Warrior Athletics Philosophy

Varsity athletics should be preparing students to take on the full responsibilities of life. Varsity athletics is the highest level of athletics that most students will reach. It is a significant milestone in many students lives and it is and should be treated with a great deal of respect. Our varsity teams are constantly competing for championships and those challenges require them to learn the value of hard work and sacrifice. Those two values will help to prepare them for all walks of life as they graduate from high school. We do not deviate from our overall philosophy for athletics but certain elements do set varsity athletics apart from the lower levels.

Keys to Varsity Athletics

1. We are competing to win every game.
2. We expect a larger commitment from our athletes both during the season and in the off-season.
3. Not everyone will have the opportunity to participate.
4. The coaching emphasis is on team concepts and strategies and not on basic fundamentals that should already be mastered by the athlete.
5. Players will be expected to take on a larger role in the leadership of the team.
6. Players will be expected to take full responsibility for equipment.

Junior varsity athletics are the training grounds for varsity athletics. The commitment and ability that is required is greater than middle school but it is not the same as varsity. Because we are a small school many athletes have the opportunity to compete on the varsity and junior varsity teams at the same time. The purpose of competitions is to gain experience for the varsity level and not simply to focus on winning.

Keys to Junior Varsity Athletics

1. All athletes will get an opportunity to play.
2. Emphasis and coaching will be on fundamentals.
3. A higher value is placed on game experience than on winning.
4. Any age player can be on the junior varsity team.
5. Seniors and Juniors that start for the varsity team in that sport will not play in JV games unless additional players are needed in order to not cancel the game. Those players will play in a different position and will not take playing time from younger or less experienced athletes.
6. Players that play significant minutes at one position in a varsity game may play in another position in a JV game. This is especially true for Freshmen athletes.
7. Junior varsity players will attend all varsity practices unless otherwise informed by a coach.

The primary focus of middle school athletics is to teach basic fundamentals and general team concepts. In many cases athletes will be playing the sport in an organized setting for the first time. Most of our sports at the middle school level have an A and a B team. This is done to give more players the opportunity to play, but it also helps in recognizing the vast degree of change that occurs between sixth and eighth grades.

We want our teams to experience winning and losing while always being challenged to work hard to improve. The middle school A teams are often those that simply have more mature athletes, and if those athletes do not continue to work hard, they will be passed up by others at the high school level.

Goal of Middle School Athletics

Each player will have a positive experience in an encouraging environment that pushes them to work hard to pursue excellence in their sport all the way through high school.

Keys to Middle School Athletics - A Teams

1. The goal is to provide all athletes the opportunity to play but this is not required and may not occur in close games or tournament games.
2. Emphasis and coaching will be on basic fundamentals as determined by the head varsity coach for that sport.
3. A team sports place value on winning but a high value is still placed on game experience.
4. Any age player can be on the A team but it will typically consist of eighth graders.

Keys to Middle School Athletics - B Teams

1. All athletes will get an opportunity to play.
2. Emphasis and coaching will be on basic fundamentals as determined by the head varsity coach for that sport.
3. A higher value is placed on game experience than on winning.
4. Any age player can be on the B team.
5. Some teams will be small enough that some players will play on both the A and B teams but this is not typical and avoided when possible.
6. In most cases A and B team players will have the same practice schedule.

These sites contain information and resources that many of the coaches at Cypress Christian School use in developing their coaching philosophy. Many of these same resources can be a help to parents as well.

• Proactive Coaching
• All Pro Dad
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes
• The JH Ranch