Freshman on the Sophomore team

Basketball is one of my favorite sports because when I play I feel like I’m involved in something important. It feels good to train all year and give it all I’ve got during the season. I had an amazing opportunity last year when I was the starting point guard for the Sophomore Team. There were two other freshman who were asked to tryout for this older team as well. During the first week of tryouts it was really fun being the new and younger guy. Everybody wanted to know about me and wanted to see me play. But as tryouts came to a close, many of the older players felt pressure as to whether or not they were going to lose their spot on the team to a younger player. The whole tryout process was very overwhelming and honestly a little bit frightening. I still felt like a little boy competing with these huge tenth graders. The Tuesday of the next week the coaches made the first cuts of tryouts. They almost cut half of the guys trying out that day… Only 12 would make the final team. On the following Wednesday and Thursday tryouts, the coaches gave that “talk” to a couple players outside the gym. You never wanted to have “the talk” because it was going to be one of the two coaches telling you they didn’t think you were going to fit with the team that year and tried to give you advice on what you could do before varsity tryouts the following year to make the team. I played my heart out that week. I heard the “starting 5” players from the previous year in the gym and as we were leaving every day, talking about who they thought were going to make the team and what the starting lineups would be. “Who were these new freshman?” many of them wondered. I felt a little odd especially when the guys asked me why we were trying out with them or how much they thought we would play. I didn’t know what to say. I did know I had to keep playing my game and if I was going to play up every year for now on, I was going to have to get used to criticism and figure out how to deal with these sorts of questions. Friday was the last day of tryouts. One ninth-grader was already cut. I felt a level of stress leave my body thinking if they didn’t want Nate and I, (the remaining freshman trying out) the coaches would’ve cut us along with the other player. I told myself to keep playing because nothing was set in stone yet. When the coaches told us to shoot free throws with a partner, we knew they were going to quietly go around and grab one or two guys like they did all week and escort them out of the gym. Finally twelve boys were in the gym. The coaches then came in a few minutes later and congratulated us for making the 2007-2008 Edina Sophomore Basketball Team. We then made our way to the locker room and all congratulated each other. I felt a real bond with the team and knew that year would be so much more rewarding then previous traveling seasons. It was truly a wonderful feeling being a big part of that team. It was hard sometimes throughout the year when “the freshman” as we were now known as, were playing over some of the sophomores who have been the key players in previous years. But it was now high school sports and we learned very quickly that the best players play. Our team went 19-6 that year. Losing 4 of our games by less than two points. We knew this team would not stop and we got very excited for following years to come.