keeping a job during baseball

What about school (academics)? We pretty much discouraged our sons from having a job during baseball so they could focus completely on school and baseball and nothing more (except for girlfriends I guess).

We kind of looked at it like this:

1. God
2. Family
3. School
4. Baseball
.......
1001. Everything else

My oldest (now in college) worked forty hours a week at $10 an hour in the summer being a nanny plus some some baby sitting during the year. She played three varsity sports plus travel softball.

The younger one (freshman now, also playing three sports plus travel baseball) worked part time at fourteen in the summer delivering lunch to golf carts on the course last summer.

They get some slack on expenses for being top students. But their cell costs between them was only $30 a month. $10 each for family plan lines plus $10 to bump up a plan for more minutes. They have to pay for the texting upgrade.

My kids don't buy many expensive clothes. They've become very savvy at Marshalls, Ross and TJ Maxx. They ask for the expensive stuff for Christmas and birthdays.

I'm not sure why kids have to be pampered now. I worked in the hot sun for eight hours a day in the summer and played Legion ball at night.

At our home we follow the same priorities as Justbaseball. My guy gets up at 5AM to workout on his own when the H.S. program is not. He goes to school all day and practices until after dark. Eats, does schoolwork and sleeps to start the process over the next day. I figured that Baseball was his job, a job we all love. He works hard at it, so I believe it takes the place of a job. We support him financially through this time and when he has some down time we put him to work around the house.

We omitted expensive clothes and expensive wheels from our guy's vocabulary. He gets top baseball equipment, but everything else is from JC Penny's (on sale prices).

It will be the same way in College. We know what we signed up for! LOL.

My son mowed lawns the summer after his freshman year and got tired of it, saying he wanted to do something different the following year. The summer after his sophomore year, a teammate's father who owned a remodeling company agreed to let him work on the days he didn't have baseball. He did demolition and scraped floors 8 hours a day in un-air conditioned houses. After that summer of drudgery, he said he wanted to resume mowing lawns!

My son worked in high school and it worked for him. He deliverd pizzas so what he could make on one or two nights was good money. He did it because he wanted to and we felt he was able to handle it. Monday nights and saturday nights. Varsity always had first practice, 3 pm in the afternoon so his evenings were free. The coach would allow those who worked to leave early if they had to.

He was able to do this on and off for two years (junior/senior years) but as a sophmore just learning to drive he worked in the kitchen, which he loved.



I am not sure if he would have been able to do that with arriving home by 7pm each night.

My son did some umpiring for lower age groups during the summer and fall. It was sometimes tough to stick to a schedule, especially as he got older, but it was a good experience and paid him pretty well. During the HS season there was just too much going on to even consider a job. There are always temp hirings for seasonal work at the malls for Christmas. He did that once and ended up staying on part time until mid February.

Our son worked at a golf course, as a cart attendant. They were very understanding of his schedule and very accomodating.

During high school the only jobs I had were during the summer, and they were always from hook-ups from my parents or friend's parents so that they wouldn't interfere with baseball

I have seen excellent parents do it both ways. It just comes down to a family decision.

I would say I actually prohibited my baseball playing son from working during high school. The job was pushed out of the picture by more important things. I have seen high school athletes work and play sports and some do it effectively. Others allow the job and the money that comes from a job to control their lives and they end up sacrificing academics, athletics, and their social life for the $$. I don’t think there is a right or a wrong way as both have advantages and disadvantages. I have a 17yo grandson that works two jobs, earns about $2,800.00 a month 12 months a year and carries a 4.0 GPA. He doesn’t play sports and manages his money and his time quite well.

My son did not work during the spring during high school baseball season. In the fall, he would umpire little league baseball games. Keeping the grades up was a high priority in our household.

In the summer during his sophomore and junior years, he lifeguarded. They would work around his summer baseball schedule. After his senior year, he got a job as a golf cart attendant and absolutely loved it! They also worked around his baseball schedule and he got to play golf free at the course. Both lifeguarding and the golf cart attendant jobs were flexible enough that he still got his working out in also. Both jobs also did drug testing - just another good check to keep him in line.

He saved the money he made during the summers and is now using that money for all of his college spending money. We paid for the cell phone, gas, etc. It is amazing how "cheap" he has become now that he is spending his own money. We've actually had to lecture him about how nobody likes a "tightwad" and to be sure and pay his own way around the friends.

orioles13,

I actually thought for a moment that your thread might be about how PARENTS can keep a job during their sons' (or daughters') sports seasons! There were some summers when my son's travel baseball definitely cut down on my work hours.

We did not encourage our sons to have jobs during their HS years because they were so active in baseball and hockey (older son) and music (younger son). Both of them did a little paid work here and there (yard work, etc.), but it probably totalled under 40 hours for a whole summer.

