How Long Before...

cbg,
Good post.
Looking back to summer before college I am sorry that I didn't send mine off sooner to condition take a class or two. Instead he played bb which actually for a pitcher, IMO, meant nothing in the scheme of things. You do get enough time in fall practice.

Summer is a good time to get adjusted to your surroundings, work with the trainers but NCAA regulations I do beleive prevents a baseball coach from coaching during the summer. I know that many have a way of getting around the rules. Most coaches also are not in attendance during summer but many do prefer that their players begin early to get a jump start on classes, which may or may not be covered under scholarship, so this can become an added expense for parents. However, possibly what some pay for summer ball could have covered classes and some other expenses. Some coaches do prefer their players to go play before they arrive, rather than do nothing.
For fall sports, this is their practice period, keep that in mind.

quote:

How long will it take before the college baseball programs require the players to attend summer school after graduation from high school?

I think this is a good question without necessarily right or wrong answers. I think a player can make either approach work - take time off and focus on academics in the summer or play baseball all summer long.

I'll give you my take but by no means do I think it is the right/only answer...

To me baseball is a summer sport and that is the best time to play it. Coming from the north, it is almost unheard of not to play as much baseball as possible during the warm-weather months. For southern and western ball players who can play year around, these type of decisions may not be as hard to make.

I feel that it is important for ball players to play and thus would be reluctant to advise my son to take time off. More importantly, he loves playing the game so I would never have to offer that type of advice to him.

I think coaches would rather have them play as well in order for them to continue their development. IMHO, the easier part of the college athletics experience is getting recruited. The hard part is getting on the field of play come spring. For freshman to take the summer off before fall workouts, that might place them at a big disadvantage given that most of their upper-classmen teammates are playing in the collegiate leagues all summer long. My best advice is to get in outstanding physical condition and be prepared to perform come fall. Some kids can "out-athlete" any rustiness they might have from a layoff. I suspect many would be better advised to play if at all possible and thus show-up on campus ready to turn someone's head.

We met a kid this summer who signed with Vandy to play in 2008 and he and another boy were taking their English classes in the summer before school started plus working out with the team. He was not from the state of Tennessee and he said already being at school was helping him learn his way around campus, meet new people, work high school showcases,etc. He looked happy to us-he did say the English papers were hard-haa haa-

Son was signed up for 16 hours this fall until recruiting coordinator advised 12-13 max. Same for spring semester. The saving grace is that the school offers numerous "mini-sessions" where you can earn 3 hours' credit in 1 week's time. He'll be taking one in mid-August and one in early January so he can carry a lighter workload the rest of the year.

During recruiting to UF the coaches told son they would like all players to come take a class and work with trainer first summer. Also, after a really long freshman season with 70+ innings son was advised to not head off to summer ball. There is a coach in the ACC that prefers that his players stay around school, work camp and take classes. So I am thinking if you polled coaches you might find different opinions. I think it's a good question to ask during recruiting.

It is a personal preference, however I'll bet come frst spring lots of your kids will be happy they have a lighter load.