Question about High School Tryouts

Your players young, I would really be carefull catching right away.
Take his time getting into catching shape.
No need to push it for the sake of freshman ball.
EH

YHF osgood schlatter by Mayo Clinic with recommendation.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osgood-schlatter-disease/DS00392

His Schlatters disease isn't severe. It's moderate and manageable to this point. He had a patellar tendon injury that he worked through in physical therapy. I just don't want it to recur, even though he really loves catching.

Go back to the doctor and ask for a doctor's note explaining what is wrong and his therapy recommendations are. Show this to the coach and talk to him what else your son can do during tryouts.

If your son does well in throwing and hitting then he will get a chance. If he can catch like 20 pitches and throw down to bases then do that and work way back to playing shape.

One incident or event shouldn't put the "wuss" tag on a kid. That takes several incidences over a period of time.

Just talk to the coach and your son should be fine.

Agree just talk to coach.

Heck send him out here we can use a good catcher!

Seriously catchers are always in limited supply.

Is this something for me to do either verbally or by email? Or should I let my son handle it? My instinct is not to jump in there.

YHF it is not for me to advise your decision...

But with my son I always took the advice of our doctor regarding my son especially when he was not fully grown because young boys and girls growth plates need to fully develope without injury. The damage that can be done to your son's long term health IMO is not worth the risk of him suffering knee damage where later on in life he will have difficulty walking.

If this were my son in this situation I would get some idea from the doctor as to how long your son should be held to minimum exertion with his knees, and then follow the doctors advice. If your son has to sit out a few weeks it is not the end of the world.
JMO

YHF, besides putting any undue pressure on your son due to an injury and being labeled a "wuss", etc, I would follow the Dr's advise to the T. Why even risk the remote possibility of re-injuring it this season which might hinder him even more next year. Just because the freshman coach is desperately needing a catcher is no need for a parent to jeopardize their son's health and/or body.

What's the worse thing that can happen? He doesn't make the freshman team. Big deal. If your son has the talent to catch, let him recoup completely in the timeline the Dr. has established and let him play some summer ball to keep his edge.

This is just my opinion from a Dad.

quote:

Originally posted by YHF:
My 8th grade son will be trying out for Freshman ball next week. He's coming off a knee injury (in addition to having Osgood Schlatters). He finished physical therapy for his knee injury just a couple weeks ago and his doctor told him to work his way slowly back into catching.

How would you coaches suggest we handle his injury situation.

YHF, am I understanding correctly that your son is an 8th grader and trying to play up on a high school freshman team? Assuming that's true, I wouldn't rush anything, or expect too much.

I don't know the philosophy of your HS coach, but don't get too upset and use the injury issue if your son gets cut from a high school freshman team while he is still in 8th grade. Remember, he would be taking a roster spot away from a true high school freshman, and many coaches, including me, would be very reluctant to do that. In our program, we want as many young kids as possible, and that means keeping as many 9th graders as possible. We don't know how freshmen will develop physically or mentally by the time they are juniors or seniors, or who will end up dropping out of the program due to injuries, grade issues, behavioral problems, playing time issues, loss of interest, etc.

Our school district does not allow middle schoolers to play high school ball, so it's not an issue in our program. Even if we didn't have the district restriction, I would probably not allow an 8th grader to take a roster spot, unless I had a very low number of 9th graders turning out, and couldn't fill a freshman roster.

I can wait for the 8th graders to arrive and develop when they're freshmen. It doesn't matter to me how an 8th grader helps our freshman team win. Even if the 9th graders are bad, we still need to develop players at every position at every grade level. That helps our program as a whole. The point of freshman and JV teams should be to develop players, not necessarily worry about being solid at every position or win every game. I know everyone wants to win, but varsity ball is when winning counts. That's just my opinion and perspective as a high school coach.

Thanks guys for the solid advice.

Obviously each school is different but our freshman team has 4 or 5 (can't remember which) 8th graders on the team every year. I'm not sure why they would eliminate some Freshman to guarantee a few 8th graders a spot, but that's how they do it.

My son wants to make the team very badly and I understand his desire to play. From my perspective, I'm hoping he makes the team but if he doesn't, we have workouts planned each week up until mid-May when our summer team gets rolling.

Thanks again for your insights.

Quick update here....my son's knee has felt really good and so he hasn't informed the coaches of the prior injury. He caught 5 pitchers Monday night (100 pitches total) without any pain so I'm relieved. No soreness afterward. He's still been icing each night and eating advil just in case.

