With sports, there is always the player who sits on the sidelines, silently making moves in their head. 

Mr. Mike Mathies, Athletic Director said, “Most sports have different criterias,” and how during practices coaches are looking for players who are determined and do really well in practice situations. 

Learning experiences are huge when it comes to any sport because they can help the players improve their skills. 

A major learning experience that teams have are scrimmages. Scrimmages simulate a real game situation. By doing that, both the coaches and players get active feedback. Coaches can use that feedback to see what needs improvement and who can become a starter player for the teams. 

When looking at practices, coaches help their players improve in areas that they need, “Usually we’ll kinda talk about what they need to improve on and really ask them to stress working on that in practice,” said Mr. Mathies.
By stressing what they need to improve on, and by doing so, players can move up on the rosters. By demonstrating a strong worth ethic and working towards improving their skills, an athlete can become a bench player to a starter. 

Rosters move for a variety of reasons, whether that be because of an injury, an improvement of skill, or in some cases, superstition. Players that are picked from are the bench players that have shown their dedication to the sport and improvement.

Bench players may not play on the field, but that does not mean they do not play at all. During the game, they would watch the game and calculate what they would do, and what the other team may do. They improve during a game by predicting movements, and what they would do. 

Blake Pennings, a player for the D.C. Everest football team, said that the players who get to play are those who can execute well during practice. 

In the early games, more players go on the field during matches. As time progresses in later games, the players that have slightly more skill play on the field.

Between learning from playing, and from watching, Pennings said, “I feel like it’s a 50/50 between bench and starters about position, watching film is important to see what you didn’t before.” 

All of the football scrimmages are recorded so the team can watch over the plays and learn from the errors that were made. Players also use that information to find areas that they can improve on to become better players. 

Players who sit on the sidelines are still players who made it on the team. Throughout the games and practices, they still try their best to improve and help their teammates do the same.