Without the selection process, sports are neither manageable nor enjoyable




Tryouts are trying times for all athletes.

The recent cuts in boys basketball are a prime example of what players experience in order to make the team. Many players were worried and almost consumed by the possibility of being cut from the team. Then, as tryouts came to an end, some players felt elated because they had passed the selection process while others felt somewhat bitter because they had not.

Admittedly, cuts are rather heartbreaking to the athletes who do not not make the sports teams. However, they are completely necessary because sports teams would be too difficult to manage without them.

In basketball practices, players must learn complex plays, various positions and other skills, and the most effective way to learn these difficult things is to receive intimate and individual attention from the coach. But without cuts, no one would be able to learn anything because either the coach spreads himself too thin and does not give each player a sufficient amount of attention or he gives particular players the necessary attention while neglecting the needs of others.

The issue with an excessively high player to coach ratio is further magnified in basketball because team camaraderie is so crucial to success. On larger basketball teams, players tend to know only a few things about other players and therefore do not establish the kind of team camaraderie that is essential to ball movement, coordination, and communication. Smaller teams, on the other hand, tend to have stronger team bonds because it is so much easier to know everything about a smaller number of people.

Playing time also becomes an issue for sports like badminton in which coaches only play the team’s most skilled players, leaving the rest of the team on the sidelines. Without cuts, the extra players are not only denied valuable learning experiences, but also denied compensation in the form of sufficient playing time for the time and effort that they put into practices.

In such a competitive world, cuts remind players there will almost always be more candidates than available spots. Whether the issue at hand be college admissions, public office or sports teams, someone will always pass the selection process, and someone will always fall short. This competition effectively drives players to improve their own skills so that they may have better chances of succeeding.

All athletes, including volleyball, basketball, and badminton players, should think of sports cuts not as the cause of great hardship but as protection from participating in useless practices and from becoming a potential bench-warmer. The benefits of the selection process far outweigh the costs and continue to keep sports programs practical and enjoyable.

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