Eden is going into her freshman year of high school.  She is trying out for varsity field hockey.  I drove her and Liz home from the beach so that they could try out.  Liz is a rising junior and was on the team last year.

Eden had a lot of nervous energy all week leading up to the tryout.  And also the week before, when she would drag her sister to the high school to practice.  She was most nervous about the MD test, a series of sprints (20 of them), which needed to be completed in a time frame (18 second 100 yd sprint, 42 seconds to jog back for the start of the next sprint).

I did not pay attention that Eden was so nervous she skipped lunch.

On the way to the tryout, I told the girls how proud I was of them, how much I believed in them, and I gave Eden a couple pieces of advice:

Go Hard.  No matter what you are doing, go hard and don’t give up.  Even if you get beat, hustle and make a play.  You only have two hours, put all your effort into every play.

Get to the front of the line.  When there are drills, don’t hang back.  Get to the front.  Get the most opportunities you can to shine.

Challenge the seniors.  Try to steal the ball from seniors (Eden is a defender).  Don’t back down because they are older.  Step up and challenge.

Talk.  Be loud and talk on defense.

Thank your coaches.  Seek out all the coaches and evaluators after.  Firm hand shake.  Eye contact.  Thank you.

 

I did not stay for the tryout.  But when I came back and picked them up, I could tell that Eden was upset.  Liz did well.  She finished first in the MD test.  Only a few girls finished, maybe 4 or 5.  Eden missed the time on the 9th sprint, but still continued on and finished the 10th and final sprint.  She was very disappointed in herself and upset.  Liz quickly reminded her how well she did in the drills (especially stealing the ball from a senior) and how much better she did in the MD test than most of the other girls trying out.  Eden felt though that as a freshman, you need to stand out big time in order to make a varsity team.