LaurenHicks

The hot summer sun beams down on freshman Sarah Gross-Rhode as she and her fellow campers practice their best acting and singing skills. She waits nervously for the cast list of the summer show to be announced. The moment it gets posted, a sense of relief hits her. She did it. The lead role is hers.

Gross-Rhode has been involved in theatre activities for three years. She has performed in multiple different shows at the Jewish Community Center, two of those being “Newsies” and “Oliver.” She has always been passionate about singing and acting and the JCC allows her to explore her passions even more. Now that she’s at Marian, she gets to see where this passion will take her.

Freshman year is an essential time to learn new things about yourself. A lot of friend groups change, opportunities become available, and you learn new things about yourself every day. Trying out new activities is the perfect way to do all three.

When the Marian musical cast list email was sent out on Aug. 22, Gross-Rhode didn’t find her name on the list. However, she wasn’t going to let this crush her dreams.

“I will keep pushing forward,” Gross-Rhode said. “I’m going to be more confident.”

Musical director Michael McCandless said that when one is auditioning for a role, that they should go all out for it, even if they might not get the part.

“In reality, you’ve already accomplished something, you showed up. Think of the millions of people who wouldn’t do that,” McCandless said.

He finds the hardest part of auditions each year to be casting. 

“Directors are bound by restrictions of the script and the number of roles we can offer in each production,” McCandless said. “I don’t like disappointing people.”

It is not only in theatre where people deal with disappointment in auditions. Marian athletic tryouts can also be highly competitive and girls have to work even harder to make themselves stand out.

As her club hits the small, white ball, Mariella Balch says she feels a sense of calm as she looks over to see where the ball landed in the green. Her father is usually beside her, giving pointers on how she can improve her game.

Balch is a freshman this year who tried out for the Marian golf team. When she was younger, she had taken a few golf lessons but she had just started getting back into golf this summer.

Balch said, “I was deciding between trying out for volleyball, golf or cross country.”

She decided that she would try out for the golf team because it is a sport that she could play for the rest of her life. 

“Golfing is a much more chill sport than others,” Balch said. “It can lead you to meeting new people and having business opportunities.”

The golf team’s tryouts were more competitive this year, especially considering they won state last year.

Despite not making the team, Balch is still going to try again. 

“They sent out an email saying that everyone did such a good job and any one of us could’ve made varsity at another school,” Balch said.

She wants to continue to get better and even one day, beat her dad.

Balch is taking what she learned in these tryouts to her next one, wrestling.

”I am going to keep working at what I want. The process will be slow and there will be losses, but I have to keep working.”

Mr. B.J. Christiansen, head coach of the Marian Swim and Dive team, said he believes that when an athlete comes back after being disappointed, she is showing a lot of grit and determination. 

“I’ve had girls come back the next year who’ve made the team,” Christiansen explained. “You can tell that the second time around, they come more prepared.”

Coaches and directors know that disappointment can be difficult to deal with as they have gone through it themselves.

Christiansen said, “It’s fine to be upset. When I am, I try to find an outlet to focus my energy on, not to forget what happened, but to know it didn’t work out and then move forward to a new opportunity.” 

His piece of advice for people who want to try again is to go for it.

“Do it,” Christiansen said. “If it’s important and you care, then prepare even better than you did before and give it 100%.”