Freshman Year Adjustments

Ok, I will chime in!
My son was so ready for going out on his own, that was not an issue. He chose a college a couple of hours away from home in a big city.
His dorm was more like a resort and he and his roomates (eight in all) left the door open whenever they were there, having Guitar Hero contests, Madden, you name it, everything was a contest with any and all who would enter. Party central.
His grades were not stellar that first semester.

Guess what? STUDY HALL. Need I say more??? Who wants to be in STUDY HALL when everyone else is free? Guess you have to maintain your goals right?

Went to play summer ball 2,000 miles from home, no worries - host family, you know security.
Nope, four guys living in a crummy apartment with no internet/cable, nothing, sleeping on air matresses. After he took care of the internet problem things got better, baseball everyday, guys were treated really well baseball wise.
At first, I was freaking out to some other posters about some stuff that was going on, that I felt adults should have been involved in, but part of this whole process is to see how the guys react to different situations, how they handle themselves and solve problems. I believe the experience was by far more enriching than I ever thought possible.
Life experience is what it takes to become a man and shape a good friend, father, brother and citizen.

Like all of you, we helped our son move into the dorm the weekend before school started. Before we were finished his phone rang. It was one of the coaches. "We're down at the bubble lifting. Come join us."

We didn't see him again until Thanksgiving really except for a couple of days at the end of the fall formal intrasquad scrimmages.

He was fortunate to have played some summer ball with a two or three other players that were on the team. That helped a rather shy kid make the transition to college.

They started working out early AM right away with physical fitness. It was difficult as expected. One returning redshirt player recovering from an injury didn't make it through the workouts and quit. I had expected him to be a starter. Later at the appropriate time they began the baseball practices. They had a regular and predictable practice schedule.

During the couple of days at the fall intrasquad series, I tried to determine the final roster and who the starters would be. It was fascinating to me to see how talented the players were and wondered if my son would fit in.

I learned that my son had not passed a body fat percentage test and had been getting up an hour earlier and running three miles BEFORE the AM practice..........

He did pretty well in school that fall, I think primarily because of the 8 hours per week of study hall.

There were some boys that missed study hall and they paid with a 100 yard sprint running session daily for about a week. A powerful motivator for my son to study, if you can imagine.

Near the end of the fall he was sitting in the locker room with some of the five year seniors. They were playing cards and not doing the work they were supposed to be doing. "IF YOU EXPECT TO MAKE THIS TEAM, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SITTING WITH THOSE GUYS!"

About 10 days into the two weeks before official spring practice began he called and said, "Dad, I'm coming home." I'm not really sure how I convinced him to stay and remembered feeling really bad for pushing a little.

The pace to get prepared for the spring season steps up considerably, and, some of the older boys were aggravating my son. Not fun to tolerate along with the considerable physical fitness training and learning his position at the collegiate level.

The pitching coach had been on him every minute of the 10 days trying to get him prepared. The coach was his best ally and worst enemy and was probably understood only by my son.

There were techniques that my son had used that he had gotten away with in high school, but would no longer work in college. Blocking, learning the pitchers, and a unique way to call the pitches. Now there are hitters one through nine. Not just the four hole hitter.

He played a little in some opening games catching the last three outs after a pinch hit.

Then, a trip to Fort Worth, as near to our home as he would play. I have a large family and more than 50 of them showed up to see him. I wondered if the coach would let him play a little more, and, he did.

He played the entire game going ofer, of course, but pretty good AB's putting the ball in play.

As my son steps into the on deck circle, the person next to me just starts heckling my son to death.

I kept my mouth shut, but my sister, asked him on her way by, if he would like to meet that players dad and the rest of his family pointing to the entire section. He got up and said, "I think it's time for me to get something to eat, too" and never returned.

After the game, my brother (he was drafted many years ago and knows baseball pretty well) wanted to speak to my son to give him his critique. My son just smiled at him and blew him off after my brother suggested two or three things to work on. (Framing, blocking, and working to get strikes for the pitchers).

For the next several games over the next 10 days to two weeks, my son didn't come off the bench once.

After feeling he had done pretty well, he was getting frustrated and went to his best ally and worst enemy coach and asked, "What am I doing wrong?" "You need to work on framing, blocking, and getting strikes for my pitchers."

