Newcomer To Sport--Terrified

[Lozza]

I could understand all of this if I'd ever made anything before. I tried out for basketball, volleyball, and softball and my answer is "there's always next year!" Eventually, there won't be a next year.

Have you played the sports before? When you didn't make it did you keep trying or move on to something else?

I'll give you an example. My primary school our softball team was red hot. Every year. To the point that the softball coach would 'scout' the t-ball teams so he could hand pick who he had in his teams the next year (five girls my team went onto represent state) (when I was in Year 6 we won the regional knock out championship for the eighth time in a row) I don't know why but all the girls who played softball in the region went to this primary school. We had a brilliant coach. In Year 5 one of the girls had just started playing and didn't make the team. I was still made to play t-ball this year (I was a year young and the rule was if you were you had to play the more modified sport. I was playing modball on the weekends so I was an unhappy girl) I remember her going to every training, she was allowed to be bat girl and she practiced on her own. She made the team next year. She'd been pitching for about six months but never got the oppurtunity to pitch as she wasn't considered better than our main pitcher.

She now pitches for Australia. Has done since 16 years of age. She was SO determined and she kept going.

You could give up. Or you could keep trying. Just stick to one thing. If you keep swapping sports, you'll be coming up against girls who have played the sport for years. It's always going to be hard in that situation.

 

[CMT]

Yes, but I love all three and it's very commonplace for all to be done in my area. I wouldn't want to choose.

 

[Lozza]

Yes, but I love all three and it's very commonplace for all to be done in my area. I wouldn't want to choose.

Old saying, jack of all trades master of none.

If you've never played either three before you do need to pick one. Otherwise you'll be average at all three. Do you play outside of school?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I'll have to second the post about playing some organised ball this spring. Start right now looking for a rec or city league team. You need to start working on your skills. This game takes talent.......yes. But the game must also be "learned". After you play game, after game, after game.............the skills become more like reactions.........which will make you more comfortable playing.

On a side note.......
One of my daughters good friends tried out for our HS team last year as a freshman, she didn't make it and she was crushed. ( she played TB for years but had a horrible HS tryout ) I told her to try again this year, but she didn't want to face the chance of failing again. She had a wonderful tryout and made it this time.

Just use this to work hard, make it a goal over the next year to make the next team tryouts!!

 

[CMT]

I won't try to do all three at once. They all have different seasons, but this summer will be split between softball summer league and volleyball summer league. I'm not anticipating looking like an idiot at all. I feel like I'm known as the girl who always tries but never makes anything.

 

[Arm and Hammer]

My oldest daughter was a cheerleader and then snubbed cheerleading , wanting to play sports. She once won a punt pass and kick contest (in her cheerleading outfit) and then got it in her head she wanted to play football with the boys. She and her 5” 125 lbs. frame tried out for the football team but didn’t make it. She made the track team and she was horrible, routinely coming in last place in her event, BUT she had a lot of courage and she was tenacious, she never quit trying. Her heart and desire were tremendous, her courage was unparalleled, unlike my younger daughter who can roll out of bed and athletically excel in almost any sport she chooses, my oldest daughter just wasn’t very athletic. In high school she joined the ROTC and excelled tremendously. After High School she applied and was accepted to a very renowned Military College where she earned a degree in Criminal Justice. She is now working as a Sherriff’s Deputy and her long term goal, which I have no doubt will be realized, is a career with the Federal Law Enforcement, CIA, FBI, DEA, ATF, Etc. Etc. Soooooo, sometimes when things look like they’re not working out, they really are.
Now I am not saying that you’ll never make the team or any team, or that you are not athletically inclined, I am saying that we are all given talents and skills and that’s a gift from God. It’s is our responsibility to find out what those skills and talents are and use them to the best of our ability, that’s our gift back to God, and quiet ironically, to ourselves.
If it is athletics you want, then keep going after it. It sounds like you may be behind your peers so you will have to work twice as hard and twice as often to catch up, that’s why focusing on one sport may be prudent. If it doesn’t work out, there are many other activities that develop the same kind of character, provide the same kind of rewards and establish the same kind of unity. Keep searching and you’ll find your spot.

