PERSPECTIVE

Three days of constant judgement. Three days of constant exhaustion. Three days of constant anxiety. Why am I doing this again?

For lots of high school athletes like myself, knowing that all of the hard work can pay off–or that your dreams can be crushed–is terrifying. 

I know that a lot of players can be intimidated by that and decide not to tryout. I’m here to tell you what exactly happened at soccer tryouts this year, and why you should tryout for whatever sport you’ve been considering. 

Every ambitious players’ dream is to represent their school playing the sport that they love. (I mean, who wouldn’t want to make that game changing goal or to make that amazing save?) 

But before you can change the game, you need to make the cut. 

Desert Mountain High School just held their winter season sports tryouts (soccer, baseball, and basketball), and let me tell you, I was practically trembling the first day. 

I’ve been to tryouts before, but high school sports make it feel like you are under 10x more pressure. If you make the team, then your entire school is counting on you to have a strong performance, and if you don’t, than it can be a major disappointment.  

That’s why the prospect of tryouts had been daunting me well before they actually began. What if I don’t make it? was one of many negative thoughts that kept pushing its way into my head.

When the anticipation mercilessly ended and the first day arrived, I checked in and walked down to the fields. There were about 40 girls there, and it eased my nerves when I noticed that everyone was friendly. The coaches greeted us and after a while tryouts began. Warm ups came first, and after we moved onto passing drills.

So far, so good.  

But when the 2v2s and 3v3s came along, I became stressed. I knew the coaches were especially interested in freshman like myself, because of the new faces and skills. The JV coach hovered around the new players for pretty much the entire practice. And seemingly the only time she would look at me would be when I made a mistake. 

“It can be very scary for some people who aren’t familiar with the drills or with the feel of tryouts,” Sofia Remeiro said. “But it’s really easy to figure out what’s going on once you get the hang of it.”

Luckily, on the second day, I was more excited than I was nervous for tryouts because I knew I had a second chance to impress the coaches. We once again warmed up then dived right into it. This time, we spent most of our time scrimmaging so the coaches could see whether the players knew positioning and overall just how we looked on the field. 

I enjoyed this day a lot more than I did the first; with the additional action, I knew what to expect.

Not only are tryouts stressful for players, but also for the coaches. They have to deliver the dreadful news to young and hopeful athletes, on whether they have made the team or not. And sometimes, they make the wrong choice. 

Regardless of the choices, however, the final day of tryouts, inevitably, arrived. And with that so did cuts.

The coaches sat us all down and we saw some people walking away with their bags. They then gave a speech about how we should be grateful for whatever team that we made. As soon as they said that everyone sitting down had made it, relief and excitement flooded my mind. I couldn’t help but smiling.

I had made it! And so did all of my friends! It was perfect.

Now the hard part begins.