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Reply to "Do not like the coach"

This past summer my son attended a camp of a well known, well regarded and very successful D-1 program. The camp is referred to often on this site. the first night a coach from the school gave a talk on what was expected of the players and what they could expect as college players.

He told them that at his school, you/they were there to win. His job depended on winning. He had mouths to feed and that depended on winning. He went on to lecture the kids on other issues and at one point chewed out a kid for having his hat on backwards. During the course of this rather lengthy talk the term or concept of fun was never even alluded to.

Of the many schools my son has been fortunate to have contact with, one coach used the word fun in speaking to him.

I've had chances to speak to coaches, current and former college players and professional players and parents of these players. Getting to the college level and beyond is not much about fun anymore. It's about performing and winning. It's not about having a "fun time".

One coach said to me that college players are really professional athletes that just happen to be playing for a school. Two different schools have specifically told my son that there are certain majors he cannot take as an athlete. I personally think the concept of student-athlete is a farce. You are an athlete first and had best perform or it's see you later.

Back to this camp I referred to, my son got hurt there and was just told to tough it out. Virtually nothing was done to help him. No one cared about him having fun. This was serious business. I know another kid who did his college team's laundry for most of the season because he missed a sign in a game. Others who have run laps around the school for hours for other "transgrssions".

Rather than ramble on, IMO sports (baseball or whatever) are no longer about fun in the cavalier sense once you get to this level and beyond. It is serious business, not to be taken lightly.

As to this topic, if the worst thing going is you don't particularly like the coach, I think you're ahead of the game, 'cause most that I've met don't strike me as caring whether you like them or not once the "honeymoon" of recruiting is over and you are at the school. They are there to win, not make buddies.

There is one coach of a D-1 school who I think breaks this mold. I find him to be very much a player's coach. What has he gotten for it. Fired, following years of ridicule for not winning the CWS, not winning enough and despite having a squeaky clean program, with many guys graduating and/or moving on to professional baseball. but he's too nice a guy and didn't win enough.

College sports is a business and like any business, fun is not a big priority.
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