Failure leading to success

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My son is still in high school, so I haven't witnessed this phenomenom firsthand.

Your son bats 1.000 and has a 1.000 fielding percentage? j/k

Seriously, I saw that in the other thread too and although I understand what they were trying to say, I am not sure I would have said it that way. Baseball, by its nature is a game of failure where an offensive player who is successful 30% of the time is considered a success. I believe what that person was attempting to convey was that many times, when players leave home for the first time, this is the first time many of them have faced true adversity and competition for the first time.

Most college players were the best in their conferences, counties, and states. What they cannot prepare themselves for is competing against a whole team full of players like that. Learning how to beat out a player who is three years older, 30 lbs heavier, was equally heralded in high school, and has subsequently been heralded in college. That is a challenge and it must be experienced to be truly understood. Some kids will grow because of that experience and others are crushed by it.

I do believe some kids can grow farther in the long run by learning to compete yet maybe not being quite able to start right away. Others may not want to risk as much for the opportunity to play all four years but they may not develop as much since they don't have those powerful competitive forces forging them ahead.

These are just generalities of course. Some kids take a sure bet at a program that is crazy about them but may ultimately be below their capabilities yet still manage to succeed to the next level. Lots of it depends on the individual. I believe competition is good although it may be quite painful at the time and that is what I think the original poster meant about failure.

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Your son bats 1.000 and has a 1.000 fielding percentage? j/k

CD, didn't I tell you about my son's stellar season last spring?

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Most college players were the best in their conferences, counties, and states. What they cannot prepare themselves for is competing against a whole team full of players like that. Learning how to beat out a player who is three years older, 30 lbs heavier, was equally heralded in high school, and has subsequently been heralded in college. That is a challenge and it must be experienced to be truly understood. Some kids will grow because of that experience and others are crushed by it.

I do believe some kids can grow farther in the long run by learning to compete yet maybe not being quite able to start right away. Others may not want to risk as much for the opportunity to play all four years but they may not develop as much since they don't have those powerful competitive forces forging them ahead.

I can understand what you're saying. I know of one high school stud whose confidence plummeted during his freshman year in college when he was forced to sit the majority of the season. Almost a year later, he still struggles with confidence issues.

On the other hand, my son transferred to a new high school last year and had to sit behind a very talented group of senior infielders, all of whom had made All District the previous year. He seemed to do okay mentally and performed well in the summer. Hopefully, this bodes well for his college experience, in case he has to sit his freshman year.

Perhaps I misunderstood the original poster. I was wondering about college players who experience a frustrating season followed by a very successful one that is spurred on by their original failure.

(Btw, had my son not made that one error during his 20 fielding attempts last spring, he would have had a 1.000 fielding percentage! )

If you know any school teachers just ask them what I mean. Many students *as well as ball players* who are gifted never learn to work hard unless they have failed a test or two. Self esteem is over rated in the classroom, in baseball and in life. It is self motivation caused from those failures and adversity that make us stronger.Our most valuable lessons are learned from adversity. The player who struggled his freshman year and never recovered had probably never struggled,when it finally happened he was not able to cope with failure.They have to learn to fail because baseball will come back and bite you in the butt sooner or later if you play the game long enough.The ones who have overcome those adversities are the ones that most likely succeed.Show me a ball player that has not failed and I will show you a parent that was keeping the book. HA!

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Originally posted by Play hard:
If you know any school teachers just ask them what I mean. Many students *as well as ball players* who are gifted never learn to work hard unless they have failed a test or two. Self esteem is over rated in the classroom, in baseball and in life. It is self motivation caused from those failures and adversity that make us stronger.Our most valuable lessons are learned from adversity. The player who struggled his freshman year and never recovered had probably never struggled,when it finally happened he was not able to cope with failure.They have to learn to fail because baseball will come back and bite you in the butt sooner or later if you play the game long enough.The ones who have overcome those adversities are the ones that most likely succeed.Show me a ball player that has not failed and I will show you a parent that was keeping the book. HA!

Play hard - you are singing to the choir!

I guess the word I am having a tough time with is failure. For instance, I don't consider an athlete who may spend a year red-shirting or on the bench behind a better player a failure. I would agree that particular athlete would likely be facing adversity like they had never experienced before. Whatever we want to call it - adversity or failure, it is a powerful force that drives the truly-motivated to heights they may have never experienced otherwise.

The f word's definition is lack of success. As much as we would like to put it in gentler terms for our kids it is what it is.The choir seems like a pretty smart bunch.

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Originally posted by Play hard:
It is self motivation caused from those failures and adversity that make us stronger.Our most valuable lessons are learned from adversity. The player who struggled his freshman year and never recovered had probably never struggled,when it finally happened he was not able to cope with failure.They have to learn to fail because baseball will come back and bite you in the butt sooner or later if you play the game long enough.The ones who have overcome those adversities are the ones that most likely succeed.Show me a ball player that has not failed and I will show you a parent that was keeping the book. HA!

My son's pitching coach gave me the same speech once.
He told me he never worried about the ones who failed at early attempts to be successful, they always found a way to take that adversity and turn it around to a positive and walk away a winner. What he did worry about was the player that was successful from the beginning, then comes a bump in the road and they never seem to be able to cope at finding the success they had early on.

His philsophy.... you have to hit bottom, learn to cope, to make it to the top. Baseball is constantly finding the balance between the two.

What can be even worse is not taking a chance in baseball and life because of fear of failure. Failure or whatever term you would like to use will come in some form in your life.If it is on the baseball field early you can bet it will either motivate or freeze you.The ones who are motivated by it tend to be the winners in the long run.Being redshirted is not failure unless you give up or quit because of it.Show me a ball player with something to prove and I'll show you one with heart and determination to succeed.

I am a LL coach/Dad. For what's it worth, the first thing I tell my team, before the first practice is that they can't be afraid to fail. Esp in baseball. Failing to hit the ball 6 out of 10 times can get u in the HOF. I try to explain to them that it's how you respond to failure that will help you build as a ball player. (in life as well as a person but going into that discussion in the beginning of the 1st practice isn't always the best idea). You are going to stike out. You are going to walk batters and you're going to make errors. Failing is a part of the game and in every sport.