Middle school sports — to cut, or not to cut?

METRO DETROIT — Cutting students from middle school sports teams is a topic that’s sure to spark debate, especially among parents.

Supporters of no-cut sports say the goal of school-based athletics should be to encourage inclusivity, allowing students of all athletic types to contribute to a team while learning personal growth and development, healthy communication, and a team-oriented work ethic. 

Those on the other side of the fence argue that cuts are necessary to prepare children for the disappointments experienced in adulthood and to assure the space, time and resources that each team needs won’t be spread too thin.

Most, if not all, public schools in the area offer students the opportunity to try out for, or be automatically welcomed on, a middle school sports team.

Bloomfield Hills Schools offers several athletic opportunities within its two middle schools.

“We’ve had both cut and no-cut sports since before my taking over as the athletic director 18 years ago,” said Mike Cowdrey, the athletic director for Bloomfield Hills Schools. “At the middle school level, we have as large an offering as any middle school that I’m aware of.”

The district, Cowdrey explained, looks at roster sizes when determining if a sport should be cut or no-cut.

“It’s a cut sport strictly based on roster size and what we can handle as a team, effectively work with, and participate in a game,” he said. “For our middle school basketball, we carry 15, because we have a rule in the middle school league that we play in. The first half is actually three periods, not two, and the first period you play your starting five, the second period you play your next five, and the third period you play your third five. That is based on talent and ability level. Then in the second half, which is only two periods, you play whoever you’d like. Even though it is a cut sport, everyone on the team plays at the middle school level in our league.”

A few of the teams students must try out for include travel basketball, tennis, soccer and volleyball, to name a few.

Over at Lakeview Public Schools, Sean Zaborowski, the executive director of athletics and operations, said that, typically, sports that do cuts have roster limitations, which is what makes cuts necessary. At the middle school level, boys and girls basketball and volleyball have cuts, while football, cross country, wrestling, swim and track do not have cuts.

“Parents typically understand that there are limits to roster sizes and know that, in a sport like basketball or volleyball, we can only carry 12-15 players,” Zaborowski said in an email.

When asked if the district had ever considered registering two teams for the same school in the same age group, Zaborowski said it’s not something they could do because of the league they are in.

“The league that we play in, our middle school league, they don’t do that, so we can only have one seventh grade team and one eighth grade team for football, basketball, volleyball and those sports,” he said.

Whether a student makes a team or doesn’t, all Bloomfield Hills district coaches have individual meetings with each student to share the news.

“For every coach in our district, the worst thing they have to do is make cuts,” said Cowdrey. “They absolutely hate it, because it’s hard to tell a young person who came out there and tried and wanted to be on the team that, unfortunately, they didn’t make it.”

When sharing unfortunate news, coaches try to explain where a student may have come up short and give them examples of the areas in which they may need to get better so they can improve their chances for the next tryout session.

Some may opt to try out for a no-cut sport — like football, cross country, swimming, diving, wrestling, track and field, lacrosse, and more — which also allows students to travel to compete against other schools. No-cut sports are a great opportunity for students who want to try something new, without the stress of tryouts.

Since no-cut teams are typically larger, there is no guarantee that each student will get equal playing time, but they are guaranteed a spot on the team.

“Our football team, which is a non-cut sport at the middle school level, while everyone may not play in the game, if both teams have enough kids on their teams, we have a halftime game where those kids who are not starters or are not large contributors to the actual game get to play a shortened game at halftime so they get to participate as well,” Cowdrey said. “That’s something we’ve done for a long time.”

Many schools across the state, including Bloomfield Hills, are seeing a decreased number of student football players.

“Some of those halftime games have been lessened and are not actually taking place because teams might not have enough on their team to do that,” Cowdry noted.

When there are large roster sizes in sports, like football and track, Zaborowski said Lakeview coaches try to ensure that participants get some time in the games each time they play.

“At the middle school level, many of the sports rules in our league have requirements for players to get into the games for a minimum amount of time. This helps parents at least see their child participate in the games each time they play.  For the most part, the parents appreciate knowing their child will be participating in each game if they are on a sports team,” he wrote.

Within the Bloomfield Hills district, all students also have the opportunity to join one of the middle school no-cut intramural sports teams — including basketball, soccer and volleyball — which do not compete against other schools.

Because Lakeview Middle School — like many other middle schools in the area — runs four sports seasons, students are able to try multiple sports at the middle school level.

“As an example, our boys basketball season and wrestling seasons do not occur at the same time, so a player could try both sports in the same school year,” Zaborowski wrote.

If a student gets cut from a school team, they have the option of trying out a no-cut sport at the middle school or playing recreationally, if they still want to pursue playing the sport they were cut from.

“If a player were to get cut from volleyball — which is a fall sport — the coaches typically encourage them to try another sport, which could be cross country that also happens in the fall,” Zaborowski said in an email. “If a player were to get cut from basketball — as an example — the coaches have encouraged them to try to still play, and there are local options that allow players to participate … such as the St. Clair Shores Parks and Recreation basketball league that starts in mid-January.”

Whatever the sport or team composition, Cowdry agrees that students learn a number of things by participating in athletics — like teamwork, time management, how to deal with adversity, hard work, dedication and many other life lessons.

“Most importantly, athletics is an extension of the classroom, so we’re learning life lessons through sports. We would like to win some games along the way, but really that’s not our goal,” Cowdrey said.