Freshman roommate (player or non-player)

my son roomed with a fellow frosh teammate or the first 6 nonths

My son is a freshman this year and living on campus. Coaches purposely roomed the freshmen together. There were 7 freshmen and 4 are together in one room and 3 are together in the other. They may not be the best of friends, but they get along fine and my son seems to like it. I think it helps some with motivating each other and building a bond between them that will hopefully last for the next 4 years and maybe a lifetime.

Our freshmen son is rooming with a student. They get along great. I think it is good he gets away and hangs with the regular students. His roomy is a great kid and a positive influence.

Lefty...

My son roomed with a non baseball player, but was an athlete in his major. He found that this allowed him to meet a wider group of students and expanded his network beyond just the baseball team. Additionally having someone with similar study time requirements minimized conflicts. He has friends in other programs who room with teammates and this also works.

He was fortunate to go to a small school that really focuses on profiling students and tried to select compatible roommates. Some schools do a good job and this and some don't. In the end it is a bit of a c r a p shoot in getting compatible roommates, some get good ones and some don't.

Good Luck!!

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In the end it is a bit of a c r a p shoot in getting compatible roommates, some get good ones and some don't.

I think BOF hit the nail on the head. There can be benefits and liabilities to rooming with teamates, rooming with an athlete from another sport, or rooming with a non-athlete ... and you'll never know how it's going to work out until they're actually in the room living together.

Whether it be a teammate or not, I think the biggest thing is that they need to figure out how to be respectful of what each other needs in order to succeed: peaceful rest, study environment, general room environment, mutual respect for person & property, etc. If they can figure this out, they'll be fine. Note: THEY need to understand that it is THEIR responsibility to work that out with their roommate.

Also, things change: SP_son started the year being roomed with a teammate who seemed like a real good guy. Their two styles were completely different, and roommate showed no consideration to Son (or others). Roommate was cut from the team early in the fall, which added more tension to the room. Fortunately, the boy transferred out at the semester break, otherwise this spring was looking to be extremely difficult in the dorm.

The moral: You never know until you get there.

My son roomed with a non athlete his firs semester. My son always mentioned he was always in bed when he was leaving for workouts or class in the morning and was still in bed when he got back at afternoon or lunch.

Needless to say in the spring semester he started out with his own room .

He was able to have a friend move in. Turned into a pretty good spring semester. The young man that moved in was not an athlete but had the same academic goals as my son.

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BOF said...In the end it is a bit of a c r a p shoot in getting compatible roommates, some get good ones and some don't.

Totally agree. Furthermore it has little to do with baseball. They either get along or they don't.

My son was placed this year with a wrestler. Within a few weeks he was staying in a dorm with 3 other baseball players who had a spare bed. This had nothing to do with the roommate. He was with the other players most nights after practice so they just asked him to move in if he wanted. The BB players are his best friends and he does mostly everything with them. This works best for him.

Like most things, what works for one may not work for another.

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Originally posted by bballman:
My son is a freshman this year and living on campus. Coaches purposely roomed the freshmen together. There were 7 freshmen and 4 are together in one room and 3 are together in the other. They may not be the best of friends, but they get along fine and my son seems to like it. I think it helps some with motivating each other and building a bond between them that will hopefully last for the next 4 years and maybe a lifetime.

This is the kind of thing we had heard from some coaches. The interesting thing is that 2013 has been "matched" by the system with this other player not only because they are athletes but apparently answered the profile questions in a similar manner rating things like neatness, belief system, academics, etc.

Great input everyone. Thank you!

My son roomed with another Freshman baseball player his first year. More than that, they were both infielders (different positions). It can make a difference in sharing the experience and avoid your roommate getting ticked off at your early alarm so you can get to your 6AM workout or him staying up later than you'd like because you have that workout. They got along great.

His school put pitchers with each other and position players with each other where possible because the pitchers sometimes had different workout schedules.

This year my son is living off campus in what has become known as "The Baseball House" as all the guys living there are on the baseball team. All good guys with similar goals - 2 position players and 2 pitchers. Two others (also baseball players) were there the first semester this year. One became ineligible and quit school. The other (last year's roommate) just decided to move on since he had not earned a starting spot.

