This is about soccer. My kid is a D1 soccer walk-on and is the strongest and fastest on the team, per fitness tests. He consistently both outscores, and out assists everyone on the team in practice scrimmages, and came in as a top notch scorer in high school, and is a hard presser defensively. No attitude issues. Calm quiet kid. Coach never puts him in even though offense really struggles, lacks size, strength, and speed.
Coach is very nice but tells him he works harder than almost everyone on team. Yeah he’s a freshman, but most front line players on team are also freshman and have little to no offensive production stats to show for all their playing time. Any advise for how a kid like this can just get an opportunity to show what he can do will be appreciated. Thx.
He can talk to the coach. He should make an appointment and ask what he can do to get playing time, what to work on, extra workouts he can do. He could also talk to a captain. When my daughter was a captain one of her teammates asked her what to do, and daughter offered to work with her on skill drills, running, etc. Turned out the other player just wanted to play, not to work toward it.
I’m sure he’s contributing to the team in practice, but it is so very hard to wait on the bench. Have him let the coach know he’s willing to do even more, work harder, study film more.
I agree he could talk to the coach about what he can work on now to contribute more to the team next season. That needs to be handled diplomatically though.
It’s not unusual for a coach to give non-walkons priority initially but things usually sort themselves out.
You and your son do need to realize that the coach might be seeing things you don’t.
@Ballerz, there is no other route than as suggested. Absolute certainty that parents CANNOT get involved. Just look at what happened to Gio Reyna.
The coach has already acknowledged the work ethic. The question might be what skills need to be improved, and if possible with objective standards, so they can be measured.
When it comes to playing time, you just never know what the rationale is. Sometimes it is not quality but rather the intangibles, like chemistry. Sometimes the coach needs to put his recruits in first because he needs to maintain a relationship with the club that sends him players. Sometimes, and I hope it is the case with yours, that coach gets to a point that he wants to send a message by starting the hardest working kid.
I hate to say it, but he’s a walk-on. Why wasn’t he recruited if he’s bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled than the kids on the team? Was he recruited anywhere?
Every player on the bench at a D1 school thinks they should be playing, including my freshman son that’s returning from a torn ACL. All your son can do is continue to work hard and showcase his skills. If he is as good as reported he’ll get into a game. Coaches are paid to win. Wins don’t come easy, especially for a D1 team that lacks size, strength and speed.
What @gkunion said. I will go out on a limb and say that your son clearly is NOT the best, or I guarantee you he would be getting playing time.
I echo all the other advice above. I can leave you with this anecdote: we know a Georgetown soccer player who got 5 minutes of playing time – all year – freshman year. He became a starter and started played every game sophomore year. So the lack of playing time one year doesn’t necessarily mean that will be true all years.
As @cinnamon1212 says, only super freshmen get real starting time. On my son’s team the only freshmen that saw the field were the two twenty-something “freshmen” from Europe and one domestic player that got 70 minutes spread across several matches.
I will say this…son not recruited because not from one of the artery clubs. If I told you what he can dead lift, his 40 time, and Beep test score is you’d freak out. I ask him how practice is going and he tells me great, and he scores against the back line all the time and most other scrimmage goals are off his assists. So after a spring game (didn’t even put him in that) an assistant coach sees me in lobby and after all the hellos I ask if kid is working hard and “oh yeah…he scores a lot of goals for us”. Of course he means just practice because has never played a minute.
So coach just validated what goes on at practice. Next season new recruits come in and he just hopes he gets an opportunity and that the cycle doesn’t just continue with a productive walk on sitting the pine. As a fan it’s hard to see a team leave goals on the bench. He’s just hoping for an opportunity.
Assuming your kid goes to American, you might want to be careful. Seems like there’s some identifying info here.
The beep test etc info is great but tells us nothing about your son’s skill.
I found this advice from my husband, who played d1 football, helpful when I was upset about my son getting cut from his u12 team: “Cream rises to the top”.
If your son is that good, he will play.
He knows the the walk on label and getting on the field is also a breaking the glass ceiling and an uphill battle, and knew this coming in but also that proven performance in practice will pay off. I mentioned earlier that he had a highly impressive high school career, so its not like he comes in without a resume. He doesn’t whine at all about it but will just say after a game that he wanted to play. He’s mentally a strong kid, and will work through it, but also does want to figure out how he can improve his impression, and prospect.
Thanks this is all good advice. I’m not getting involved, just want to check on prudent advice to give him next time he asks because all I tell him is keep practicing hard. He really likes his team, coaches, and atmosphere, but next time he mentions he wants to show he can translate practice to the game, in addition to encouragement, I’ll also tell him to ask for an appointment to talk to coach about what to work on, and maybe ask captains what they think he can work on. Afterall, if they see him doing things they like that will benefit the team. 
Also might not have been recruited because didn’t have good marketing or use a recruiting website or service. That might have helped. Hind sight is 20/20.
The first part yes, the second part no. Recruiting services are often a scam and not necessary.
Yes, lean on the opinion of teammates first. Conversations with the coaches should be geared towards things to improve on, not how can I get playing time.
When you go on as a walk on - you have to know your place. If he’s that talented, he could have landed somewhere and gotten PT.
He’s got four years though - even scholarship players shouldn’t expect to play up front.
But he’s lucky to be a part of the team.
If he keeps working hard and is that good, eventually he’ll make a lot of noise.
No freshman, short of elite recruits, should expect to play a lot early.
And no walk on should expect to play over athletes tha have been invested in.
Great he’s a part of the team - and how he handles this will make a big statement of who he is.
Many walk ons likely believe they can play - but watch March Madness - if they’re lucky, they get 30 seconds to dribble the ball around in a blow out. They know that going in, they’re not going to get a chance.
I agree but scoring a lot of goals and assisting teammates should be revealing of skill.
Keep in mind that the top freshman on my son’s team only started in 10 games. He was named co-rookie of the year and he only scored 6 goals. Practice success, especially small sided games, doesn’t always transfer to the field during a D1 match.
We’re talking about practice. Not a game…
But seriously, Allen Iverson quotes aside, it seems like the coaches are going out of their way to be positive and supportive, and to let you and him know he’s valued.
It could be that they see your son as a practice player or they just weren’t ready to experiment last season.
They know his dead lift and his skills and how that might or might not help in game situations.
His goal at this point should just be to figure out what he can do to make them comfortable putting him in a game should the opportunity come up. (And he can’t take the view that he should be playing, which seems to be your view. That’s too close to second-guessing the coaches).
Continuing to work hard in practice, keeping a positive attitude are crucial but maybe there’s some skill or game awareness development he could work on. Sometimes it just takes time and patience to get the opportunities.
It’s not easy, but there’s always someone on the bench during games.
I am not sure that necessarily validates what goes on at practice, or at least not everything that the coaches see and/or are working on.
Good point by @politeperson I think most of us parents understand that what we may or may not hear is not always the complete picture. My kids very seldom talked about what went on in practice, other than perhaps share a fun anecdote.
Does you son enjoy being on the team, is he happy at the school, is he upset about his playing time…? If he is ok with the situation I would be sit back and not offer any input other than just to tell him to continue to work hard at practice, be a good teammate, help out and contribute to the team and enjoy himself.