My son and i got back from the headfirst and Stanford camps yesterday and i felt i needed to make a post specifically on the Stanford experience. these camps were the first that he has attended (a 2016) so we honestly did not know what to expect. we both were blown away. First part of this post is more about the university than baseball.
First let me start by saying my son has done allot of exploring online to find the correct match of school for what he is interested in studying. That would be some combination of Astrophysics, cosmology and theoretical physics. Based on this his list of schools is short to say the least. The campus is unreal i cannot imagine a better one anywhere on the planet. We signed up for the walking tour Saturday, pretty short but informative, when we got to the physics departments my son and i walked up the the doors to take a peek inside, a professor (Pat) was inside and came to the door, she asked my son if he was interested in the program and long story short our walking tour ended and she gave us a tour inside the Physics department and was questioning my son on some basics items (which he passed with flying colors). Made his day to say the least. We exchanged info and she asked (demanded?) that he stay in touch over the next 2 years. freaking awesome that she took the time for this. this alone moved Stanford up his list of choices of future schools. Baseball or not this is now a high choice.
Baseball. There is no doubt in my mind that we will never experience another camp like this again (except next year when he goes back). The staff is a staff that as a parent i would feel very comfortable sending my son off with no ifs ands or doubts, these guys are the real deal. Its hard to put into words but you can just feel that the people running it and all the coaches like to be there.
The camp is run so professional and the coaches truly seemed to want to be there. my son was lucky enough to be on Coach Detter's team, if this guy is not on someones short list for a head coaching job its a damn shame.The enthusiasm and attitude he showed over the 3 days was remarkable, every kid on his team got some one on one time and im sure had a great experience. My son picked up some great advice from him and i appreciated that.
Monday morning i showed up early to Sunken diamond, sat down and had a talk with a great guy for about 30 minutes while everyone else was showing up, talked baseball, Hawaii and baseball history was a nice conversation, turns out it was coach Marquess. It was nice that he as well as all the others made themselves available. I think he was grateful that i was not selling my son to him since apparently that happens quite often according to him.
Dean Stotz. this is good people, anyone who has listened to him can tell that after a few minutes. reminds me of my uncles growing up, maybe not 100 politically correct but that is what makes him awesome. again, he just oozes with the love of baseball and blunt facts. His recruiting speech was right on target and thankfully confirmed everything i have been telling my son for 2 years (i think now he gets it).
The practice sessions are what makes this camp, the games are good and run well but the practices are fantastic. with so many kids its remarkable that it can be ran so well. The coaches used every minute of the sessions to the fullest, not a wasted minute. The coaches did not have kid gloves on praising everyone, if they made a mistake they heard about it, sometimes quite emotionally (my guess is some of these kids are very used to hearing how great they are all the time based on some reactions). And is there another school anywhere with the facilities that Stanford has? really remarkable.
My son did not do anything extraordinary to stand out to any coaches (other than some defensive plays and test measurables) but we were not disillusioned going in. We are looking forward to going back next year with test grades in hand but regardless of if he plays baseball in college, Stanford is one hell of a university. we have an east cost trip this fall to visit MIT, Harvard and Dartmouth but honestly what he saw and experienced at Stanford may change his thinking. Pat from the Physics changed that. And that is what we were looking to get out of this trip.
If anyone has any specific questions i would be happy to answer.