Since starting college, both have worked in the summers, and I have been very pleased to see their satisfaction and pride at earning a paycheck. I think their somewhat tedious summer jobs have also motivated them to work hard in college so that they can find a career doing something more interesting.

Julie

My oldest actually umpires games when he can. During the HS season, he can do games on Saturdays once district play starts. He can determine when we works, is around the great game and has learned to appreciate the "bad calls" at little more.

My son worked in a retail store while in HS and he works in college in the cafeteria with a free meal plan. He workd all the college football games and is catering a wedding next this week after his finall exam for the semester. He really enjoys the job and the spending money.

Son received baseball scholarships totaling over $30,000 for the 4 years he's been in school. I feel like that's quite a contribution. He sure would have never saved that much $ working. I don't think there's enough time in the day to do both (education and sports) and really expect to excel. When son started his junior year I asked coach about work/study and he said it wouldn't work for a baseball player.

Son does volunteer work in the classroom for the developmentally disabled kids over the summer. We figure doing that is worth our paying for the cell phone, etc.

First summer son did not go play baseball, he worked for Clemson camp and made some nice money. Players not playing in summer should inquire about working summer camps. He also worked at the cape the summer he attended there. It paid for his weekly housing commitment and gas. Lots of the kids around here would umpire, it worked well with their schedules.

My son also got a great scholarhsip so we felt he didn't have to work during college (summers). But this was something that he wanted to do. He felt that his working (up early each am) summers also helped him to stay on schedule (up early each day) for easier adjustment in the fall.

When he first told us in HS he wanted to work, I felt the same as Fungo, a little bit of money and independence can be distracting. But what I have found is that often seperates the ones who are very serious about the game and those who just look upon it as just a game.

Hi!
In looking back, I personally believe our sons' work experiences better prepared them for the demands of college and pro ball than their baseball experiences. Through work they learned time management, persistance, respect for authority, the value of money, and responsibility at an impressionable age... all of which were vital to their future success.

As for high school jobs, both worked part time as cart attendants at a local golf course in the summer and fall. During holiday breaks in college they worked camps, gave lessons, and delivered pizza.... mowed their collegiate wood bat league fields in the summer for extra cash.

Baseball skills and experience will only take your son so far. High academic expectations combined with real work experience and extra curricular activities (baseball) are the best way IMHO to prepare him for ALL that lies ahead...both on and off the field.

My son got his Soc Sec # and a SC driver's liscence all on his own. He also applied for the Cafe job and when he hadn't heard anything he tracked the supervisor down and asked again until he got the job. Now he is working regularly for 2 years and enjoys it. They work around his BB shedule . He is one of those guys who doesn't study a lot so it hasn't cut into his academic schedule either.
I think the experience of working is just as important as the education. It prepares you for working with people and gives you confidence in yourself.

quote:

Originally posted by TxMom:
Hi!
In looking back, I personally believe our sons' work experiences better prepared them for the demands of college and pro ball than their baseball experiences. Through work they learned time management, persistance, respect for authority, the value of money, and responsibility at an impressionable age... all of which were vital to their future success.

I think that son's work experience helped in his college/baseball experience. He also had to learn how hard it is to make money and was stingy on spending it.

Son works for a small café’, only on Saturdays and Sundays (when not playing ball). It was his choice to work; he cannot stand to be idle. I told him if his grades dropped, he would have to quit. He has been working for 2 years and is still bringing home the grades. We do not allow him to work during the week when in school. He also umpires little league during the summer.

Son was a ball/bat "boy" for the Grapefruit league one summer but otherwise just has not had time. He worked in conjunction with his Summer Ball League (NECBL)at the YMCA for the month of July and enjoyed the work and money. I told him in High School and COllege that it was just too much to keep up with Baseball games, practices and workouts, Family obligations and school. He very quickly volunteered to give up school!?!?

I work saturdays and sundays year round.During the summer,I pick up extra hours in the morning,because at night we have workouts or games

during the year,we practice until about 6-6:30 each night,so weekends are the only option.During the season,they work around my ball schedule because I give it to my boss about 3 months before our first game

it can be done

I'm not at this point in my life with my kids yet, but I've been around lots of 17-18 year olds as their coach. Here are some of the ways those kids handled a job:

1. Almost none of them worked during the school year. Academics and baseball were the priority to mom and dad.

2. For a summer job, they would prepare in March or April. They would scour the town for employers who would give them a job that ended at 3:00 PM so they could get something to eat and get to the field by 4:15. If this meant they had to get up at 5:30 AM, then that is what they did.

3. Over the years, we had parents who had their own businesses. Even after they were gone from the program, they would make available jobs to players in our program.

