Athletic cuts: An importance lesson in rejection and perseverance

By John Aidala

Try-outs, and the inevitable cuts that come with them, are a time filled with anxiety and negativity. As someone who has dealt with the aftermath of cuts in both outcomes, one side makes an athlete feel accomplished and proud, while the other stirs emotions of anxiety and embarrassment.

It is important to have athletic team cuts in high school as they teach an abundance of life lessons., including the importance of perseverance and hard work.

Cuts are there to create a barrier between those who have the driven potential to contribute to the team, on or off the field. High school sports are not a recreational league. A person should have to earn it.

As upperclassmen, we begin to think about life after high school, starting with college. Aside from community colleges, public and private universities do not accept everyone who applies. Those hardworking and driven are the ones who tend to have the most success in the application process, compared to those who wasted their four years of high school away.

Throughout my baseball career, I have been cut from five different teams, two being school ball. At the time, I loved the sport with a passion and it absolutely crushed me that the majority of my friends made the team and that I didn’t. I felt embarrassed, frustrated and ashamed. Looking back, I did not put the work into the game like others did. After my 8th grade cut from the team, I started getting lessons, working on simple drills at home and began to focus on fundamentals. I watched Youtube clips, went to high school games and learned from the older kids what it meant to be a contributor on a team. As a result of getting cut, my personality and mindset switched to a more positive one. From someone who has faced more rejection and hardship from a sport than anyone I’ve ever met, cuts create motivation to succeed.

Being cut has negative consequences as it can discourage a person to quit a sport entirely. Money is also argued to be a key advantage of those who make the team. Some students have paid for advanced resources over the average player. Although I believe money to be a helpful resource to get better at something, it is not a legitimate reason to not get better. I have friends who have private batting cages, go to showcases and have resources that the majority of us don’t, but never for a second do I find that as an excuse for why I can not get better.

As a possible solution to this issue, I would encourage student athletes to keep a positive mindset. If you make it, be proud and keep doing what you're doing. If you didn't, learn from it, grow wise from it and come back stronger. That is the same deal with college, a job and beyond. Tryouts are like interviews, not everybody can be selected as much as we all wish we could.