It's really funny waiting for the kids to come out at the end of tryouts each night...all the rumors that are being passed between the parents are crazy. They're only taking 15 kids. No they're taking 18. From the 8th grade class they're only taking pitchers. They're taking 5 eighth graders. They're taking 2 eighth graders...blah, blah, blah. Two of the dads tonight got their egos going comparing how good their sons are. I had to walk outside in the frigid weather to get away.

First round of cuts are supposedly tomorrow so I'll provide an update when I can.

That is awesome he is doing great and not experiencing any pain. Take it from me as a former catcher to take care of his knees. Ice should be his best friend. I wish someone would have told me the things I should have done to keep them healthy. I didn't have Osgood Schlatters but I did dislocate my left kneecap 4 times in high school.

It constantly hurts and I am very slow going up steps (it figures my classroom would be upstairs too). Some days when the weather is bad I want to curl up in the fetal position and cry like a baby.

Take care of his knees.

Talk to doctor and get a medical release and rehab information for yourself and the coach. Hopefully the HS has a main trainer that can help out with rehab for your son and coincide this with any other rehab he is getting.

Be prepared to make some concession when it comes to positional play this year. It up to you and your doctor, first and than it’s up to the coach and trainer to work with your son.

Yes be sure to tell the coach.


Respectfully yours,

drill

The "eating advil" aspect disturbs me greatly---in short order he may have no stomach lining left

Sometimes it is better to not be so overzealous if you have to go to extreme measures

The "eating Advil" comment makes me quesy. I pitched my senior year of high school with a sore back. I just didn't know it until several hours after the game, when the eight Bufferin I took before the game wore off. I had no idea what the potential health hazzards were of doing this twelve times in a season.

The expert advice I received came from a Legion teammate with a nasty slider at age fifteen, who pitched three years of high school ball on Bufferin. His arm died soph year of college.

Thanks for the concern guys. I should have explained better. His doctor suggested 2 advil before baseball (while eating or just after eating food) and then 2 more advil before bedtime (again, while eating or after eating some food). I guess advil has a bit of an anti-inflammatory effect. He hasn't had any pain or soreness the following day (so far), so he's just been taking 2 advil before he goes to tryouts.

I don't let him take any more than that. Fortunately he hates taking pills anyway.

YHF, if there is no pain, it could be that your son's OS has "resolved itself" as the docs say. 2B went through OS, but he used the bands until it just went away on its own. I hope that's what's going on with your son.

Amen. That would be nice. But the doc said it could be with him for a while.

Rumors are flying among the parents and kids, as would be expected.

My son's Freshman tryouts started with 42-44 kids the first couple nights, including about 10 eighth graders and the rest freshmen. No cuts yet, but they're down to 32 or 33 kids just through attrition. Lots of running and really hard grounders across the gym floor, and I suspect the combination of those two things scared off quite a few.

They're supposed to announce first cuts tonight. My son is nervous and excited of course. I talked to him about remaining calm (as best he can) and if he makes the cut try to keep it to himself because some of his friends might be getting bad news. I also told him that if he's cut, try to muster up enough courage to talk to the coach and ask what he should work on so he can try out next year.

We'll see.

Good luck to him!

We don't have a freshman team, but in JV, there was more drama among the parents than I had ever experienced at any level. Please let us know how he does!

Just got home from tryouts and first cut was announced tonight. My son is still alive at this point. Here's how it breaks down....

They divided the kids into 3 groups for workouts tonight...

Group A were kids that were later told they are "penciled in", meaning they are definitely on the freshman team. One 8th grader (a LH pitcher of course) was in this group.

Group B were kids that were definitely going to be cut and were told so as a group after workouts tonight. This was about a dozen kids.

Group C (including my son) were the 'bubble group' according to the coaches. There are 7 kids in this group including two 8th graders...my son (trying out for catcher & 1B) and a friend of my son's who is also trying out for catcher. This group was told there are 7 kids for 3 spots.

Tryouts for group C will continue Friday night and Saturday, with final cuts being announced Saturday.

After the cuts were announced, my son was pulled aside by the varsity coach and told he's doing well and though he's not "penciled in" at this point, he needs to keep up what he's doing.

So we'll see how it goes this weekend and I'll post the results when we get them.

Thanks.

how can an 8th grader play on freshman...never heard of that? also, osgood schlatter is very restrictive even if you say it's minor it still is osgood schlatter and is occompanied by pain. In summary, playing catcher is next to impossible with osgood schlatter....i have seen it first hand. I know a boy who tried to play through it and it was a disaster and demeaning for the kid because he had to endure critisism ad-nauseum for even being behind the plate.

He's had it about a year. The pain was quite bad last summer. He had a separate knee injury last fall and did physical therapy over the winter. It's not hurting him now so either his condition has improved or the physical therapy he went through helped the OS as well. I'm not sure.

