High humidity and quickly rising temperatures provided a warm welcome for Howard County athletes on Wednesday morning for the opening day of public high school fall sport tryouts.
But even with things heating up, the excitement and enthusiasm that comes along with the beginning of a new season was still very much on display. Scattered between weight rooms, gyms, practice fields and stadiums at their respective schools were hundreds of prospective athletes ready to kick off a journey they hope is filled with great growth and success.
"It's an exciting time, but also a hectic time trying to get everything together and going," said Howard County Coordinator of Athletics John Davis. "With what is expected to be some really hot weather the next few days, the biggest priority is getting things in order and keeping the kids safe so that they can have a great experience."
For the first time, all 12 public schools in the county have a fully operational turf field at their disposal. River Hill, which was the lone school with grass on its stadium field last year, had turf installed this summer.
The Hawks' boys soccer (JV and varsity) squads were getting their first taste of the new field early Wednesday morning.
"I think it's great. They finished it up a few weeks ago and it's good to go," said River Hill varsity boys soccer coach Matt Shagogue.
The more durable playing surface has proven to offer a little more flexibility for these opening weeks of tryouts and practices.
"The great thing now is you aren't going to lose practice just because it's raining out or it's muddy. These teams now have a place to go," Davis said. "If anything, the problem now is the scheduling because everyone wants to use it. But overall it's a huge positive to have all the fields finally completed and fully operational."
Teams are allowed three hours of practice a day, but start times and how each coach utilizes that time varies considerably.
Oakland Mills boys soccer, for example, once again started earlier than anyone else this year — meeting on the track at the school at 6 a.m. Elsewhere around the county, teams were scheduled to open tryouts anywhere between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Some teams focus primarily on fitness and conditioning, others jump in head first with full practices.
While Wednesday was busy for almost everyone, there are some programs that have opted to push their start date for tryouts back a few days. Marriotts Ridge, for example, has four sports — cross country, field hockey, golf and volleyball — opening things on either Friday Aug. 12 or Monday Aug. 15.
Golf has the tightest time crunch in terms of preparation time, as the start of the regular season is scheduled for Aug. 18. That allows for just over a week of tryouts and practices before things officially get going.
The first official play date for all other fall sports is Sept. 2. Scrimmages, though, start as early as Aug. 18 for some girls soccer and volleyball teams.