AKMom posted:Iowamom23 posted:To be honest, from what you describe it seems like your son HAS decided on whether to keep playing and the answer is pretty much no. He's almost done with high school, sick of his team, burned out on Legion and not motivated to do the off season work required to even think about next levels — if he doesn't have the inherent love of playing that gets him past those obstacles, he may well be ready to be done. And that's okay.
In my experience, kids find (or reveal) themselves in the college search. My daughter danced for 14 years. I set up college visits at schools with dance teams where she could have danced. As we started the search process, she explained she was done with dance after high school. It took some adjustment, but she's now a senior in college and loves her life as a different person with time and energy to explore new interests.
Maybe put the time and energy into exploring his college options for next fall. Maybe put on the list schools with healthy club baseball and then he would have that option if he wants it, but he may not. It could be you have raised a great baseball fan, rather than a player??
That's a tough adjustment for parents, but my guess is, your son will be fine.
The thing is that he does still seem motivated. When I asked if he was going to play HS ball there was no hesitation to his "yes." The team is more competitive locally (although not statewide) and the coach actually coaches. We would not pursue going out of state unless he was motivated to do so, and I feel that having something that he wants to do beyond our short HS season would potentially give him that motivation. Looking back now, I think his frustration with Legion ball, and that being his only option, are part of why he didn't work last winter to stay more in shape. Right now I'm gathering info so that he and I can have a serious talk about the future. I don't want to present this as an option to him if it's completely impossible. But if I say, "How about playing ball somewhere else next summer?" and his response is a solid no, we'll be done. I am a college advisor and also have 2 older children, one who danced and one who swims, so I know that there has to be internal motivation and buy-in for this to work. I just feel like right now he sees no options other than Legion and that's what is sucking the love of playing the game out of him.
Sending you a PM.