Btw, all schools in our area (as far as I know) allow 8th graders to play freshman ball. Our summer team is comprised of primarily 8th graders and every one is in tryouts for their HS freshman teams (covers 5 different schools).

Well final cuts were last night and my son was cut. The roster was 15 and they had 12 on the team...so the final 5 kids were trying for 3 spots. My son and the other 8th grader were cut and they kept the three freshmen.

The coaches called each kid into a room to tell them individually whether they made it or were cut. They told my son he scored near the top of the group (including the kids who made the team) for hitting and fielding, but he was pretty slow and they want him to work on conditioning and speed for next year. They graded all the kids in each area on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being best...my son got 4.8 for hitting and 4.9 for fielding, but 1.5 for speed. He ran the 60 in 9 seconds.

We still have other baseball workouts and tournaments to get to the next 8-9 weeks before summer ball starts.

So he'll stay busy.

YHF

Very sorry to hear your son was cut. I'm 16 right now myself and I was also cut my freshman year. This off season I worked so hard to make the team, and I have tryouts in 2 weeks, so wish me luck.

Its tough not making the team, but is sounds like your son is going to great. Like you said have him work on speed,agility) and he will be on JV or even Varsity no problem next year.

Thanks for your kind words. Making the freshman team as an 8th grader is kind of a bonus. But it still hurts quite a bit not to make it. He got so much positive feedback from the coaches and all the kids kept telling him he would make it for sure, so he really thought it was going to happen.

I wish you all the best in your tryouts.

Is track still an option for him ? A little instruction and some practice could help out with that 60 time.

quote:

Originally posted by YHF:
Just got home from tryouts and first cut was announced tonight. My son is still alive at this point. Here's how it breaks down....

They divided the kids into 3 groups for workouts tonight...

Group A were kids that were later told they are "penciled in", meaning they are definitely on the freshman team. One 8th grader (a LH pitcher of course) was in this group.

Group B were kids that were definitely going to be cut and were told so as a group after workouts tonight. This was about a dozen kids.

Group C (including my son) were the 'bubble group' according to the coaches. There are 7 kids in this group including two 8th graders...my son (trying out for catcher & 1B) and a friend of my son's who is also trying out for catcher. This group was told there are 7 kids for 3 spots.

Tryouts for group C will continue Friday night and Saturday, with final cuts being announced Saturday.

After the cuts were announced, my son was pulled aside by the varsity coach and told he's doing well and though he's not "penciled in" at this point, he needs to keep up what he's doing.

So we'll see how it goes this weekend and I'll post the results when we get them.

Thanks.

Most Coaches will keep Catchers unless they are just horrible. There is much need for Catchers in High School ball.

once he fully heals (knee and O.S. disease), he will be fine. join a great 14U team and tell him to have a kick arse season!

quote:

Originally posted by powertoallfields:
Most Coaches will keep Catchers unless they are just horrible. There is much need for Catchers in High School ball.

That's not necessarily true in YHF's case. Probably has more to do with his son being an 8th grader trying to play up on a high school team, not to mention a 9 second 60 yd time. Sounds like the kid simply isn't ready. At that age, one year makes a huge difference.

In many cases where a player tries to play up at a higher age level, it is due to overzealous parents thinking son is at a higher level than reality. Just wait until your time. Nothing was gained by trying out for the high school team before the kid was ready.

YHF, wow, that is a bummer. I know he must be really disappointed. But it does sound like they certainly like him for the future, and it also seems like the coaches treated the boys very respectfully. I guess the silver lining might be that he can have a little more time to rest those knees.

Yankeelvr is right - instruction and practice will definitely help with the 60 time. 2B worked with a sprinter last summer, and it made a big difference.

Mains3, good luck!!

Thanks. Truthfully, the bottom line is he needs to lose about 30 pounds. He has a big build and though he is actually pretty athletic, the extra weight restricts him. If he can get in better shape for next year he should be able to tryout for freshman ball again and have a good shot to make it. Some teams may take a slower kid at catcher or 1B but not this one.

I've rarely been prouder of his effort. Besides being a straight-A student and a generally good kid, he has become a hard worker. They worked the kids pretty tough with 8 sessions in 10 days. He put 100% into everything. When the coaches said run, some kids sighed and complained. My son just said 'yes sir' and got moving. He got really good compliments from the coaches for his results and his efforts, so once the sadness moves on he should feel better about it. His baseball skills are on par with the best kids on the team. And hopefully he'll be inspired to continue to work on conditioning.

