Public school football is dying in many places.
Im at the Serra / Saint Francis game this evening with my kids when my son starts innocently counting helmets on the sideline. In both cases, he counted beyond the mid 50s. This did not include the boys on the field tonight nor the (hopefully) small number of boys who were out with injuries.
With turnout low in places like San Jose, San Francisco and many small cities and towns in between, the question is whether or not it is time to start capping team and program roster sizes and not just at the schools with no enrollment boundaries (*cough* *cough* privates *cough* *cough*) but at schools that only recruit…I mean ADMIT students from within their own geographical boundaries.
I personally do not see a reason as to why any high school would need a roster larger than that of an NFL franchise. In fact, I feel as if there is no need for any more than 53 combined within all levels of a program below varsity football. That means that whether you choose to have a JV program or Freshman and Sophomore Football, the combination of those “sub-varsity” teams should not add up to a sum greater than 53.
In turn, I feel this would assist some of the areas struggling to field teams populate their rosters without really affecting the cream of the crop schools who would still hold the leverage to keep those kids they feel give their program the best chance to win football games while disposing those they didn’t feel as strongly about back to their assigned schools.
As for those kids who do not cut it at the school they are zoned to, the State of California begun allowing athletically motivated transfers years ago.
thoughts on this idea?
Im at the Serra / Saint Francis game this evening with my kids when my son starts innocently counting helmets on the sideline. In both cases, he counted beyond the mid 50s. This did not include the boys on the field tonight nor the (hopefully) small number of boys who were out with injuries.
With turnout low in places like San Jose, San Francisco and many small cities and towns in between, the question is whether or not it is time to start capping team and program roster sizes and not just at the schools with no enrollment boundaries (*cough* *cough* privates *cough* *cough*) but at schools that only recruit…I mean ADMIT students from within their own geographical boundaries.
I personally do not see a reason as to why any high school would need a roster larger than that of an NFL franchise. In fact, I feel as if there is no need for any more than 53 combined within all levels of a program below varsity football. That means that whether you choose to have a JV program or Freshman and Sophomore Football, the combination of those “sub-varsity” teams should not add up to a sum greater than 53.
In turn, I feel this would assist some of the areas struggling to field teams populate their rosters without really affecting the cream of the crop schools who would still hold the leverage to keep those kids they feel give their program the best chance to win football games while disposing those they didn’t feel as strongly about back to their assigned schools.
As for those kids who do not cut it at the school they are zoned to, the State of California begun allowing athletically motivated transfers years ago.
thoughts on this idea?
