creating an entirely new team. There is now a frosh/soph, JV and a varsity team. All seniors who tried out for varsity made the team, even if they did not play last year. Juniors and sophomores who had been playing for a long time were not guaranteed a spot.
Teams can be added to some sports. However, the other schools in the league may not have as many teams so the added teams may not have anyone to play.
Boys Soccer made no cuts and remained JV and varsity because they were taking all the people they could get. Soccer has 11 players on the field at a time.
Basketball must offer fewer places because there are only five players on a court at a time. Since so many players tried out, cuts had to be made.
Smith spoke about how hard it was for him because “each boy had something to offer to the team, so as a coach it really hurt to know that I had to make a decision. I talked to all the basketball coaches and asked if they could take any boys on JV and they didn’t have room,” he said.
In the last couple of years, the basketball coaches noticed a lot of juniors playing on the JV teams. Smith said, “The juniors should want to try out for varsity.” They wanted to prioritize JV for freshmen and sophomores because the upperclassmen had been getting the most playing time.
During tryouts, the basketball coaches had to consider returning players, because they would most likely make the team. So, it was really 18 non-returning players, trying out for six spots. Seven of those spots were already taken by returning players.
“If your expectation is to play on varsity, and you’ve done all this work, then your confidence is right where your expectation is. But if you haven’t reached out to your coach, participated in any of our programs, or gone to open gym then your confidence is lower,” Smith said, emphasizing students’ necessary dedication to the team.
Even the boys who were confident they were going to make the team felt the pressure because the coaches “had to treat them in tryouts as if everyone was equal. They felt like they had to try out too because I was being fair,” said Smith.
Tryouts became “more intense,” according to Max Meyer ’23, who currently plays for the Varsity Boys team.
Meyer has been playing basketball for 11 years outside of school and three at LWHS. Even after so many years of basketball, he described a “more focused attitude towards tryouts than I probably would not have had if there were no cuts.”
“Knowing there was a chance I wouldn’t make the team forced me to work harder and put in more effort to make varsity,” said Elias Colfax-Lamoureux ’23, a Varsity Boys Basketball player.
Smith feels that the communication between the coaches and the athletes was strong.
Every day of tryouts, the coaches talked to the players about their chances and how many people were trying out for the same position. He explained, “I could put someone on the team but there would be five other boys in the same spot, so you won’t get to play. It’s not fair if you’re coming to practice and not playing in the games,” Smith said.
Meyer disagrees. He said, “Even if players don’t get to play in games, they will be getting a lot more out of practice, than not playing at all.”
“The policy gives people that didn’t make the team an unfair basketball experience at Lick. If they don’t play outside of school, last season was probably their last time playing basketball because they won’t be able to improve,” Meyer said.
“I don’t think it’s very fair, especially coming out of COVID, because a lot of people didn’t have access to basketball courts to practice,” Colfax-Lamoureux said.
When Smith talked to the juniors who did not make it, he told them “If you try your hardest during this year and come out for the summer team, I’ll put you on the team next year.”
“Cuts are important to making a sports team better. Especially this year because of COVID, cuts make sense, because they result in fewer people in the gym,” Sekani Soriano-Bilal ’23, a player on the Boys Varsity Basketball team said.
Colfax-Lamoureux believes cuts create a “more competitive and serious” environment that can build skill.
“I am more grateful that I made the team which makes me play harder in practice and take advantage of my opportunity,” Meyer said.
Though the topic of instituting cuts is controversial, it is commonly felt that community and team spirit remain strong among students.
photo courtesy of LWHS athletics Instagram Account
“Kids on the team really like each other and are really gelling,” Smith said.
“Basketball has been a really fun experience because I get to expand my social circle to people outside of my grade and make new friends,” Meyer said.
“There has always a sense of community between you and people that play the same sport,” Colfax-Lamoureux said.
Even though the policy seems harsh because in the past LWHS has not made cuts, it is the existing policy at other schools. LWHS has always promoted being adventurous and putting your foot in the circle. However, as the student-athlete community has grown, the athletics department has had to adjust, making sports more skill and age-oriented. Though the cuts have altered previous LWHS sports culture, the team spirit and community are still there.
