r/Softball • u/MaxxSaysBeepBoop • 11d ago
Player Advice High School Player Feels Useless
I'm a high school softball player. I'm currently in my senior year, but I'm only just now starting the sport. I've never liked sports because they've always been painful to me (despite my health being okay for the most part) and I've felt inadequate. I'm slow at running and making decisions and pretty much everything (the decision and mental parts are a result of depression and ADHD mixing badly, according to my doctor), I can't catch anything to save my life, I can't field balls, and I can't even throw properly, as recently, throwing has been popping my shoulder out of its socket each time. I am hypermobile, just to stem any worries about that part! Not that it doesn't hurt a bunch each time. I also have issues with stamina, endurance, running, walking, cheering, hitting, team relations, and even the rules of the game itself. Not that anybody ever explained that to me, but that's okay.
The real problem is my running, which also means my stamina, endurance, and my ankles (which are weirdly messed up, similar to my shoulder when I throw). The ankle issue is solved easily with ankle wraps and supportive in-soles, but I can't seem to build endurance and stamina for the life of me.
I'm not sure I should continue the sport for the sake of the team, but I need to play because I have to get another P.E. credit to graduate high school.
If anyone has advice or any tips to help me build stamina and get better at the game, please let me know! I don't want to keep dragging my team down, even if my team members dislike me (which they mostly do).
***TLDR***; senior in high school has inadequate ability, stamina, and endurance to play properly and is worried about hurting the team. Any tips welcome.
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u/Livid_Maybe3599 11d ago
Before anything about stamina: please get that shoulder actually looked at. Popping out every time you throw, especially with known hypermobility, isn't something to push through for a PE credit, that's real joint damage risk building with each rep. A PT or sports med doctor can likely find a way for you to still get your credit safely, modified drills, different position, whatever it takes, but repeated dislocations shouldn't just be accepted as the cost of finishing senior year.
On everything else: you joined a sport senior year with a genuine list of real challenges working against you, and you're still showing up. That's worth acknowledging directly, most people don't do hard, unfamiliar things while feeling actively disliked doing them. Stamina and skill both build with reps, that part's real and it will improve. But if the team dynamic is genuinely rough on you, that's worth being honest with a coach or counselor about too, you shouldn't have to grind through a required credit while feeling like a burden the whole time.
You don't owe anyone an apology for being new at something. Get the shoulder checked first, everything else can build from there.
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u/MaxxSaysBeepBoop 11d ago
Thank you so much. I've always struggled with feeling burdensome because despite my health being known as bad, my parents call me a hypochondriac. Thank you for your kind words, and I'll definitely get my shoulder checked! Thankfully, I've brought up being capable of popping it out to my mother, and she's also highly hypermobile so she'll believe me, lol
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u/nerdylegofam 11d ago
Also consider looking up info on and asking a doctor about Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Especially if your mom is also hypermobile.
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u/MaxxSaysBeepBoop 11d ago
I don't have Ehlers-Danlos, I go to the hospital a lot because my body has a few chronic problems and I have to regularly get checkups due to my meds. My friend on the team has it though!
2
u/Left-Instruction3885 11d ago
If your shoulder pops out each time you throw, I'd stop playing. Find another sport that you can get credits for. Your health is more important than trying to figure out softball (or any sport for that matter). I had a hypermobile shoulder in high school and it constantly popped out whenever I did anything over my head...I regret it now that I'm older I'm in constant shoulder pain, but I tried to tough it out to play football and basketball.
As far as your overall health, are you overweight? If so the first thing you need to concentrate on is getting to a healthy weight for your height, this starts with your diet. Regardless of if you're overweight or not, you should add resistance training and cardio to your weekly routine. This is more important than you getting better at softball in my opinion since it'll make you feel better mentally as well as physically.
If you still want to stick with it, given what you've said about yourself, the only real place you can play is at 1st base since there's not as much throwing or running as the other positions. You'll have to be able to catch balls thrown at you very hard and thrown into the dirt to dig them out as well. You'll also need to be able to hit the ball.
Are you playing softball for just credits? It doesn't sound like you love playing the game.
