Elliot Kauffman ’19

The competition of varsity sports can be overwhelming, and it often takes players years on j.v. before they achieve varsity status. But for a few of Staples freshmen, varsity will be the only level of high school athletics they experience. Freshmen Madeline Ambrose ’21 and Izzy Deveney ’21 play varsity field hockey, which is ranked 23rd in the country coming into the season, and Autumn Smith ’21 plays varsity soccer.
Athletic Director Marty Lisevick explained some of the benefits of having freshmen on varsity teams. “My experience has been sometimes [freshmen] bring a ton of energy,” he said. Lisevick added that many times older kids feel a need to match and surpass the skills and results of the freshman, so it bumps up the competition and effort of the whole team.
“It definitely helps me with staying at a level where I am going to keep on growing,” Deveney said. “If I am on a team like varsity that has higher level players who are very good and very fast, it helps me grow at a quicker rate so I can keep up with them.”
Coaches explained that there are some developmental upsides to having a younger player on varsity, but Staples athletic personnel have other opinions.
“I always try to put kids in situations where they are comfortable,” Lisevick said while explaining his slight hesitation of some potential varsity freshmen. He added that if a freshman is not going to play much on varsity, then they should be playing on the junior varsity or freshman team.
It is noteworthy that freshman boys are not represented on varsity teams, but there may be a few reasons why. Soccer coach Dan Woog explained that some factors of picking a varsity team are fitness, skill, intelligence, work ethic, chemistry and age.
Woog asks certain questions when watching freshmen in tryouts. “Can he handle the speed and toughness, roughness of playing against kids who might be one or two or even three years older?” Woog said that juniors and seniors have the size and strength to compete against the bigger and faster kids, and while occasionally a freshman has that physicality, it is very rare.
“Physically, I think it is easier for girls to have freshman on varsity because they mature earlier than guys generally,” Woog explained. He said that this idea of maturity and physical development in girls can explain the amount of freshman girls of varsity and the lack thereof for guys.