Zia2021 posted:cabbagedad posted:bacdorslider posted:... I understand the dream.... but change that dream to a "goal" and you will end up in a better position when baseball is over. ...
YES - This is one of the huge challenges for just about every kid and family. 99% of kids looking to play past HS have some version of "the dream". MLB and/or big time college ball are the visual, at least early on in HS. So, by the time the player makes that transition from dream to goal and the realistic goal is something other than MLB or P5 D1, the window can be very short for putting together a comprehensive recruiting plan.
When do kids usually start realizing the only way to reach their goals is putting forth the extra work? I'm sure there is a lot of variation on when this occurs, so I'd love to hear when your son made the realization.
I think it all depends on the kid. My son knew he wanted to be a baseball player from the time he was 3 or 4 years old. He started playing travel ball on a 10U team that had just won a big 9U World Series the year before (I know, I know...it's 9U, but my point was that this team was pretty darned good 
) He was the only new guy....the youngest by 6 months and by far the smallest. It took a lot of convincing on my part to even get the coach to let him play. He struggled a little at first...he was coming out of rec ball and thrown into "Major" baseball....leadoffs, steals, etc.....but came around quick. He was always the smallest & youngest kid on his teams....all the way thru HS (graduated at 17, late April Birthday). I guess I knew he understood what it would take the first time we went outside and threw when there was snow on the ground...which was when was probably 11 or 12.....you learn to not drop balls real quick when you 1) have to look for them in the snow....and 2) take the glove off of your throwing hand and reach into the snow to get the ball Funny, I was the only one that ever dropped anything...