Skip to main content

Reply to "HS tryouts - thoughts?"

My daughter started on varsity softball as a freshman. My son was the last cut from varsity as a freshman, tore up JV ball and started as a soph. They attended a largest enrollment classification high school. The district was growing. There were five busting at the seams with enrollment elementary schools feeding one huge middle school and high school.

If a kid didn’t make baseball/softball in 7th or 8th grade chances are they weren’t going to improve enough to ever make varsity. There was a freshman team. It was pathetic baseball. It was kids who didn’t make the 7th and 8th grade teams and those who did and weren’t going much further. The more talented players played JV freshmen year. In my kids eight years combined in high school only one player from a freshman team ever made varsity. He was a late bloomer pitcher who grew to 6’4” by his senior year.

There was no doubt in my mind my kids were varsity players heading into high school. The weeding out process started in 7th grade. There was a 7th grade team and an 8th grade team in middle school. The best freshmen made JV. My daughter’s situation was unique. The softball program had really stunk up until she arrived with four other freshmen. These five started freshman year and dominated the conference for four years. Yes, one was a stud pitcher. Girls physically mature sooner. These five girls all had D1 college offers by the end of freshman year.

The coaches knew who could play entering high school. The softball coach first saw my daughter play in a local 12u softball tournament. The baseball coach first saw my son play in a LL all star game. He told me he had recognized my son was the best athlete on the playground going back to second grade when he taught at his elementary school. Both coaches attended a couple of 7th and 8th grade games when it fit into their schedule and ran a couple of middle school practices each year. They knew the players.

The baseball coach moved to teaching at the middle school when my son was there. He occasionally had lunch with the middle school players. My son recognized it as selling the more talented players on not being recruited out to privates and Catholics for high school. Had basketball not lost recruited players from one class when my daughter was in high school there would have been five future P5 starters, three future NBA players on the high school basketball team in the same class.

When the new AD arrived the year just before my daughter entered middle school and started hiring new high school varsity coaches he gave them input on who coached at the middle school level. The middle school was across the street from the high school. He eventually placed a protege as the middle school AD. The middle school had never had an AD before. Sports were a true grade 7-12 program. Cream Puff High became a conference contender and sometimes conference winner in every sport. My kids played on at least one conference champion in their multiple sports every year. Softball won all four years. Baseball won two of three years my son played varsity.

Despite having a well oiled, well functioning, successful process there were still parents who thought who their kids were screwed, politics played a part of the process and favorites were played. The reality was these parents didn’t see their kids hit the wall when they got their varsity shot. The kid I specifically remember quickly played his way out of the line up soph and junior year and didn't try out senior year. I listened to three years of “my kid got screwed” on the sidelines. I never understood what the coach saw in the kid. I knew the kid going back to preteen sports and LL baseball. My son said the kid had great practices and tryouts then choked in varsity games.

I believe my kids had great high school sports experiences. The one negative was my son was cut from basketball soph year for not making any off-season workouts due to playing other sports. It gave him the winter to be more prepared for baseball. The basketball coach was against his players playing other sports. In the eight years my two kids were in the high school his only multi sport players were both 6’7”. Both became professional athletes (Premier League/MLS, NFL) in other sports. Since less girls were athletically inclined they were encouraged to play multiple sports.

Last edited by RJM
×
×
×
×