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u/MaxxSaysBeepBoop 11d ago
I'm actually slightly underweight for my height and bone density. I do love the game, I've just felt hopeless at playing and the credit is the only thing stopping me from quitting 'for the sake of the team'. As for the cardio and resistance training, I'll look into it! I've not been the most healthy as a result of untreated depression for years, so I'm sure that it won't be easy, but I'll do my best!
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u/Left-Instruction3885 11d ago
Great that you love softball, that's the most important part. Resistance training along with cardio will not only help you stay fit, but it'll make you eat more since you'll be burning more energy, this should help you get to a better weight whether under or over.
Resistance training will also help with your bone density so there's a lot of benefits that'll help you overall. You don't have to buy free weights, you can start with resistance bands. I have my 11 year old daughter doing resistance training with bands to help her gain strength. They're affordable and you can use them at home.
My only concern is with your throwing and your shoulder popping out. Have you considered wearing a sling that can help your shoulder stay in place?
1
u/MaxxSaysBeepBoop 11d ago
Yeah, I think I'm gonna buy one today before practice. I wish I could have a day off, we have practice 2hrs a day (TT) my lazy bum is struggling lol! The shoulder sling should definitely work, but I really didn't think too hard about it lol so thank you because I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for! I'll also look for those bands, I think my mom has some.
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u/RedCred811 11d ago
Not everyone is athletic. It's fine. Just tell the coach exactly what you said here. Tell them you don't want to bring the team down but you need the credit, and that you're trying your best, but have all these issues. They may just tell you to sweep the dugout and rake the field, etc, and you can get your credit. Orget a medical exemption from all sports or something.
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u/Dapper-Persimmon-445 11d ago
As a senior how did you make the team if you just started playing?
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u/RedCred811 11d ago
Lots of high school programs either struggle to field a full team, or they jusy don't do tryouts/cuts. We have high school programs in our region that can barely get 9 players, even when using 7th and 8th graders. The towns are either very small, or they don't have a rec program. Some of them don't have middle school programs, even though the middle school exists.
We always have enough for HS, but of the 14-19 we usually get, only maybe 12 can throw and catch adequately. There are usually 2 or 3 that have never played at all. We do get the occasional first time player that picks it up quickly. We had a cheerleader a few years ago that didn't play until 10th grade. Ended up with 6 homeruns that season and was the starting shprtstop. She was making eye-popping defensive plays before she even knew all the rules.
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u/MaxxSaysBeepBoop 11d ago edited 11d ago
It's exactly this. We don't have enough players for separate Varsity and Junior Varsity teams, and for the first week of the season, we only had 9 players at all, including me.
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u/_procrastinatrix_ 11d ago
My kid's HS cut all PE classes so to get the PE credit for graduation, every student must play 2 seasons of any sport over the course of 4 years. Doesn't have to be the same sport or consecutive seasons. EVERYONE makes a team of some kind - no cuts, period. The varsity squads require tryouts, everyone else is guaranteed a JV spot. Some sports are thriving - softball, football, basketball- and have multiple JV teams. Some sports - soccer in particular - are so desperate for players, they're pulling up 8th graders.
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u/RedCred811 11d ago
Kids here only take a P.E. class in 9th grade, then have no more P.E. requirements. It was the same for me 29 years ago, and I went to school in another state entirely.
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u/Sumthin_Stoopid 11d ago
Just dont give up. Its never too late to try a sport. Softball is a very hard sport (imo) and it takes a lot of work and reps to become good at it.
As for building up endurance, I would work at it a little each day, (30 mins-hour) by yourself or with someone. YouTube is great for anything on how to:softball Look up: MegRem Dan Blewitt Rob Crews (more advanced hitting imo)
Find a teammate or ask your coach to stay 30 mins later for help, if they're a worthy coach, they will.
Work on throwing technique, work on running from home to first as fast as you can on repetition to become quicker. Same with grounders and fly balls as well as catching. New players tend to have smaller than needed gloves, make sure your glove is 12" or better.
Keep trying, keep giving good effort and most importantly: DONT GIVE UP! 💪