Does anyone have any experience with the Cal State Fullerton Prospect Camp? My son is 14, going into 9th grade this Fall, and is attending this camp in 2 weeks. Just wondering if anyone has been there and done that?
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How was it?
We were VERY impressed! Had no idea as to how many players were attending. We counted just under 65 kids. (Heard 1-2 cancelled the night before.) Asst Coach talked to us when we walked in - noticed our kid was an incoming Freshman who had not started high school yet. Told us "ya know he may be facing Senior pitchers in our games" which he did. It was a great experience! Our 2017 went up to bat against 80-90mph pitching! One prospect flew in from Japan - and was amazing! Another player flew in from Hawaii!
Kids were divided by color of shirts into 4 teams for all events & games. Our kid was one of the youngest in attendance and had some great feedback and nods from coaches, even a comment to keep in touch about his upcoming season.
The workout our kid received was amazing - every muscle in his body hurt, but he loved it and the weekend left him wanting more.
All in all, we'll be back every summer. My father was Professor Emeritus (25+ years)from Fullerton, hubby and I went to CSUF, I played D1 volleyball there, sister went there and I taught upper division courses there for a year. I'm biased because it's in the family... but it's also our kid's "dream school".
Thanks for the report. If he wants to try a camp next summer we might look at CSUF. That's a heck of a great program so your son has a good dream.
It really is an amazing program! Tough part for us has been that the coaches from Fullerton gave him instructions for things to try differently in the outfield and the local, hometown coaches are trying to change it. Hmmm... do you follow the coaching advice from a D1 powerhouse coach from CSUF? Or do you follow the hometown coach? I guess you follow the coach you currently want to play for at the moment... but still tough predicament.
In any case, the Fullerton camp is on our MUST DO list every summer now! The ratio of coaches & players to prospects was amazing!
It really is an amazing program! Tough part for us has been that the coaches from Fullerton gave him instructions for things to try differently in the outfield and the local, hometown coaches are trying to change it. Hmmm... do you follow the coaching advice from a D1 powerhouse coach from CSUF? Or do you follow the hometown coach? I guess you follow the coach you currently want to play for at the moment... but still tough predicament.
In any case, the Fullerton camp is on our MUST DO list every summer now! The ratio of coaches & players to prospects was amazing!
That's a really interesting question. You could make a separate thread for that. I guess it's dependent on the advice, relative experience of the coaches, age of the players, etc. For example, years ago when my boys were maybe 10 and 12, they came back from a youth camp run by a highly respected JUCO coach who had added a big waggle to both of their swings. Even though I know far less about baseball than this coach has forgotten, I probably have more experience coaching 10-12yo's, and it took no time at all to see that adding a waggle was a terrible idea for both kids. It overcomplicated things and kept them from being ready.
I'm going to guess that the D1 coach's advice to your son was similar in that he was showing an advanced method, while the HS coach wants the simpler and probably safer technique.
Interesting thoughts. I'll post a new thread - curious what others (who have been there and done that) can offer as advice! Thanks!