My 2018 has committed to a NE10 school as P/OF, great young coach and school is a great fit for him. Growing up in Georgia, how much of a shock will the weather in Mass be for him and how is the travel in this league during the season?
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Congratulations to your son! I know my son experienced shock coming from FL to anywhere north, but everyone is different and Mass is a great state.
D2 baseball is awesome, enjoy his senior year.
Congratulations to your son FourKids! On the weather, kids are resilient. Layers, layers, layers!
Fourkids,
I'm not going to lie to you, the weather will be an adjustment. I grew up in the Northeast so I didn't know any better. My kids grew up in Virginia and my oldest son had an adjustment playing in Upstate NY. Many of the baseball fields up north are artificial turf, so that is a plus. The problem is team practices in the cold specifically hitting and outfield. Many northern teams travel south for the start of the season and that is their first time outside....and it showed. This happened to my sons team two out of his four years playing college baseball.
I played tennis in the Northeast 10 about 35 years ago when my school was D2. The school has since moved to D1. The travel was not bad at all. We played a mix of D1 and D2 and our farthest match was probably 2.5 hours. Based on the mix of the Northeast 10 today, I don't think it is that much different for travel requirements.
Best of luck to your son!
Thank you all. He is excited and we are looking forward to spending time in New England!
Woukd you like to see pictures of the snow higher than the bottom of the living room window? Or play find the car in the driveway?
If he’s in CT, RI or near NYC chances are it won’t be so bad.
Congrats to you and your son!
My son was being recruited by a school in NW NY. I asked him if he had lost his mind, going from central Texas where you can do baseball year around to a place where it snows in the spring time. He finally caught on and said thanks but no thanks!
Cogratualtions. He will be fine. Like others said layers.
From a practical standpoint, I would send him up there with a starter supply of cold weather sports clothing. I like Nike Hyperwarm or Under Armour ColdGear. Also warm socks from SmartWool or Drymax. The new fabric technologies are pretty amazing and can make a huge difference in staying comfortable in cold weather.
For pitchers in particular, I think about hands. Not a lot you can do, but cold weather sucks moisture from your skin, so good lotion helps. Some guys also keep HotHands packs in their back pocket, which will knock the chill off between pitches.
I don't know if the map below is up to date, but it should give you an idea of travel. I don't think every team in each of the two divisions of the NE10 all play each other, so your son's team may not make the longest trips.