So, he worked hard for about another week, and still, no PT. He went to the other assistant coach. "Yes, I've been noticing that you have been working on framing, blocking, and getting strikes. I'll try to get you into the Tuesday game after this weekend and, we'll see how you do."

No PT on Tuesday and a series coming up against UT the coming weekend.

Not planning on making the first game of the UT series on time (he's not gonna get to play...), but on a mad dash to Austin during the game, my sister calls and says, 'Your son is up in the top of the ninth, we're behind, with two outs and it's a 3-2 count. A chest high fastball down the middle and STRIKE THREE to end the game. "Sit down son, that's been a strike all night"

I thought, "Well that's the end of any PT this year."

But then, the next day, another pinch hit chance with runners on 2 and 3, a sharp single to LF, and scored 2 to get us back into the game, and later, another RBI single.

Then on Tuesday two doubles off the wall and a couple of baserunners thrown out.

The following weekend in Waco a call comes from my son saying he's starting as the DH in the four-hole.

What I said would come out with asterisks here.

Here's the results of that season for him.

"A true freshman that was able to contribute some key playing time behind the plate for the Red Raiders...served as the backup to three-year starting catcher Cooper Fouts but along the way made 13 starts behind the dish and nine as the designated hitter...finished the season as one of six Red Raiders to hit over the .300 mark (.321)...posted 27 hits in 84 at-bats along with three doubles, two home runs and 18 RBI...totaled a .429 slugging percentage and a .473 on-base percentage...drew 22 walks on the year and was 1-for-1 in stolen base attempts...ended the season with seven multiple-hit/multiple-RBI games...his season long hitting streak was a four-game stretch that began on April 23rd against Kansas and ended on May 5th against Dallas Baptist...had a career day against Dallas Baptist on May 7th as he went 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored...IN THE BIG 12...made 17 appearances in conference action and earned seven starts...finished league play with a .265 batting average (9-for-34) and added five RBI...had multiple-hit games in two different contests against Nebraska (May 15th and May 25th)...posted two RBI against Oklahoma State on April 8th and Oklahoma on May 22nd"

Notice that he played behind the starting incumbent senior the entire year...............

He respected that senior catcher and that senior helped him make the transition.

He did pass all of his classes that spring.

Those seniors sitting at the card table and that best ally and worst enemy coach did not return for his sophmore season.

A young freshman catcher recruit during my son's junior year told my son that he better hope he got drafted before he showed up on campus.

That young catcher did not make it through the fall cuts...........................

Thanks for letting me reminisce.

While it is only 2+ years ago, it seems like forever.

My son loved going off to college, the school, the town, new friends and his freedom. We gave him personal atonomy as to what he could do and his life at school.

Five weeks into the first semester he called to say that he was dropping his Physics class and that he didn't want to be an engineering major. I had him consult with his advisor, the academic dean and his coaches. With their input he was down to 12 units.

As the semester went on I had no clue as to how he was doing. However, when the semester was over he found out that he failed his Calculus class for engineers (an 8AM class). The realization was that he had only completed 9 units. On top of that he had done poorly in one class and his GPA was at a point that returning to college was in question.

He calls his coach shares with him what had transpired. A quick review of NCAA rules covering elgibility and he knew that if he did not improve a grade in at least one class or he would not be playing baseball.

With a well written e-mail to his professors, he got one to agree to let him retake his final. The catch was that he needed an A on the retake to get a B or a B to get a C. With this glimmer of hope, he met with a tutor 3 hours per day for 10 days straight over Christmas.

He went back to school, retook the final and did well enough so that he met the minimum academic standards of the NCAA.

In the end, he learned a tough lesson. He almost lost what he thought was the most important to him. In the end he missed the first 2-weeks of spring practice getting his eligibility back. However, what he did get was a very valueable lesson as to what it means to be a college student and the consequences if you don't take care of business.

Baseball was realitively easy his first year. Other than a panic call one night where he confessed that he "sucked" and that he did not have enough time to play baseball, get to all classes, study, eat and get his laundry done. This feeling was realitively short lived when he called the next day to say that he had hit 2 HR's in a scrimage.

The freshman year is tough. For my son it was manageing his academics and learning what it means to be college student. I have seen others that struggle with adjustments in baseball.

In the end, it is what they learn from being challenged which helps them grow as students and ultimatly as productive adults.

