This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching addresses one of the worst responsibilities of coaching: cutting players. Drawing on decades of experience, it traces how Brown's own approach evolved from posting impersonal lists to holding personal conversations with each player throughout tryouts, and offers a process for handling cuts with respect and dignity, ending with the no-cut morning program he later built for junior high players.
Introduction
Cutting players is one of the worst responsibilities of being a coach. No coach who cares likes telling a young athlete that they will not be on the team.
We can all remember “cut day” and recall exactly how we felt when we made it or when we or our friends didn’t. There is no right or easy way to tell a young athlete who has enough courage to try out that he will not be part of a team. Thankfully there are sports that don’t require cutting – track, wrestling, cross country, swimming, etc. Even in the sports that do have limited squad size, cutting has gotten simpler in the last 15 years because not as many kids turn out. When I was a beginning coach we might have 70-80 students turn out for the varsity team and we kept two teams of twelve. Today, largely because of sport specialization and 9 year old “select travel teams” the sad truth is most kids get “cut” long before high school. (That is a different newsletter).