My son started on the varsity high school baseball team as a freshman. Only one or two guys make it, the rest play freshman or JV. After all, asking a 15-year old to compete against an 18 yr old can be insurmountable. But he was an advanced level player for his age. We traveled around the country from March through November from age 11 - age 16 to play in tournaments. Some years he played year round.
On the west coast, Arizona and Nevada, baseball is super competitive -- most of the elite level players travel as we did. At one point when he was 14 or 15, he played roughly 100 games that year. It was way too much but his team was ranked in the top five in that age group in the country so there was some pressure. All I did was get on the plane, or drive to wherever, help him manage his emotions after winning or losing, and pay up. We played catch on the weekends or after school (I had played at a high level, too) but that was about it. What I learned was the high school coaches give the kids summer lists of what to do, etc., but it means nothing. If you can play you'll get on the field, if not you won't. At the high school level there's a big difference between the ability of most kids. Stamina doesn't make up for talent when there's a talent gap.
Now, my son played ball in college where most of the guys are of about equal ability. In that case, having a good motor from being in shape can get you on the field. You asked, so I'll answer -- knowing what I know now, I'd tell my kid to enjoy his summer and begin to get ready in December or January. The baseball season starts here the third week in February and ends in late May...that would have given him plenty of time to get ready. But the truth is I fell victim to the "if you want to make the team do this" crapola that high school coaches throw out there.
Ok...thanks for your perspective...and your experience with your son.
You lived it with your son.
A couple differences. My daughter played extremely high level soccer in 5th and 6th grade - think a very high level club team that was nationally ranked and travelled to tournaments up and down the east coast.
BTW, if you had told me on the day my daughter was born that I would be driving 10 hours to watch my 10 year old daughter play a soccer game, I would have told you that you were a stark, raving lunatic...
Yet, there I ended up driving 10 hours to watch her play lacrosse in Richmond, Virginia, soccer at Jefferson Cup and, worst of all, driving 14 hours to watch my son play in a baseball tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the tender age of 13...
Going into 7th grade, the club soccer coach told her that she had to choose between soccer and her other sports (she also played basketball and lacrosse).
She chose her other sports and left the high level team to drop down to a much lower club team that would allow her to continue to play both hoops and lax.
The problem was that our high school girl's soccer team is consistently nationally ranked and churns out All-Americans and All-State players like IMG.
The coach runs the team like a college team and not a high school team. When my daughter was going into high school, the team had won the state championship either 3 or 4 years in a row.
Freshman year, she gets to tryouts and she ran the two miles in 14-something. Coach doesn't even look at her as she crosses the finish line. She just says, "Go play with the freshmen." She could not have cared less about her soccer skills. All that mattered was fitness since the team played a 4-3-3 and pressed high up the field - for all 80 minutes every game.
The outside backs (my daughter played left back) had to be able to go endline to endline since they were constantly expected to make overlapping runs down the flanks to allow the three center mids to stay central and provide width and deliver crosses and then sprint back after a turnover. That requires an incredible amount of stamina. Like Nolan Richardson's 94 feet of hell - except a soccer field is 120 yards long...360 feet of hell...
My daughter was easily skilled enough to play varsity as a freshman, even on that good a team, but her fitness prevented her from even having a chance.
To give you a basis for comparison. Phillymoose's kid just signed to play for SU. His kid and my kid both played against some of the same teams in various tournaments back when they were U-11 and U-12.
Therefore, she was hell-bent on making the time because she knew she was skilled enough to make varsity as a soph.
Many high school coaches do throw out a lot of crappola about fitness but our high school girls varsity soccer coach was not one of them. She knew how good my daughter was coming into tryouts. She didn't care. Don't make the time? Go play with the freshmen.
Ouch. Tough life lesson for a 14 year old that life isn't always fair.
And tryouts were in mid-August and we started in late June so that is the equivalent to a baseball player starting in early jan, about six weeks before tryouts..
. You did come after me hard though...
