This winter, Rocky’s softball players have been training tirelessly, both at school and at home, for this approaching season. Coaches and future players alike have put themselves through a series of demanding work, both mental and physical. With a week before tryouts, there is not much left to do but train, slip into a good mindset, and keep their grades up. Lindy Kenyon, a ninth grader at Rocky Mountain high, recalls how she has been practicing.

“I’ve been preparing by hitting every day at home, and we have workouts for the school every Tuesday and Thursday, and I also still practice with my club team during the week,” Kenyon said. The winter workouts that Rocky offers have been a common part of routine for both softball and baseball players, intended to help an athlete maintain and improve. When players do not get the chance to practice in the winter, this can cause them to fall behind by losing all the progress they have made during the warmer seasons.

Kenyon expressed how she’s been doing softball for more than half her life and currently plays with Boise Blast outside of school. With both clubs and the possibility of joining the school team, her schedule will be packed with sports.

“I’ll have to wake up earlier and prepare all of my stuff for practice after school,” Kenyon said. “And I’ll have games, like, twice a week and practice every day that I don’t have a game.” Although her schedule is mostly filled with softball, she still finds the upside of it, noting that it’s taught her to not give up, even if she really wants to. This type of mindset is favored by coaches, specifically coach and Rocky Mountain teacher Casey Higginbotham. Higginbotham has coached at Rocky for six years, taking the title of head coach for the past three years.

But what skills are the coaches and Higginbotham watching for? They aren’t watching for athleticism but work ethics.

“We have a lot of really talented girls. So, you know, just being coachable, willing to kind of, you know, do what it takes to do what’s best for the team, whatever that role might be” Higginbotham said. “So just being coachable and putting in the hard work, we can work with those two things.” Those two traits and qualities surpass being athletic, because at the end of the day, the game of softball is a team sport, something made possible by a group of people working together.

It’s worth noting that Higginbotham estimated around 32 girls listed on the roster for tryouts, which is promising since numbers haven’t been that high in the past few years. NFHS, National Federation of State High Schools Association, is a website that covers high school sports across the U.S. According to NFHS,  “High school athletics participation increased by more than 200,000 in 2024-25, continuing an upward trajectory since the pandemic and registering an all-time high for participation” (NFHS). With the combination of increased participation, determined athletes and experienced coaches, Rocky is set for success this season.