"Don't let what we want get in the way of what we could be"

 

[CMT]

I'm going to *attempt* to get into summer league for both volleyball and softball, and my friend swore she'd dedicate her summer to helping me get better. My bar none, biggest fear is that the coaches have given up on me. I noticed the softball coaches' interest in me waning as practice went on, never correcting me or watching. I'm afraid even if I did get really good, none of the coaches will pay attention because they've come to expect my customary dissapointing performances.

 

[YOCOACH]

Time for my two cents. If the coaches are truely dedicated to the sport they are coaching and to the team as a whole as most of us coaches on here are, then that should not be a fear for you. I will admit that most people, coaches included, do have expectations...some bad and some good when it comes to repeat tryouts. We are still human after all. I can't talk for every coach but I can tell you from my coaching experiences that there is nothing better for me than to find that pleasant surprise when a girl shows dedication to the sport and comes to tryouts much improved the following year. Let me give you an example.

One year I had a deaf girl tryout for my team when I coached in a rec league. She had never played before, had no skills and of course, being deaf and me not knowing sign language made it difficult to communicate with her; but she was all heart. I told her dad that I would take her on the condition that someone was there to translate for me so I could give her instruction. By the end of the season, she was much improved but still not up to the ability of the other players on the team.

The following year, I was not looking forward to tryouts let alone the season since the coaches in the younger division were not as dedicated to the girls' development (they were more about fun) and I had lost most of my team to the older age group. When tryout time rolled around, this girl shows up again and I thought to myself that I would take her again only because I knew her and I had first dibs since she was on my team the previous year. By the end of tryouts, I had every coach in the league coming up to me trying to trade for her. She was by FAR the best player on the fields that day in her division. I learned later from her Dad that she had worked all Winter, at least an hour a day and often times longer towards improving her skills. Because of this girl and her play, we went on to win the league championship that year.

I went in with a pre-concieved idea that she was going to be mediocre at best and she would be a body to fill a position. That year I learned something very important (other than some sign language), I learned to try and not to go into anything with pre-concieved notions.

I have since moved on to TB and tried recruiting her for our older team but she had already committed to another TB team. She is now playing TB, is a star on her high school varsity softball team and she is being actively recruited by several D1 colleges.

Over time, I have gotten to know her and her family quite well. She has had many set backs in her life. She was born deaf, lived in poverty most of her life and was turned down at softball tryouts by several area TB teams (please don't ask why she tried out for TB with no playing experience because I don't know) until she came to our rec league to play. She overcame all of those by working hard at a sport she loves to play and studying hard in school. If things go the way I hope for her, she will become the first person in her entire family to not only go to but graduate from college. She has been offered a full ride due to a combination of a partial sports scholarship and a partial academics scholarship.

If it's something you want, whether it's sports, education, or a career choice, work hard and try to be the best you can at anything you do. Not only work hard, but more importantly never give up and go into everything with a positive attitude. This advice will serve you well throughout the rest of your life.

As an aside, I personally don't know of any coaches that will not give a person pointers in tryouts. I feel that's one of the most important things to look for in a girl is how coachable she is. When I give a girl a tip, I want to see how quickly she implements it into her game. That and heart and by heart I mean how much she hustles and tries. I will take a coachable girl with heart over an extremely athletic girl that is going to give half her effort any day of the week.

 

[dadonachair]

This is one of the best post I have ever read. The thing I like most are all the positive post telling you to keep your head up and try your heart out. Learn from this.

Take the time you have in rec ball to learn all you can about the game. Next. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! If you go to the field to work out. Work out. Don't just go through the motions. Work at it. Learn the fundamentals. Learn the proper way to catch a grounder. Learn the proper way to throw the ball. Learn the proper way to run the bases. Learn the proper way to slide. Learn where to put your feet when covering a base. Learn to track a ball in the outfield. Learn how to bunt. Once you learn these things, work at it until they are second nature. If you have a week fundamental work at it to make it your strong one. Then there is the golden rule of ball. "HIT" yourself on to the team. Hustle all the time. No matter what. If you are having fielding and hitting practice at the same time and the coach tells you put on your helmet and grab your bat. Don't wast time doing it. Hustle. If you are running hustle! It shows a great attitude. Don't talk when the coach is talking. Leave your cell phone for off the field. As a coach, if there is someone with a good attitude, proper fundamentals that hits really well. I will find a place for them.

 

[Arm and Hammer]

Watch the movie RUDY for some great inspiration. The character played by Shawn Ashton exhibits these same characters and qualities being espoused here within this thread.