I have been debating on posting this on here or not, please forgive me if this post goes long and rambles on. Our 2014 P/OF came to us after tryouts, knowing he made V, that he didn't want to play baseball anymore. His mother and I sat him down and tried to get the reason why he didn't want to play. All we could get out of him was that he didn't like baseball anymore. We found that hard to believe, he has been playing baseball since he was in kindergarten, with his team playing AAA/Major his 7th and 8th grade. Last year he was the dominate pitcher on the JV team (as much as a sophmore can be a 'dominate' pitcher on JV!!), so his mother and I were at a loss as to why he wanted to quit now, right after tryouts. We told him we didn't agree with him and did not support his decision, but in the end it was his decision and we could not force him to play. I did tell him if he decided to quit he would need to talk with the HC and explain his decision to him. Well, he decided to quit and just work as an umpire this spring. He had a meeting with his HC and explained his decision with him, the HC apperciated his honesty and told him if he decided later that he wanted to play he could come back out and play on the Summer team and tryout next year with a clean slate. His mother and I were not happy with him quitting but we accepted his decision. Well about 2 weeks later we found out the real reason he wanted to quit baseball, he had gotten messed up with drugs. Not the kind of information that a parent ever wants to hear. He came to us and told us he needed help, he felt like he was out of control and he wanted help to get better. Looking back there were clues that something was wrong, but as parents we never wanted to believe that it was 'our' kid that was getting messed up with drugs. We found out that he was smoking pot and has experimented with stronger drugs. We are proud of him stepping up and asking for help. We got him into extensive counseling and working with him to keep him clean. He has been clean now for 2 months and his attitude is 180 degree different, he is back to being the kid we new in grade school and begining of HS. I look back and wonder if there was something that I did, or didn't do that could have avoided the whole situation. It has been difficult to drive by the baseball fields knowing that his baseball time may be over, but I now know that not playing this year is minor compared to him getting his head back on straight and his life in order. He came to his mother and I this week and said that he misses being on the mound and thinks he may want to play this summer. We told him that if he had any desire to play baseball his senior year he needs to play with his schools summer team. He agreed and he thinks he does want to play this summer. I told him that he will need to sit down with the HC soon and discuss with him and ask him if the offer to play this summer was still open. I know I have kind of been rambling on in this post, but I wanted to pass on to all the parents with HS players and LL players to treasure your time with your son at the ballpark; because when it is over it will be missed. We would never have thought that our son would have gotten mixed up in drugs, but we are so thankful that he was mature enough to come to us and tell us he needed help and then to follow through with getting clean. He is doing so much better now and I realize that baseball is just a minor point in his (and mine) life! I do have a question for some of the old timers, I have told him he needs to talk to the HC and ask to play this summer; should I also contact the HC and talk with him and let him know what has been going on in 2014's life?
I really have enjoyed this site and respect a majority of the 'old timers' and their opinions.