TPM posted:How much "great work ethic" is a HS player supposed to have?
I think this is a question without a simple answer.
In high school you come across such a variety of kids with a variety of future plans that it isn't reasonable to expect the same things out of them.
Serious baseball kids with plans to move on to college or pros should be putting in a lot of extra work outside of practices. At the same time, do we expect the same of a kid who isn't planning to move on to those levels?
If that kid comes to practice every day and gives 100% effort, but outside of team practices would rather be working on SAT prep or college admission essays - does it mean he has poor work ethic?
On the flip side, if you have that kid planning to play at higher levels who spends extra hours practicing rather than studying, and ends up with grades that aren't as good as they could be as a result - well, does he have poor work ethic?
I don't think either of those kids has poor work ethic, but it can really depend on what set of eyes you are using to look at them. Baseball teammates can look at the smart kid and think he doesn't care about the team enough to try to get better. Teachers may look at the kid who puts in extra baseball time as a lazy student unwilling to put in extra work to get ahead.
In both cases, they are both right and wrong. The critics just don't have the full picture. They don't see that both kids are willing to work hard at what is most important to them, and to make sacrifices to attain their goals. When you get down to it - that's what great work ethic is.