Good stuff from iheartbb, FO, and ILUVBB --- good stuff!! I remember the fist thing my son said when he called after starting his freshman year of college. Dad, the head coach sure has changed a lot since he recruited me.
Fungo

Wow, this is good stuff! Thanks for all your stories. They are reassuring to a mom whose son has already encountered some bumps in the road during the first 6 weeks of school. Anyone else care to chime in?

I also know of a couple of guys (at seperate schools) who are ready and begging to come home. For the first time in their lives they are not number one, and they do not know how to handle it. Things were easy for them up to this point, not so much anymore. Neither one had any real outside interests other than baseball and are not real social. For them both it is mostly an ego adjustment - in the environment they are in now, nobody knows what kind of BMOC they were in high school, and everyone they are with now was a BMOC at their school. I Truly hope they can find something other than baseball to validate themselves. Their gut reaction has been to want to come back to where it is safe. One did a lot of showcasing, all the showcasing in the world cannot pepare you for your first year away. It has been a rude awakening for a player that constantly heard how good he was.

This is a great thread, thank you all for sharing your stories of freshman year. Son is 6 weeks into his freshman year and so far no huge pitfalls (that we know of).

He went up to school about a week early at the invitation of some older players that he met on is official visit. They invited him to stay with them in their house and help with a charity golf tourney (Natalie Gulbus was playing- a huge lure for an 18 yr old). Anyway it was nice for him to have some bonding time with teammates before things got too hectic. They talked to him about how hard freshman year is to adjust but it gets easier.

He loves his team, coaches, school, and roommate. But, midterms are coming up so we'll see how he's adjusted to college academics.

So far the impression I get is that he is being mentored by the older player at his position and all the guys seem to be very welcoming. The coaches are really approachable and son seems to be learning from them and liking them alot.

Fall ball/lifting weights/study hall/classes/homework don't leave him much extra time but he's really happpy. I only wish he'd call more......

So in our case, so far it's great overall. But, I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

quote:

Originally posted by Fungo:
Good stuff from iheartbb, FO, and ILUVBB --- good stuff!! I remember the fist thing my son said when he called after starting his freshman year of college. Dad, the head coach sure has changed a lot since he recruited me.
Fungo

Honeymoon was over early , huh?

FO I enjoyed your post.

My son's biggest adjustment was realizing that college classwork was way different than HS. You have to study and not daydream in studyhall (required first sememster), use your time wisely. Work hard and you get released from study hall second semester, mess up anytime and you are back again. Great incentive to do your work. He was going to school to get an education AND play baseball, not the other way around. it took a semester to realize that. As much as he hated study all, it became a regular for him, to study quietly or seek assistance when needed.
In late september freshman fall, I got a call from his academic advisor, son was not doing as well as expected (though I had prior discussions with dave about failing some early quizes). They had loaded him with 18 credits as a freshman because of his GPA and SAT in HS. He set forth a plan for him to improve, which included speaking to each professor if he didn't understand the material or what he could do to improve his grades (extra class work) and use the resources proviede to student athletes. The day after finals, I received another phone call from him, son missed a 3.0 by one tenth of a point. He was so proud of the progress and felt he was over the academic hump. I hitnk that his competitive nature helped with his classroom success and made ACC academic for a few sememsters after that (4) plus preisdents honor role. He loved that recognition even more than recognition for baseball.

Now for baseball adjustments, understand that most of our kids have been through it and survived.

Attending a big school with many distractions and learning about your priorities is important for success on and of the field. Understand that while you may have a coach that gets a report on you every 3 weeks from the academic advisor, they pretty much can't control what you do off of the field. But after a few weeks of freedom of living on your own, they find the balance or they won't survive (ineligible).

Another big adjustment for son was that he never failed on the field. First season he forgot how to throw strikes , and I remember at one point he called to come home also (i can relate FO). But he had a great pitching coach who never took the ball away, in fact kept giving it to him and worked with him and his confidance. This is NORMAL to want to give up. It happens to everyone, sometimes early on, sometimes the second or third season. His coaches were tough, but a lot of it was a lot of tough love, they cared very much about him and he liked that it wasn't just all about the game for them. These periods come and go, but after teh first year, the player seems to be able to adjust on his own without help from teh coaches. besides, you are now OLDER and more wiser than teh new guys, you got to be a good example. BTW, most of my son's friends were older teamamtesa and they provided great advice and models for him, so that worked in his favor. They watched over him and he did the same for others as he got older.

