Credit: Edge Wheeler

WSPN’s Edge Wheeler and Jessi Dretler discuss the underlying stress of trying out for school sports.

During the weeks leading up to the beginning of Wayland High School’s spring sports season, preparation for tryouts played a significant role in some Wayland High School students’ lives. Sports tryouts can be stressful and overwhelming for some students who are trying to balance academics, family and sports. There are many differing opinions on tryouts and how they affect students’ lives.

Sophomore Sofia Dicarlo recently made the girls varsity lacrosse team. She believes that while tryouts were exciting, the process can be very stressful.

“I was pretty stressed throughout the entirety of tryouts,” Dicarlo said. “Although it was fun trying out with the team, I was just anxious about what could happen.”

Some athletes who are confident in their skill for the varsity level team still get concerned during tryouts because of the uncertainty throughout the process. To make sure all perspective players are preforming their best, some coaches remain quiet about their thoughts about team during tryouts.

“The thing about tryouts is that the whole process is very ambiguous,” Dicarlo said. “I feel like you can never really know what the coaches or captains are thinking.”

While the tryout process can be very frightening to some, its important for athletes to remain confident in their skill. Tryouts are meant to evaluate individuals based on their athletic ability for their prospective sport.

“I know it’s easier said than done, but trying to stay calm really helped me,” Dicarlo said. “I practiced everyday after school too which helped me feel more confident about my skills.”

Baseball captain senior Ezra Wyner is in his fourth year pitching for the Warriors and urged for underclassmen to remain calm during the tryout process.

“Tryouts can definitely be stressful for underclassmen, especially if you have never had them before,” Wyner said.

Wyner believes that the most important part of trying out for a sport is to stay calm and focus on yourself and your own skill, rather than compare yourself to others.

“I think the most important thing is to have a good attitude since you have played this sport and had success countless times,” Wyner said. “During all of those times, you were confident in your abilities so the most important thing is to just be confident and try and relax.”

Boys varsity volleyball coach Philip George has a different viewpoint on tryouts. Because most players make either the varsity or JV team and there are rarely cuts made, he claimed that there is less stress during tryouts.

“I think that it is less stressful in volleyball rather than other sports because there aren’t a lot of people whose futures are prominently being decided during it,” George said. “For most, the stress is about who’s going to make varsity or JV which is mildly stressful but not so much so.”

George emphasized the changing aspect of the volleyball tryout process. The program often has a differing number of athletes trying out each year which has an impact in cutting players or not.

“Because most kids haven’t played volleyball before high school, we struggle to get kids to come out for a brand new sport,” George said. “Some years we’ve got too many people in the program so therefore we make cuts.”

George believes that the best way to prepare for tryouts is practice.

“If you’re new to the program, simply being a good athlete [is important],” George said. “So work on your lateral speed, your vertical speed and all of that. What we are looking for mostly is if you are a good athletic ball of clay to work with.”

After all of the pressure and hard work and individuals puts into tryouts, they will end up on the team that is best fit for them.