*** I see discussion on cell phones. I guess my question would be this...if mom and dad think their son needs a cell phone, why don't they pay the bill and manage the amount of time it is used? If mom and dad don't think a cell phone is necessary, then why get one?

In high school, I had a job for a little while freshman year. That was working Saturdays and I only worked 5 or 6 before they quit calling. I worked at a plants wholesaler unloading semis from Florida. Was hard work, but I was making decent money and the work didn't really bother me.

Between having basketball games on Saturday mornings to having double headers on Saturday, I couldn't work very much so that ended that.

I didn't have a steady job again until this past summer after high school.

Between 3 sports, school clubs, SCHOOL, Scouts, work just did not fit in.

Summertime wasn't much different. I tried umpiring one summer, but I wasn't very good and I didn't like it.

I couldn't really work during the summer because I'd have football 3 times a week at 7:30AM until 10:30-11ish and basketball from 8-10 on those other days. Then I played ball in the evening as well as playing basketball in the evenings some.

But I'll tell you what-- those were fun days! Working out 5-6 hours a day! And getting to compete.

My parents paid for my cell phone (20 bucks every 50 days or so) and paid for the gas in the car (20 bucks every 10-15 days).

quote:

If mom and dad don't think a cell phone is necessary, then why get one?

Heresey! Next you'll be suggesting they take the big yellow loser cruiser to high school.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

quote:

If mom and dad don't think a cell phone is necessary, then why get one?

Heresey! Next you'll be suggesting they take the big yellow loser cruiser to high school.

Hmmmm, not a bad idea.

Dad bought a computer, printer and an internet connection when I was 14. I didnt ask for it though. This was 1996. Once I figured out how to use those three tools I started making money from home. It fit in very nicely with school, two varsity sports and hanging out with my peeps.

I remember high school in the 70's and envying my friend who didn't work and concentrated his time on school work. His parents lived in the smallest house in the neighborhood, but they sacrificed. He was a straight-A student who became an engineer. I worked about 20-30 hours a week and my grades suffered.

My son has concentrated on baseball and debate, and combined with school work he has no time for trouble and barely enough time for his girlfriend. And we sacrifice, too. He'll be going to school on a scholly so I feel the sacrifice has paid some dividends. For the parents who have no choice and need the money I almost envy you in a way, because your kids are learning the lesson of self-sacrifice. There are many ways to go, and each family decides what's best.

quote:

For the parents who have no choice and need the money I almost envy you in a way, because your kids are learning the lesson of self-sacrifice. There are many ways to go, and each family decides what's best.

It doesn't take not having money to learn lessons. My father told me he wasn't paying for my college. He said I'd be very motivated coming out of college in debt. I paid for everything the ride didn't include, which was a lot of it. At least the cost of college hadn't gone through inflation yet.

I've made it very clear to my kids while they live a very good life, there's a difference between need and want. They get what they need and some of what they want. They rest of what they want they have to earn themselves. The deal with my kids and college (oldest is in college) is I pay until they don't get at least a 3.0. Then they pay. It's also the deal in my oldest's academic side of her ride. College is too expensive to waste the money.

quote:

Originally posted by RJM:
It doesn't take not having money to learn lessons. My father told me he wasn't paying for my college. He said I'd be very motivated coming out of college in debt. I paid for everything the ride didn't include, which was a lot of it. At least the cost of college hadn't gone through inflation yet.

I beleive in the above statment.

Ours wanted to go play at UM. At costs then of over 40K a year, we told him he better do well in baseball and in school because he would share part of the debt later on. It wasn't because we couldn't afford it, but I remember when I was in college, I couldn't care less how much it cost. He worked very hard knowing what would be. As it is things turned out well, he got a great scholarship somewhere else and we felt that he had done his fair share. It cost us very little to send him to college and he has no college debt. He also has been given quite a bit of money to finish someday. I do beleive that what we told him, he took seriously.
The big thing around here is you turn 16 guys want a brand new car, mine got my paid off used car, I got a new one. We told him if he maintained straight A's (he missed with one C but we let it slide)and got into a good school with a nice scholarship he could have what he wanted. He lived up to his part of the bargain so we had to as well.

As far as working in HS, we frowned upon it at first, but he never slipped under a 4.0 and never missed baseball, so we couldn't complain.

I am a big beleiver also in teaching the differences between wants and needs. If you need it, we'll get it for you, if you want it, you get it yourself, or wait for birthdays and holidays.

I beleive if someone is motivated, whatever teh reasons, they work hard.

My older one was different, she wasn't an A student so we didn't make the same deals, we were just glad she got throuhg HS.

The point is, every family is different, every situation is different, every child is different, there is no one size fits all.