His pitching coach told me something once, the bumps in the road are so normal, he often worries about those that don't have the bumps, because when it happens all h*ll can break loose and some don't recover from the failure. He taught son well. You learn from your failures not your successes. We did the same, but it seems more convincing coming from someone who becomes your teacher,mentor and confidant.

Our reactions to the struggels became that of concern and being a good listener. We never told him what to do unless he asked, he was at a point in his life where he had to figure things out on his own. One thing about son, you may find with yours as well, he will never accept excuses (which we as parents often give thinking that this makes them feel better) he takes full reponsibility and finds ways to correct what's wrong. We saw that more evident his last year at school. I am sure he had some great advice, but it didn't come from us.

Your son will have practices and games when he is on top of the world and other times he feels like he's hit the bottom of the pit. You as a parent have to learn to go with the flow because this is how it is. Learn to listen, that's really all they want, and learn not to pry, when they want their space.
You think the ride ends after they sign, nope, it's just beginning.

Bum, Jr. has been adjusting fine to campus life (he's an incoming freshman) and the older kids on the team have been great in that they are teaching him and showing him what it will take to be successful at the D1 level. He's already mentally tough and very coachable but I'm glad he's continuing to do the right things after he has left home.. he's been working hard in class, shadowing the seniors in the weight room, and learning what it takes to get outs at this level.

His first fall scrimmage was an eye-opener. He K'd the first two guys and got out of the first inning easily. The second inning, I'm guessing his adrenaline took effect.. he said he was pumped as it was his first showing.. he gave up a hit, walked a guy, hit a batter, then gave up a grand slam on a change up low and away. Welcome to D1 baseball!

He's making the necessary adjustments. Last outing was a lot better--no walks and 4 k's in three innings with two runs allowed. I think it's just a matter of time until he finds how to pitch to these guys. It's all about experience. Oh..and he rang the bell in a scrimmage game (hit 90). I'll admit I was personally jacked about that. Overall I'd say it has been challenging and exciting for him.

I enjoy these stories.

Sons freshman fall was outstanding, he did so well he was ranked 9th best freshman in the country that year. It gets eaier to keep pitching to the same players day in and day out and the pitchers often get the upper hand.

THEN, season begins and you pitch to guys you've never pitched to before, some of them the best hitters in your conference, some the best in the country.

Then the real ride begins.

Same thing for hitters, the very good ones figure out the pitchers who are pitching to them for weeks in practice, sometimes they get the upper hand. They adjust well. Then after trying to hit 90+ FB all fall, they encounter the low 80 guys and there goes the timing. Same for teh guys hitting the low 80 guys well, now they get thrown teh 90+ FB and can't handle it.

The winners (pitchers and hitters) are the ones who learn to adjust to all situations.

My son is about 3 months into his freshman year. Coming from a small town and going to a large school, it seemed best to let him acclimate himself to it during summer school. Figured fewer people and long days would allow him to learn the campus, learn the ins and outs and also prepare himself physically for what he would endure once fall session began. It was money well spent! Alot of his teammates were there for summer school so when he walked in during the fall, he already knew most of his teammates as well as alot of other students.

During the fall, he has really had to learn time management, but seems to be doing alright with it. Study time hasn't been a problem as he is required to spend at least 9 hours a week in study hall. 15 class hours, along with 6am lifting and 3 o'clock practices don't leave alot of time for anything else, thus weekends are spent on campus and not at home. (social time you know!)

Like others have said, baseball wise it is an everyday adjustment. No more batting practice or infield work, everything is pitching and PFP. That was a big adjustment for him. First intrasquad, 6 batters, 3 K's, 2 popups and a flyout. Next outing, 2 pitches gives up a jack and then the rains ended practice. I told him to think of it as a closer and he just blew a save, game over. LOL

I think the biggest adjustment has been for me. I miss coming home from work and changing clothes and heading to the batting cage. I miss arguing over what pitch was just thrown on TV. I just plain miss my son!

My son has adapted to his independence very well, college life, athletically, academically, and socially seem to agree with him very well.

Kevin11,
So what's stopping you from coming home from work, changing and heading over to the cages?

Glad to hear your player is doing well!

Big Kev I know how you feel buddy. I miss my son as well. Like Josh is your best friend Jeff is mine. We spent so much time together its really tough. Hey you can move down here and we can fish , hunt and hang out. How's that? Seriously I have never met a finer young man than your son. Not only is he a very talented baseball player he is a gem of a young man. You are very lucky to have him for a son.

