Well I have been debating if I should put our situation out there for all to see… If I where to do so I could think of no better place then this forum to put do so. I have followed this forum for several years as I have been trying to figure out the best decisions to make for my son as he has progressed in playing the game we love. It has provided us with invaluable examples and opinions from very well meaning individuals that have been a tremendous help along the way.
After much thought I have decided that any information gained, could only help to educate myself and possible others that might find themselves in a similar situation. In short I am looking for any advice that might help us in making a difficult decision for his future. So here it is in as brief of a timeline as I can provide.
My son aspired to go to school on a division one scholarship since he was 12 years old. He worked hard and I tried to put him in a position to have as much opportunity as possible. He developed well then hit a setback when in the fall of his junior year while playing for his high school basketball team he tore his ACL in his right leg. He had surgery immediately worked really hard rehabbing his leg and was released to play baseball again in 4 ½ months. He played the second half of his high school junior year then went on into the summer with his travel team had an unbelievable summer and fall playing baseball and earned a division one scholarship. He committed early in the fall of his senior year. Went on to have an outstanding senior season where he ended up being voted unanimously as the player of the year by the coaches in his high school league while playing on a team that finished 4-15 on the season. He then went off to college in the fall of 2011 with high hopes and dreams for his future. Things changed quickly however when in the 2nd or 3rd fall practice he was rounding first base and went to decelerate and tore his right ACL again!
He again was faced with having surgery which we decided to do as soon as possible. He was dreading having to have the surgery particularly because he knew what it took to go through it once and to recover from it the first time.He was told he would be able to have the surgery at the end of one week in October and be back to classes by the middle of the following week. After the surgery he ended up missing 2 ½ weeks of school due to an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. He never recovered to catch back up with his schooling for his first semester at college, did very poorly and sank into a very low place in regard to his future. As a result it was all we could do to keep him going working to do the best he could in school. As his leg started to get better his outlook slowly started to get better but he found that without baseball he did not really care for the school he was at.
He worked hard through the winter to get better physically and grew an immense amount in learning what he needed to do to succeed in college. Ever since his injury he has said he did not want to return to the school next year and did not know if he could handle baseball and school. We have tried to encourage him to at least give it his best shot next year and see if with a better outlook and with participation in baseball he would have a better outcome now that he knows what it takes to get his work done academically. His college baseball program did not do well this spring and he regrets his choice of college. His coach ended up getting released at the end of this season. In his spring semester academically he did okay but it was not well enough to get his grades above the required minimum for participation next fall. He can take one course online this summer and if he gets a B or better he would then be academically eligible for the fall.
Meanwhile he has been released by his doctor to participate in baseball again and can start playing ball again in 3 weeks. In his exit interview however with his coach (Who now is no longer his coach) told him he does not want him playing this summer, he just wants him to train and get himself ready for next season.
It has taken from October till now for my son to finally feel right again both mentally and physically. At this point he feels like he needs a fresh start and does not want to go back to the school that he was at last year. It has been a really hard decision advising him of what we think would be best for him. On the one hand we hate to see him give up his scholarship and his dream of playing division one baseball. On the other hand we are thinking that maybe transferring to a Junior College would afford him the opportunity to get a fresh start, play baseball right away, get his grades back in line, get an associates degree in something meaningful and then possible go back to a different division 1 program in two years.
We visited a junior college last week which is close to home, has a degree program in something he is interested in, is a nationally top 10 division II Junior college. My son left our meeting with the coach enthused about the possibilities and said to me “Dad I feel like for the first time since the fall my Dream has been re-ignited” the coach really liked what he has seen of my son and in the references he has spoken with about him and said it is late in the game for next year and he was not sure if he could get him much money for school this year but that next year he would get him full tuition. We have a decision to make because financially it will be a stretch to support this change this year and we do not want to burden our son with an insurmountable amount of debt when he finishes school.
So the main question is stick with what he has even though he does not like the school and the baseball program is a mess with no coach currently, or make a change. If any one has any ideas of what the best course of action for this type of situation would be your opinions would be much appreciated.
Original Post
