It’s going to be tryouts season very soon and for most, their summer season had ended or the end is close. Many will be trying out to find a team for next year in the coming weeks.
A common problem is that many players have been carrying injuries for most of the season and injuries take time to heal. Most of the time, you show up at tryouts a few weeks later and you’re still injured.
What should you do… tell or not tell the coach?
This is a big debate.
I’ve been talking to several coaches, elite softball athletes, and also a sports psychologist over the last days and they were all unanimous in saying that you should definitely not hide an injury.
There are 2 reasons for this:
1) You don’t want to make it worse by doing things that you shouldn’t be doing. It will just take more time to heal.
2) Hiding an injury will just make you appear weaker than you really are because you will not be at 100% of your capacity.
The coaches I talked to said that they would factor that in in their evaluation. Also, some said that if the athlete is too injured to try out at the moment but they think that she might have a shot at making their team, they would hold a separate individual tryout for that athlete.
The point is, even though tempting, you shouldn’t hide an injury from the evaluators at a selection camp. That will not play in your favor.
Coaches know injuries are part of the game and are interested in getting the best players possible. If that means waiting a few weeks to evaluate a player, so be it.
Here’s what I would do if I was an injured player:
I would inform the coach right away that I am injured. I would also tell him what I can and cannot do (might not be able to field balls but might be able to swing a bat) so that I can get assessed on what I can do to leave an impression.
If I couldn’t much, I would tell the coach that I am definitely interested but in trying out for the team but that I cannot do so at the moment because of my injury.
I would ask if it was possible get evaluated later. I would also bring any stats or video footage of myself to help convince them that I am worth looking, especially if they don’t know me well.
Don’t hide injuries. That will just cost you.
Train hard, Try out hard.
Who loves ya?