Mine came to me out of the blue and declared that it was his goal. He was in the 6th grade.
He came in the living room and said, "Dad, I've been thinking about it; and I think that if I work really hard at it, I can play baseball in college."
At that moment, you could have knocked me over with a feather. A better-than-average athlete and highly competitive, he'd shown aptitude for both basketball and baseball; but, I think most would have said that he was slightly better at the former at the time.
In any case, I sort of chuckled and said, "Well, son, I think it's a great goal to establish; and, who knows what the prospect of achieving it might be? However, I know this: you've put your finger on what it will take to get you there...a commitment to hard work on your part. There are lots of talented athletes out there. The thing that most consistently allows them to achieve their goal is their willingness to dedicate themselves to it. Your mother and I will help you along the way as we can; but, you need to understand that 95% of what it's going to take is going to come solely from you"
From then on, baseball was his preferred sport (although, he still loved and played basketball); and it was "Katy bar the door" in terms of how he went about trying to improve.
At the end of his playing days, he happened to choose to remain in baseball as a profession. However, I'll always believe that the lessons he taught himself in the process of pursuing his goal would have served him well along any path he might have selected. This helps explain why I'm such a huge advocate and fan of those who set goals and work diligently to achieve them; whether baseball's involved or not.