Yes sir, it’s about that time all right.

Baseball and softball seasons are fast approaching. We’ll hear balls popping in the gloves, bats cracking (really dinging) against the ball, young voices squealing with excitement, and mommas yelling, “run, run, run”.

It’s ball time. It’s time to get that glove out, scrub it good, and rub it with some saddle soap — not oil but soap. Get those old ball shoes out, dust them off, wash them also, give them a good coat of wax polish — not liquid but wax and put in some new shoestrings. Get your cap out of the closet, clean it a little, and bend the bill just right. Get ready to play.

A new ball season brings good news and bad news, new teams, new stars; but sometimes we are faced with the truth of the game — I’m not good enough to play anymore.

Let’s talk a few minutes about players 7th grade and older. The time of just wanting to play and be on a team is over. You’re at the age now that you have to be able to produce.

Your history of being an “all star” means absolutely zero. You can catch, throw, run and hit or you can’t.

Your middle school and high school coaches are looking for one thing and one thing only — can you help this team win?

Every tryout at this age produces two results — a few children who have been told all of their life that they are good players suddenly find out that they are not good enough and a few children who have always played right field and batted ninth suddenly have become the stars.

You would be surprised what one-year of growth and more importantly, one year of “working to get better” will do. A “big heart” is not enough anymore. Now it takes “a big heart and talent”.

Players, do your best, try your hardest. Hopefully the coach will see a ‘future” in you. However, if the coach says, “I’m sorry but you didn’t make the team”, move on.

No excuses, don’t blame the coach, just move on. You had your chance. Someone else is just better. If you make the team, your hard work and dedication is just beginning. You must try to improve every day.

Most middle school and high school teams will have fifteen to eighteen players. It only takes nine to play. If the coach only has nine out of eighteen that he is confident in, then only nine are going to play.

You earn your “game playing time” in practice. Just because you made the team does not guarantee you the right to play. You have to earn that right through proving yourself in practice to the coach.

Coaches, give all of them a chance at the tryout. That skinny, little seventh grade boy may be the 6’5”, 220-pound flame-throwing senior. That overweight little seventh grade girl may hit 20 homer uns as a senior.

So look for prospects, look to the future, look for the basics — coordination, arm strength, running speed, and line drive hitters. Don’t get caught up in what they look like physically; get caught up in what they can do.

The little wormy, nerdy looking boy that throws the ball hard may look scrawny and non-athletic but he has a fastball. You can’t teach that. That short, chubby girl that can’t run but hits line drives in the gap may not look like a player but she can hit. You can’t teach that.

These two players’ physical features may improve over time but the fact is they can play now. You can teach them to get stronger and lose weight but you can’t teach them the fastball or the line drive.

Parents, this is the coach’s team, not yours. The coach’s future rides on wins and losses. We, the public, established that rule. All of us expect our teams to win.

Winning takes good players. Hopefully your child is one of them (the coach’s evaluation, not yours). If not, then that’s just the way it is. Move on in life. If the coach wants your help or advice, he’ll ask for it. Otherwise just sit there and watch. Your responsibility is to make sure your child is on time for practices and games. That’s it.

You do not have any other responsibilities except working your time in the concession stand. You are not there to coach.

The bottom line is everyone has a right to tryout. No one has the right to play. You must earn the right to play.

Good luck to all of you. Do your best and live with the results.

Larry Keenum is the former women’s softball coach at Athens State University.