Coach,
Thank you for the compliments! And right back at you. We are both very lucky in the amount and quality of time we've got to spend with our sons. I guess that may have something to do with how they turned out, our maybe they turned out great despite us.

I can't think of anything I would rather do than move to Stem and fish everyday with a great friend. Can we go get fried bologna and egg and cheese biscuits every morning at that grocery store?

I hope things are going equally well for Jeff! You need to call me sometime when you have a minute and we can talk. I tried to catch you in the chat room the other day but missed you. I am off to UT today to watch their first Orange and White game. Maybe we can get up tomorrow and brag about our boys and catch up.

TPM,
All is not lost! I actually had 2 young men come by my office yesterday and ask if I would start working with them at the cage and field!

WOW!

What a great thread! Great stories!
I'm missing my 09 son and he hasn't even left yet (another 10 months).
We are leaving in an hour for a tournament at East Cobb, Georgia and after reading this thread I am really going to enjoy this weekend.

Maybe Jim Croce was on to something with his "Saving time in a bottle"???

Come on you guys, you're making me jealous. Son is in bedroom with girlfriend, we haven't done anything together in years except fight. I thought I did all the right things taking him to his games, etc. Home every day from work, don't smoke or drink.

Where did I go wrong????

Enjoy your time together, time passes so quickly.

You didn't do anything wrong, your son's head and hormones are just in a different place right now, which is in his bedroom with is girlfriend!

Not all children remain very attached with their folks when the HS years arrive. I fought with my daughter constantly, and now we are best friends, very close, that's just the way it is sometimes.

Unfortunately my son's freshman year from a baseball standpoint has not been what he or his mother and I expected. My son played HS BB in the Northeast and was the starting SS for his high school team and for his travel team. He had a few of solid offers. One from a DII school (with scholarship) but school didn't offer the academic program he wanted. The other school, D III that strongly recruited him had a so so baseball program. Most of all both schools were in the NE and my son wanted to play in the south so he could play more games and be outside more often (basically not stuck in a gym all winter). The third was from a DIII program in NC that saw him play at a showcase. Coach was very high on him and strongly recruited him. Since this school had the academics and a strong BB program this is where we decided he would go. The coach was thrilled. At the September meeting my son learned that fall baseball was actually a fall tryout. Once the so called "try outs" began it now dawned on him that the coach had brought in six other middle infielders and there were 60 players in all. Due to a hamstring injury that happened during the summer his chance at a middle infield position went away almost immediately. His only shot now at "making" the team came about as a pitcher and that shot has now basically come and gone even though he performed fairly well during the weeks of scrimmages. I know this is a long recap and I know I've also not written everything but I'm trying to give as quick a background as I can. At this point my son is crushed and feels he has lost all opportunity to play college ball (especially since he had other solid offers and let them go). We never expected a "tryout" nor was this ever explained by the coach for recruited players. My son was also not the only one this happened to and to his credit he has spoken with the coach about all of this but hasn't gotten too far, other than the fact the school has a JV squad. Tough to play on DIII JV when you were good enough to play D II. At this point he wants out of the school, even if it means he never plays again. My question now though is how do we go about finding another program at this point? Also even if we find a school is it possible to transfer and still play this spring? Any ideas suggestions?

koosman, I am so sorry about the rough start your son has endured in college. It must have been extremely disappointing not only to him but also to you, his parents, when you realized that his roster spot was not guaranteed.

As the mom of a college freshman, I will defer to more experienced parents to guide you through the maze of identifying transfer opportunities. However, I encourage you to ask fairly specific questions when you are evaluating other programs.

My son strongly considered two programs when he was being recruited and we asked both head coaches about him being guaranteed a spot on the team not just for the first year, but for all 4 years.

Coach #1 was very vague with his answer. Sure enough, he has 41 on his roster this year, meaning he will have to cut at least 6 from the team by January to conform to the new NCAA regulations.

Coach #2 replied that our son would never be cut from the team, apart from academic or off-the-field issues. He currently has 34 on his roster and, to my knowledge, every player has been guaranteed a spot on the team.

Different coaches do things differently and I encourage you to respectfully ask pointed questions so there are no unhappy surprises at your son's next school.

Best wishes as you sort through his options.