Being a freshman is hard enough with the new school and new experiences. The student-athletes walk into high school hoping to make it on their sports team. However, finding the necessary information on a team is not that easy. Some athletes hope for an announcement, rush week or possibly a flyer. However, those means of communication are not reliable for trying to find information on school sports.
First meetings for sports are crucial for the rest of the season. At first meetings, prospective players get all of the information about conditioning and tryouts. The meetings are a great chance to meet future teammates and make first impressions with coaches.
“Luckily, I knew girls who were already on the team,” sophomore athlete Sierra Huddle said. “The softball community is really close.”
Being from Cooper City or knowing older students gives some an advantage. Some sports have such a close community that one will know most players or even coaches before they get on the team.
“I didn’t come from Pioneer so my school [Renaissance Charter School of Cooper City] didn’t have any communication with Cooper,” sophomore Emily Collins said. “So the only way I knew I was in color guard and all the information for it was the first day of school when I walked into the color guard class.”
Even though color guard doesn’t have tryouts, it’s still a team. A freshman coming from a middle school other than Pioneer will have more problems. The students that move or are rezoned do not get the advantage of personal connections or prior information like those coming from Pioneer. But these students still need the information that’s not universally provided.
“When I started playing volleyball, they announced about the informational meeting towards the end of the school year,” junior Ashley Villalon said. “In the meeting, they let us know about the conditioning.”
Some teams will start conditioning or practicing over the summer. The freshmen will not be able to participate over the summer. The teams with later seasons have an advantage for informing players.
There should be a better way to make student athletes aware of tryouts. Sports teams are like clubs and they should be more involved in rush week. The office should also announce important events, especially pertaining to sports. But, if those things do not change, the students need to take matters into their own hands. Research, ask around, find the coach, go online, get emails and do whatever else you can to become aware and make it on the team.
Photo by Kayla Florenco
