When freshman enter high school sports programs they enter with a hunger to be as good as the varsity players that seem larger than life. These freshmen might feel unwanted but that is the exact opposite. Usually you hear “Nice job freshman!” or “Way to go Frosh!” However, these phrases often have negative connotations. When these phrases are read they can seem positive, and this should be the user’s intention. The importance of freshman has a huge effect on all other players older and in the same grade as the freshman who play on a varsity team.

When other freshmen see that one of their own friends is good enough to play at the varsity level it pushes them to play harder. The motivation that is created helps the program improve because the younger players are willing to put in the hard work in order to see the benefits. With this level of dedication, the team is sure to be successful.

Freshmen play a very big role in any sports program. As my freshman football coach, Rob Shipp told my freshman football team, “you can’t build a house without a good foundation.” Your freshman year is a year when you learn about the things that will be expected of you in the next three years. Many coaches will agree that freshman year is in fact your foundation year or season because of all the different things you learn throughout that whole year. This foundation year allows for the freshman to learn by example from the seniors who have been playing with the same program for their four year high school career. Having a freshman play on the varsity level teaches them more because they are playing right beside seasoned varsity veterans. When the freshman play alongside seniors it also motivates the seniors to push themselves because no senior wants to have a freshman perform better than them. This creates a fierce but friendly competition between members of the team. Competition between teammates is a way to make everyone work harder and creates a desire to be better athletes.

The freshmen in any sports program are the future of the program. These are the ones who will carry the team to victory in the next few years. Many people say that a team will not be as good as last year because they graduated many starting seniors or just seniors with experience in general. The idea that is now put into people’s heads is that the team won’t be good because of all the experience. But what people forget is that those seniors that have left have put those freshman and underclassmen under their wings and have prepared them for varsity competition.