By Sam Doughton, Staff Writer
Varsity athletes gain an aura of prestige with their title. Their games get later start times and more fans, their scores are published in the daily newspaper and they get snazzy Letterman jackets. The pressure of being a varsity athlete, however, can be intimidating, and there is less room for error in everything one does on and off the field.
It can be daunting and flattering for anyone to be selected for a varsity sports team. Try to imagine receiving this honor as a freshman.
Reynolds High School had just 14 freshmen on varsity sports teams this year, explained athletic director Brad Fisher, among all the teams that have a junior varsity team behind them. There are many freshmen who compete on teams such as golf, swimming and track that do not have a JV equivalent, but those select 14 made the cut to skip a JV season.
Freshman Ashley Cox is the sole freshman on varsity women’s soccer this year.
“It’s really nerve-wracking,” Cox said of joining a varsity team as a freshman. “But it’s exciting at the same time.”
Freshman Henley Peatross plays on the varsity girls’ lacrosse team.
“It was very friendly,” Peatross said. “The upperclassmen were all very friendly and helped me get into the environment I needed to play.”
It’s not all fun and games, though. A common practice on varsity teams is to have younger players do the brunt of the “grunt” work at practice, whether that be carrying the balls to the field or packing the bus for away games.
Cox has gained the nickname “pack mule” by some of her peers on the soccer team because of her job of carrying the ball bag to the field at practice.
“As a freshman, it’s just kind of the duties you expect,” Cox said. “I try to have a good attitude about it because I’m going to have to do it anyway.”
Added freshman varsity baseball played Laney Orr: “I have to carry buckets around, but (the upperclassmen) don’t give me grief for it or anything.”
The level of play at the varsity level can be a huge step up for some students, and many have trouble adjusting from middle school competition. Orr is the only freshman for varsity baseball coach Doug Welch this year.
“(Freshmen) have to adjust to the speed of the game,” Welch said. “Everything is faster. Also, most of the time, freshmen who make varsity have had huge success in their athletic careers and don’t know how to handle disappointment. But by (the player’s) third or fourth year (on varsity), they can handle everything thrown at them.”
Once an athlete is assimilated to the speed of the game, however, they usually rise to the occasion. Peatross said she learned Reynolds’ system relatively quickly.
“By the time tryouts were over,” Peatross said, “I had picked up the way the team played. So by the first practice, I felt up to speed (with the game).”
Having helpful teammates can aid the transition.
“I was used to my teammates,” Orr said. “I had been playing with them for years (on travel teams). I wasn’t used to the level of competition.”
Welch agreed that it took a while for many players, not just freshmen, to catch up to the speed of the game. But he pointed back to the tryouts as proof of a player’s skill.
“Everyone – freshman, sophomore, junior or senior – makes varsity for a reason,” Welch said. “First and foremost, it’s talent based; they have the skills to be there. Secondly, they might also be chosen if they fit a need. Do they play a certain position or have a certain skill, like speed, that I as a coach need? But in the end, it all comes down to skill.”
For those players with the skills to make varsity as a freshman, the future also grows brighter from the start.
“(By) getting to play with those upperclassmen who are really good, it has made me a better player,” Cox said.