Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Sweat Socks: RL HS Coaching Tennis Dynasty

Young Drachma · 03-09-2023, 12:25 AM

I've got a provisional lineup ready to go for our game next Tuesday. Even if she decides to come back, our top player isn't eligible until she's practiced more anyway. I'm 50/50 on whether she's decides to play, but I gave her an ultimatum to tell me this week if she's in or out. I'm pretty chill generally, but I just don't want to set the tone for my hot shot 9th graders that it's okay to be half-in/half-out on the team. Not having her will make repeating harder and it'll also make those travel tournaments tougher, but on the flip side...getting these kids to step up won't hurt.

Conversely, we can withstand the waiting until April when the real core matches start, so it's not a huge deal right now. I'm happy to get the freshman acclimated to high school tennis.

I also found out one of the new league teams isn't playing a varsity schedule meaning in theory I have another open date I can try to go get us a match against somebody, but I'm not sure if I can get anyone to bite that I haven't already reached out to.

Even when the coaches agree, their ADs will veto because I guess these dudes don't like losing to a small school? I have no idea, it's very silly.

Anyway, lineup wise we won't get a true test of our situation until we play that state champ from Washington state the 2nd week of April. We do play a home/home against a league opponent the first week of April that ought to be a bit of a test in the singles department, but the real question is how much did the rest of the league reload this off-season?

Lineup-wise, I feel pretty okay with our situation. My two freshman will comprise the 1/2 singles spots, replacing what we lost and I think I called them "Dime-store" versions of what we lost, which is better than I'd hoped for.

One of the other 9th graders is good enough to play one of the top doubles spots. Realistically, even if we don't repeat this year, my goal is to win the District again at minimum. Given all of our league competitors had more spots to replace than we did, and I still bring back my senior core, we have one more year of roster depth to make another run at a title.

The thing we lack this year that we've had the past two years though is extended depth. In the past, I could go 15-18 deep on varsity, meaning I had kids way off the roster who could fill in for us as needed. Right now, I'm using that depth thanks to my senior, a core junior opting for another spring sport & losing my hot-shot sophomore from last year to an injury.

It's not a huge issue right now, you can win state with 4 good players...but I won't be comfortable with that little margin for error. Plus, I just want to capitalize on what I suspect (hope?) will be one more down year for the league before I lose all my depth and we have to legitimately rebuild next year.

03-09-2023, 12:25 AM	#85
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	I've got a provisional lineup ready to go for our game next Tuesday. Even if she decides to come back, our top player isn't eligible until she's practiced more anyway. I'm 50/50 on whether she's decides to play, but I gave her an ultimatum to tell me this week if she's in or out. I'm pretty chill generally, but I just don't want to set the tone for my hot shot 9th graders that it's okay to be half-in/half-out on the team. Not having her will make repeating harder and it'll also make those travel tournaments tougher, but on the flip side...getting these kids to step up won't hurt. Conversely, we can withstand the waiting until April when the real core matches start, so it's not a huge deal right now. I'm happy to get the freshman acclimated to high school tennis. I also found out one of the new league teams isn't playing a varsity schedule meaning in theory I have another open date I can try to go get us a match against somebody, but I'm not sure if I can get anyone to bite that I haven't already reached out to. Even when the coaches agree, their ADs will veto because I guess these dudes don't like losing to a small school? I have no idea, it's very silly. Anyway, lineup wise we won't get a true test of our situation until we play that state champ from Washington state the 2nd week of April. We do play a home/home against a league opponent the first week of April that ought to be a bit of a test in the singles department, but the real question is how much did the rest of the league reload this off-season? Lineup-wise, I feel pretty okay with our situation. My two freshman will comprise the 1/2 singles spots, replacing what we lost and I think I called them "Dime-store" versions of what we lost, which is better than I'd hoped for. One of the other 9th graders is good enough to play one of the top doubles spots. Realistically, even if we don't repeat this year, my goal is to win the District again at minimum. Given all of our league competitors had more spots to replace than we did, and I still bring back my senior core, we have one more year of roster depth to make another run at a title. The thing we lack this year that we've had the past two years though is extended depth. In the past, I could go 15-18 deep on varsity, meaning I had kids way off the roster who could fill in for us as needed. Right now, I'm using that depth thanks to my senior, a core junior opting for another spring sport & losing my hot-shot sophomore from last year to an injury. It's not a huge issue right now, you can win state with 4 good players...but I won't be comfortable with that little margin for error. Plus, I just want to capitalize on what I suspect (hope?) will be one more down year for the league before I lose all my depth and we have to legitimately rebuild next year. Last edited by Young Drachma : 03-09-2023 at 12:36 AM.