The rookie season: A new chapter in middle school sports
Last year, Coile and Hilsman Middle Schools came together to form a new baseball program to develop students for high school. A year later, both schools joined again to forge a middle school softball team.
Middle school baseball coach and Cedar Shoals assistant varsity softball coach Bob Capuozzo thinks that middle school sports are valuable, even if participants stop after high school.
“Hardly any of those kids are going to play college ball, let alone in the major leagues someday, so it’s just about being on a team. I think that’s what kids like – the team aspect of it,” Capuozzo said.
Freshman Riley Nix plans to play baseball this year at Cedar Shoals. Playing on the middle school team provided him with a trustworthy and reliable environment.
“We have a good staff, good players, good mentality and a good program,” Nix said.
Capuozzo believes participating in sports in middle school can help student athletes both on and off of the field, such as in their performance in the classroom. He believes the coaches are willing to push their students athletes in and out of the classroom even if it’s only by doing little things.
“It’s another place where we could remind the kids, do your ELA stuff, just read it over, so you’ll do well on the quiz. (It gives them) a role model that academics are something to be focused on,” Capuozzo said.
Nix says that middle school sports helped him improve important leadership skills by preparing him to play with students both younger and older.
“It gives us a leadership opportunity and it lets us get to know people better. Also we learn how playing the sport translates into real life. It prepared me to play with kids my age and kids not my age that we would be playing in high school,” Nix said.
Current head varsity softball coach Logan Garrett helped start the middle school softball team. She thinks the earlier students can start playing softball in middle school, the sooner Cedar can have a sustainable flow of players.
“Our numbers are a little bit down because of flag football, volleyball and cheerleading being in the same season, and the little league program is low. So if we can have it in middle school, it makes it easier on parents and kids to play the sport, instead of it being through some other agency,” Garrett said.
Cedar Shoals Athletic Director L’Dreco Thomas introduced the idea for a middle school team hoping to increase participation and expand students’ involvement in school and extracurricular activities.
“Coach Thomas approached me about expanding softball into middle school. We’ve noticed a decline in sports on the Eastside. Sometimes that’s due to transportation issues or schedule issues,” Garrett said.
Similar to Capuozzo, Garrett also has a significant coaching background, including three years coaching little league and senior and junior level teams. While coaching between 2016-18, Garrett’s ultimate goal was to find people to play softball on the Eastside as well as little league.
“When I was doing that coaching, I was also the vice president of softball, so my goal was to recruit people on the Eastside to play softball, but it was tough to find people,” Garrett said.
Current Cedar Shoals head varsity baseball coach Cameron Hale believes with the new middle school baseball program preparing players for high school there will be noticeable difference.
“The season’s going to be 100% different, because I already know some players we have coming up that can help us in ways that we didn’t previously have and ways we weren’t able to see in previous years,” Hale said.
He looks forward to the benefits of players keeping their commitments at a younger age.
“I think it goes ahead and gets them early on in terms of being able to commit to something, saying you’re going to do something, then actually doing it,” Hale said.
Head middle school softball coach and former Cedar Shoals softball player Jashiah Turner thinks that middle school softball and baseball don’t receive the attention they deserve as they are drowned out by other sports or extracurriculars. Some challenges have come along with Turner’s part of the softball program, such as varied experience on her roster.
“Some challenges are having both new and inexperienced players. Also it is my first year coaching so I am learning with the players,” Turner said.
School spirit and pride are the most important characteristics of school sports, according to Garrett. She notes how middle school students can see and feel the support of the high school community.
“It builds school pride, especially when it’s a middle school team that has Cedar’s name on it. It’s not like it’s Hilsman’s softball team or Coile’s softball team. My hope is that if they were a Jag in middle school, they want to stay a Jag as a high schooler,” Garrett said.
She does see some challenges with incorporating the middle school program into the high school team, however.
“It’s really hard to recruit middle schoolers, because fifth graders will be middle schoolers in the fall. so having to reach out to elementary schools and find rising sixth graders is tough. And we don’t necessarily know what students’ plans are for the next year because I have to recruit in the spring for the fall,” Garrett said.
“(The team) gives us a leadership opportunity and it lets us get to know people better. Also we learn how playing the sport translates into real life. It prepared me to play with kids my age and kids not my age that we would be playing in high school.”
Catcher Aurora Howard, seventh grade, says participation on the team contributes to her classroom performance. With strict academic requirements, Howard has noticed improvement after joining the team.
“I’m more focused in class than usual. Softball is helping me keep my grades up. I’m not talking in the middle of class and playing around like I would normally do, because in sports when you’re playing for the school, you have to keep your grades up,” Howard said. “If you fail one or more classes, you won’t be able to play for the team.”
Howard views the time between eighth and ninth grade as a decision point to reflect and decide to continue playing the sport or not.
“When you play sports in middle school you’re part of a diverse set of players and get to know the differences in varsity and middle school sports. You also get a chance to see if you want to continue playing softball,” Howard said.
Over everything else, for Garrett, group participation such as athletics increases happiness and morale.
“I think that no matter what, when humans are involved with other humans, I believe that their happiness is improved, like being part of a group is better than being alone,” Garrett said.
