InTheGap - good stuff.
I would be interested in hearing more about your school because it sounds similar to ours. Is your school a large public high school or a large all-boys Catholic school for example? What is the enrollment per grade?
Our school was the largest in Ohio with over 1,000 per grade. It was a big deal to make the freshman team with over 100 kids trying out. It was even a bigger deal to find playing time on the freshman team as almost all the kids came out of fine traveling programs. JV's were another big weedout time. It was a really big deal to start varsity as a junior at our school and the majority of kids did not start on varsity until they were seniors. Competition like this creates lots of anxieties. On the other hand, if you can manage to compete your way on to the field, it is a great experience for the next level after high school. Learning how to love competition is the mental key to the whole ball of wax.