JohnF posted:Stafford posted:
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The ugly would be some of the facilities which can range from very nice to much worse than a kid's HS field. In some cases, JUCO's play at a high school facility or have to play at two or more fields. I've even seen one that was a city field located at an elementary school.
Sounds like USC Lancaster ;-) - Although it is also where the HS team plays... The field was a homer-dome for past HS age players, but not really a "nice" venue and it was next to an elementary school.
Our experience w/ JUCO was mixed. Still like choosing any school, know what you're getting into, understand the costs, understand what credits may transfer in or out, understand that there are no guarantees over anything, understand the competition and schedule. Lots of practice/games. Where we were was considered a D1 school, but the schedule was loaded with D2 teams and games against NCAA D2 JV programs. It was a joke watching hitters just hammer the weaker D2 teams. The real litmus test was playing other D1 teams who had more than 1 or 2 good pitchers - then our hitters struggled, but once #3/#4 came in - watch out. Suffice to say there's a lot of diversity in the talent - a lot depends on where you are. In the playoffs a ranked team from MD came to SC and didn't far so well because #1 it was F-g hot/humid and #2 they had to play much better competition. Here's a link to the national website page that you can do some research if you're so inclined - you may have to alter the addresses once there to see 2016-17 instead of the current 2017-18 schedules, but you should be able to find the schools near you and then figure out their schedules based on that.
http://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/teams-page
There are credit and grade rules from NCJAA, but not all coaches or programs understand all facets - make sure you know them. We had to inform and prove to our school's "compliance officer" that he was wrong and our son was eligible to play. Our son isn't academically gifted and getting help was always a challenge especially when a few of his required classes were evening classes part of the adult education program and the instructor (not necessarily a normal college trained professor) had limited office hours.
Agree with others about the on/off campus aspects - our son commuted a bit (25 miles) and stayed a bit with teammates at their apartments. We were always nervous because he was 21 at the time and had a few 19s/20s around him - which meant if alcohol was involved in some party they'd look at the 21 yr old first... and later he might have to "prove" it wasn't him supplying (luckily we never actually had it happen, but the fear was there). The off campus housing was "overpriced" because it was the only game in town. There was no meal plan at the school - so as you can imagine lots of nights at local fast food places because these kids don't know how to cook or have a chance at eating healthy.
On the field - there's a full roster of players - some with no business being there other than perhaps being there because they were paying to go to school. The coaches had their rotation of players pretty much set and we were coming in from the outside as a 2nd yr student (our son was at a NCAA D2 program before, redshirted his soph year due to injury). In the fall, son got lots of innings, did well, and was happy. Worked hard during winter, expected to be in the mix in the Spring, but come to find out coaches already had 4 starters locked in who didn't play much in the Fall. Remember, Fall is a tryout of sorts... When you play 2 7-inning games against weaker competition (many ending in mercy rule), generally the starters go the distance and there's no need for a closer, so son got frustrated and well, rusty. That also hurt the team in playoffs because only 4-5 pitchers ever got meaningful innings, so others were either rusty, untrusted, or not "battle tested". In playoffs you need pitching, especially when games are 9 innings. Of course son felt he was better than few and we tried to "help" him understand the process, but naturally he doesn't listen to us. His feeling was he throws 90+ so he should play - coaches had other ideas and he just didn't understand. We shrugged our shoulders and told him to be ready whenever, be a good teammate, and work hard. When he got in - he was generally lights out. He bailed out starters a few times going 3-4 innings, but mostly he was "a" closer option. The other option was a kid the coaches had known for years since they also coached travel teams in the area during the summer - so guess who usually got the first closing opportunity? Come playoff time son did OK until the last game (Eastern District championship) where he got thrown into a bad situation, threw more gas on the fire, and was taken out - thus ending his JUCO "career". It happens, he didn't handle things well, and for him left a sour taste. For us - it was perhaps the best thing for him to understand that baseball wasn't going to be his full time career. Unfortunately for him because he's not a good student his options for this year were limited and in the end decided to hang 'em up and move on with his life (which we're again trying to help him through now).
OK more than asked by the original poster, but if you wanted a story from someone who experienced it - that's it in a nutshell albeit perhaps a bit too long
Thanks for sharing that experience. I truly appreciate your honest reflections.