I think if he makes the team next year it will be quite satisfying given what he just went through.

I forgot to mention that he was kind of happy about one thing last night. After it became obvious to the other kids who was getting cut, 8 or 9 of the freshmen waited in the hall for my son to come out so they could tell him they wished he was on the team with them and to walk out with him. That was actually really nice for them to do.

He's going to have some great teammates next year.

If I'm reading this right, then no 8th graders made the team. So he was merely denied an opportunity to "play up." Sounds like the door is open for next year and he generally made a great impression. Lots of positives to take from the experience.

That being said, it also sounds like both you and he know what he needs to do to be ready next year. Hustling during tryouts is a great thing. Doing the off season work to be ready for tryouts is what could make the difference between just making the team, and getting to play or even start.

# 1, he needs to get healthy.

# 2, when that happens, he needs to get himself in shape.

I've got at least 30 extra lbs. myself, so maybe I'm one to talk, but then, I'm not trying to compete with 15-year-olds on an athletic field. That's like trying to compete with a sack of potatoes strapped to your waist, and some more junk strapped to each thigh. The best thing your son could do is, whenever he puts the OS problem behind him, start pounding the pavement. 1 1/2 to 2 miles, 5 times a week will melt that stuff off him in about 4 months. He'll be glad he did it for a whole lot of reasons, including but not limited to baseball.

You may also want to get him a head start by talking to a personal trainer about cardio work he can do that won't slow his recovery from OS. That way his heart and his diaphragm will be more ready when his knees are ready. Taking some of the load off those knees before you start pounding pavement couldn't hurt, either.

quote:

Originally posted by YHF:
Truthfully, the bottom line is he needs to lose about 30 pounds. He has a big build and though he is actually pretty athletic, the extra weight restricts him. If he can get in better shape for next year he should be able to tryout for freshman ball again and have a good shot to make it. Some teams may take a slower kid at catcher or 1B but not this one.

YHF,
From a coach's perspective, losing the weight and getting in shape is the best thing your son can do at this point. If time and money is an issue, forget the hitting and catching lessons. Get a good personal trainer and get your kid leaner, stronger, and faster. If he is 30 pounds overweight at his age, he probably hasn't done a whole lot of conditioning in the past. Now's the time, if for no other reason than to teach your son healthy habits that will last him a lifetime. His health and well being are much more important than making the high school baseball team.

A kid who runs a 9-second 60 yd dash is a huge liability to the team, even at the freshman level. He would just about have to hit it over the fence to advance beyond first base. If he is standing on first base, what is the team's chances of getting him around the bases and actually scoring? What about the poor kid batting/running behind him? He can't advance either. A very slow runner on base bogs down the entire game plan. Can't sacrifice, play hit and run, steal, or even score from second on a single. As a coach, I'm stuck going station to station, and that will probably lose me some ballgames.

I may be wrong, but also suspect that your son has limited mobility behind the plate. Passed balls due to lack of mobility will drive a coach absolutely bonkers. I will take an athletic, mobile, great blocking catcher every time, even if his arm is weaker than the big and slow kid who can't get down or move side to side and block balls.

There's a general misconception that catchers and corner guys can be slow and out of shape. That's definitely not true, especially for better players and top programs. I'm not picking on your son in any way, just trying to give you some constructive perspective moving forward. Encourage your son to spend the bulk of his time over the next year getting in great shape, and turning some heads next season when he hits the field as a legitimate high school player.

60 times tend to pretty consistently improve with age.

As far as the Advil he's probably still growing and that much Advil may not be good for bone healing, putting him a little bit more at risk for stress fractures.

those are some pretty awesome scores.

Thanks for the great advice everyone. My son is feeling better today and after school made a point to tell me we should go to as many of the freshmen games as we can to support his classmates and a couple of his summer teammates. So that's a good sign I think.

One thing I was anticipating actually didn't happen. A new high school is being built near us and several of the freshmen will be moving to that school next year. I wondered if the coaches might make a point of taking more kids that will stay in our school district beyond this year, but that doesn't seemed to have mattered to them. They must be viewing this season singularly without worrying about the fact that 4 or 5 of the players selected for this year's freshman team will be playing for our new rival next year.

Perhaps the coaches here can confirm that this is either a smart or not-so-smart move on their part.

I am sorry your son didn't make the team.
In 8th grade (still in ,idle school) our kids can't play baseball, so he spent time in volleyball, softball at school and travel ball. I don't think he was even thinkig HS ball yet in 8th grade.

Your son tried out and now knows what's expected for next year.

Stop trying to figure out the whats and the what nots, your son has plenty of time to play HS baseball.

JMO.