As a new school year begins, fall sports can bring new opportunities and a fresh start. Many returning students are aware that fall sports begin their practices and oftentimes hold their tryouts during the summer, but with incoming freshmen and some upperclassmen uninformed, opportunities can be missed.
Freshman Morgan Lee originally planned to try out for the dance team but missed tryouts due to a lack of information about when they would take place, which upset her plan for her freshman year.
“Tryouts were in May, but they never sent out an email to the middle schools,” Lee said. “I wanted to do it for four years, but I’ll just do it for three now ‘cause I missed tryouts.”
Social media is not utilized by all sports for promotion, meaning students may have to rely on different paths to gather information about joining a sport. Varsity tennis coach Will Kennedy shared that students interested in tennis are often introduced through coach presence on campus, while others directly contact him with their questions.
“I think just us being here promotes it. Whenever I see a student, I ask them about tennis to see if they’re interested,” Kennedy said. “We have a team email list, and anybody who’s interested in tennis will just email me, and I’ll put them on that list, and then I’ll send out the schedule.”
Summer commitments can vary from sport to sport, depending on coach and player preferences. Senior water polo player Arthur Morris has observed changes in what summers look like depending on his water polo schedule.
“In past years, it’s been that you go on certain days. Those days are labeled as tryouts, and you’re running through different drills,” Morris said. “But this year, mainly because we have so many seniors, it was a lot less informal because most of the seniors are expected and almost required to be on our team.”
Sports schedules can often interfere with athlete routines, creating inconvenience and challenges.
“In past years, I had missed many of the summer practices due to plans that were already made by my family,” Morris said.
Despite summer practices being problematic for some players, Morris expressed that for players who are looking to improve, they provide extra time to nurture their skills. Attending summer practices, however, does not solely determine an athlete’s placement.
“The practices are meant for people to get better, and there are certainly people on the team who weren’t able to come to any of our practices and are still on the team and still play, and play a fair amount,” Morris said.
Without information on fall sports, many incoming freshmen are not used to the required tryouts or practice before the school year begins, but Lee believes that middle schools, as well as social media accounts for sports teams, can keep students informed on tryout schedules.
“Definitely sending out emails and posting when tryouts are, either through Instagram or for the teachers in middle schools,” Lee said.
Morris mentioned that looking out for informational meetings can benefit those interested in playing a sport in the upcoming fall season.
“In spring, they’ll (school teams) have information meetings for pretty much every sport. That goes for whether that’s water polo, volleyball or football,” Morris said. “Paying attention and trying to see when those (meetings) are is the best way you can get the information.”