Spring's tryouts

by Peter Coyle

The Spring Season for High School Sports begins in 5 days on March 19th. Physicals must be in to your athletic office prior to trying out for a team. Tryouts? This means that spring sports in all schools will have a tryout time period during the first week. OK, what is the "fair" amount of time that should be given to an athlete who is trying out for a spring sport? One week, one day? This is a tough question to answer, especially if a coach is having a tryout for an outdoor sport? Where do you go? This is New England and on March 19th the weather conditions do not allow baseball, softball, and tennis to be played outdoors. Lacrosse and Track might be able to handle the elements, but the fields are not ready yet. How about empty parking lots? This is why the Red Sox go to Florida. So what is a "fair" tryout for a young athlete who is trying to impress his coach? I have done this spring tryout for 27 years and it is not easy. There are a few considerations that can be taken when picking a program. Being "fair" is the priority and setting standards is the key. Every coach wants good kids who can follow rules. Being academically eligible is the first serious commitment of the athlete. There can be up to 60 baseball players in a program that consists of 3 teams: a Varsity, Junior Varsity, and a Freshman team. Servicing 60 players means a lot of heart and soul and one rule, be accountable to the mission of the program.

Now let’s get back to the hard stuff---the tryouts. Consider yourself a junior in high school trying out for the varsity baseball team. You played JV for two years and had some success, but there are only 5 slots open for the varsity and you are not a pitcher, catcher, or shortstop. You know the tryouts are Monday and Tuesday. If you are lucky, maybe even Wednesday. That’s 3 days to show what you can do. What is your plan to make the Varsity? Be confident and hustle. There is no substitute for hustling. Go through the tryouts like you belong on the team and have a good attitude. Make a mistake, don’t let your body language show it. Be enthused, help a fellow teammate. Coaches like great talent, but good coaches love athletes who are resilient. The first 3 days of next week are the norm for tryouts and then it is on to opening day on April 1st. Are you kidding me? Eleven days to prepare for an outdoor game. I hope March goes out like a lamb this year and every year for the sake of high school athletes.

The Shepherd Hill Lady Rams basketball team are the Queens of the south county for winter sports and join the Kings of the fall season, the Bay Path football team. Both these programs went further than any south county team during their respective seasons. Bay Path is still overall king as they won their last game and a Super Bowl. Who will be the top team in the spring in the south county? The next 12 weeks should be exciting and interesting, especially with the good weather coming in. Good Luck to all the spring athletes.