Ok, so your son is signed, and the pressure is off for his senior year right? Hardly. Expectations are high and the pressure to perform like a future collegian will transcend to all aspects of his game this summer. Coaches will expect him to be a team leader. Team mates will look for him to be the man in the clutch. Pitchers will alter their approach when he comes to bat.
All the more reason to not get complacent. The good news is that most of the players on our NLI list got to this point in their lives by having an incredible work ethic. But, it is human nature to relax after a big accomplishment. Just don't relax too much. Tell your son to go into this summer with the mind set that he will dominate and have a work-out plan the rest of this off-season that will give him the edge that he needs to achieve success. Just keep on working hard and make it a habit...because after this year is over it starts all over again.
College is like starting all over again. There will be 9 positions on the field at a given time, and not one of them is an automatic like it may have been at his high school. For each position, there are three players waiting in line with the same all-conference and all-metro honors waiting to take his turn. All it takes is a bad week of practice or a bad series and the depth chart is shuffled. Is it un-fair? NO! It's life! The only advice anyone can give a player in this situation is to work hard, smart and never give up. It's the perfect life lesson for what the real world will throw at him when he is handed his diploma.
RT Staff
2 comments:
Couldn't agree more.
My son has signed with an ACC school, and he is headed into his senior baseball season working harder than he ever has. For one thing, his college coaches sent him a workout routine which he is doing in addition to the winter conditioning that his HS team is doing.
That said, the pressure actually is less this year for him. Maybe it is his mindset. He's looking ahead at this season just ready to go balls out. No worries about college, just go full speed.
Yes, his team will look to him as a leader since he will be a college player next year, but he IS the leader. That doesn't really add any pressure. It might actually put more pressure on them, rather than him.
But what has been nice to see as a parent is that rather than relaxing and thinking "I have it made," instead, he's saying "I want to start college in the best shape of my life" and he's working hard to make that a reality.
Great Story...Good luck to your son this year!
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