[Jon1000]

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i think the defeatist/everyone gets a trophy attitude bothers me b/c so much of what separates kids athletically until college is pure effort and fitness.

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This is not true in my experience - I played basketball and baseball in high school and there were some kids that went onto play D-1 who I couldn't touch. In fact the talent gap was more noticeable / difficult to overcome because it's not like most high schools have great training regimens that could really help someone offset a talent deficit.

That being said I agree with your main point: picking is fine, there's no perfect way to do it. Also I think playing sports is a great way to socialize a kid, and you learn some tough lessons along the way.

FWIW - it's a much worse feeling, imo, to [censored] up on the field and let your team down, then getting picked last.

-Al

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Yeah, my statement was probably too broad as effort alone doesn't apply to tennis or golf or baseball or a host of other sports and experiences may vary drastically. However, I did play soccer on a high school team which produced 6-9 division I-III starters, 4 of them frosh year starters. Between the best and the average, there was certainly an appreciable difference, but at least in our league, one player could rarely dominate a game, and often times some scrub would shut down one of our stars in practice or a game. A number of the D III guys never went to the summer soccer clinics or even played at the club level in school.

For the most part, I don't think there's a kid you could give me in let's say 6th grade who couldnt start on his varsity soccer, football, lacrosse team by his upperclassman years if he was willing to play in season and just try really hard. Most of my high school sports programs were pretty good, but as an example there were several kids who ran track freshman year b/c they couldn't play a ball sport very well and wound up running in college. I just think for the most part, physical differences between kids until about the college mark are pretty small, and in sports where one player can't easily dominate, there is more than enough room to compete.