I went back and forth about what would be best (player vs. non-player) and think I hit just about every comment here, but in the end it worked out great for my son and I expect they will be long time friends.

Some also may depend on Academics at small colleges especially. My son was accepted into the honors program. With that came the opportunity to be in an Honors Dorm. That is one reason he chose the paring route.

He wanted the opportunity for the perks that came with the honors dorm and to be with other honor students.

AS a related above the honor student he was paired with did not make it through his first semester.

My son ended up reaching out for and asking to room with a player he had known from club ball. They had competed against each other for about 6 years and had a friendship based on respect for each other as a player. It's their Junior year and they are still together, this year sharing an off campus apartment.

Common schedules help make things easier to work out. No real conflict when they have to get up early. Honestly they have become the best of friends.

My freshman son started out with 4 other freshman living in a 4 bedroom, 2 bath apartment(school housing). They were purposely put together by the coaching staff. I stated that it started out with 4 guys, there are now 3 guys because one player quit during the fall semester. There have been the usual issues between roomates that would have existed whether they all or some played baseball. By and large it has worked out fairly well because all of them have very similiar schedules as it relates to time committed to study hall, practice and weigh lifting.

Because of the grind and lack of time to do other stuff that non student athletes can do, there is an implicit understanding among the ball players regarding doing stuff that interferes with their roommates' ability to get to bed on time and get up early for class and weight lifting. I think it creates an environment of respect for the other roommates because all of them can relate to some of the common challenges they have to deal with.
It is my belief that not all of them will continue to be roomates next year. I beleive this is because they have found other ball players that they have more in common. The end result is that I believe my son will choose to be roomates with other ball players next year.

I think by and large the practice can be positive at least for the first year assuming they can get along with each other because there is a built in compatibility factor because their lifestyles are fairly similar. The downsize is that their variety of college social experiences can be limited by only being around other baseball players and/or other athletes. I really do like the practice for the first year but it is my hope that after my son gets acclimated into being a college ball player that he will expand his relationships beyond just baseball players and/or athletes. My personal opinion is that this will provide him with a more diverse and richer college experiences. I am not sure that my son will do this and if I was a betting man I would say he will room only with other ball players or athletes. Not that this is bad. Just my two cents.

The Baseball House is usually where the parties are.
Which can be good and bad also.

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Originally posted by bballman:
My son is a freshman this year and living on campus. Coaches purposely roomed the freshmen together.

At my son's school, all the freshman baseball players roomed with baseball players in "regular" student dorms.

He was appropriately paired with another soft spoken pitcher, who was also very studious.

My son is at a DII JUCO. Currently the college doesn't have campus housing. They do have arrangements with some of the local apt complexes. Coach paired my son up with another freshman - he's a pitcher while my son is a position player (1B). So far it has worked out well.

Prior to signing the lease, we met with the parents and player. The boys hit it off right off the bat. (Pun not intended.)

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Originally posted by fillsfan:
The Baseball House is usually where the parties are.
Which can be good and bad also.

Uh..yea...I can believe that...

If so, hopefully it will turn out on the Good side of that...if it is where the parties are, at least they won't be driving...that is at least partly good...

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Originally posted by TurnTwoNet:

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Originally posted by fillsfan:
The Baseball House is usually where the parties are.
Which can be good and bad also.

Uh..yea...I can believe that...

If so, hopefully it will turn out on the Good side of that...if it is where the parties are, at least they won't be driving...that is at least partly good...

That was the good part I was referring to TurnTwo!

My 2013 has been told that he will be rooming with a baseball player. Seems like a good idea (at least for freshman year) due to schedule -the baseball team has the 6am slot in the work out room.

My son had the option to be paired with a player but chose to room with a guy he met at the college's honors scholars dinner last Spring. No real problems but this will probably be a one year deal. They don't really hang out together and I'm not sure how my son's roommate liked the early morning alarm since he isn't an athlete.

Next year, my son is hoping to be living in one of the Frats. That should be interesting!

My son rooms with another ball player and two more share another room on his floor of 8 guys. They travel in a pack, to the field, the cafeteria, classes etc. It's been the very best bonding experience I can imagine and there is always someone on the way to the field or study hall etc!