Congrats gapper to your son and also to you. Fremd runs a nice program.
Zombywoof, not sure how the rest of the coutry does it but Frem for ex probably has 3500 students os so and most schools around here run 2 fresh teams of 15 or so each, 1 soph team maybe 22 or 23 and a varsity. I have always loked the 2 frosh teams as it allows some late bloomers to have a chance down the road as they develop. Some soph get moved up to varsity at most schools depending on the needs at each position. System works pretty well imo.
Congratulations
Congrats...Enjoy the Season! 
Congrats to InTheGap12 and son. Nothing quite like that feeling is there?
Now on to the rigors of the late winter/early spring baseball season in northern Illinois. Best of luck for the upcoming season.
Now on to the rigors of the late winter/early spring baseball season in northern Illinois. Best of luck for the upcoming season.
congratulations to your son. enjoy these years, they go by quickly.
Congrats. Glad it all went well for your son.
Congrats to your son - dress warm! 
Did he make it ?
Excellent!!! Way up here we won't have tryouts till the 22nd. Glad your son made one of the teams.
InTheGap12:
Congrats to your son. Make sure he enjoys the moment and is prepared to work hard and have fun.
Congrats to your son. Make sure he enjoys the moment and is prepared to work hard and have fun.
quote:Originally posted by InTheGap12:
Just got back from picking him, the look on his face walking out the door said it all - smiling ear to ear! Thanks for all the encouragement and kind words.
And good luck to the rest of the boys and dads going through the stress of waiting.
I am one proud dad!
Now sit back and enjoy the ride! Congrats!
Congrats to your son! I know the feeling from my son's soph season last year until he got the good news. It's nerve-wracking for us parents; I can't imagine how it must feel for the boys themselves.
Tell your son, he's earned himself this opportunity through his hard work. Enjoy and celebrate this moment! But now the real hard work begins, in making the most of this opportunity. My son only pitched a few innings and DH'd or pinch hit last year. But he earned a reputation as a clutch player, and that has paid huge dividends. Most importantly, he learned an invaluable lesson about doing whatever the team needed him to do, and that has stayed with him even off the field.
Best of luck for a great season!
PD
Tell your son, he's earned himself this opportunity through his hard work. Enjoy and celebrate this moment! But now the real hard work begins, in making the most of this opportunity. My son only pitched a few innings and DH'd or pinch hit last year. But he earned a reputation as a clutch player, and that has paid huge dividends. Most importantly, he learned an invaluable lesson about doing whatever the team needed him to do, and that has stayed with him even off the field.
Best of luck for a great season!
PD
Congrats and good luck on his upcoming season !
quote:Originally posted by CPLZ:
Great news, congratulations to your son.
The Varsity asst at our HS told me that when Junior was a freshman, the coaches had him slated to be cut as a soph and not make the soph team. He had a good fall showing and made the soph starting rotation.
At varsity as a Junior, he couldn't get a varsity start.
As a senior, he set most of the school pitching records.
Now as a junior at college, his pitching coach refers to him as the leader of the staff in front of the team.
From being a late bloomer myself, to a worrying parent later, the one lesson I always pounded into my kids heads...The world is not ordered as you see it today, it will change, you need to work to be part of the positive change.
Tell him to continue to work hard and good things will continue to come.
Thats AWESOME for the young Gapper, have a GREAT time and GREAT season....
CPLZ's story should be told to every HS ballplayer that thinks "why am I doing this, I don't even play in the games." Please kids, show some passion, and be persistent. Good things will come in time.
That is great news for your son...and you. Bet you both feel about 20 lbs lighter.
Tell him he did a great job by working hard and making the team.
He now needs to understand that by making the team he earned an uniform and a spot on the bench; what he does from now on determines if he earns a spot on the field.
Keep up the hard work and keep us posted.
Tell him he did a great job by working hard and making the team.
He now needs to understand that by making the team he earned an uniform and a spot on the bench; what he does from now on determines if he earns a spot on the field.
Keep up the hard work and keep us posted.
congrats.... enjoy
Inthegap
Wow, does that bring back memories, congratulations to you and your son!
Had a very similar situation, only magnified. Had twin sons (ironically at the same high school that your son is at). One was a very advanced level travel player, it was just a question of which team he would be on and when would he be moved up to a higher team. The other son was a decent park district player, but probably loved the game even more than his twin brother. We really sweated out the tryouts and he was one of the last to make the B team at the school. He really worked hard and persevered and played all four years making varsity over several more talented players that were not nearly as motivated, or cared as much as he did.
Enjoy your time, it goes very quickly!
Wow, does that bring back memories, congratulations to you and your son!
Had a very similar situation, only magnified. Had twin sons (ironically at the same high school that your son is at). One was a very advanced level travel player, it was just a question of which team he would be on and when would he be moved up to a higher team. The other son was a decent park district player, but probably loved the game even more than his twin brother. We really sweated out the tryouts and he was one of the last to make the B team at the school. He really worked hard and persevered and played all four years making varsity over several more talented players that were not nearly as motivated, or cared as much as he did.
Enjoy your time, it goes very quickly!
This is indeed a big program, there were approx 80 at tryouts for freshman ball - they kept 30 and fill an 'A' and 'B' roster. Going into soph year they rostered 17, so 14 were cut from the freshman team (we had one new student, a stud left handed pitcher that came to school as a soph and he is on the team). There are very few players that move up to varsity, they do not need to do it as the talent pool is pretty deep around here.
But of course for every happy story like my son's there are disappointing and sad stories. Some of the cuts that were made were very tough. These kids have known eachother their whole lives, have played with and against eachother since they were in tee-ball. Every one of them played travel ball, and most of them work on their game in the offseason. I have been watching most of these kids play their whole life and it is tough to be on the other end, you know them, you know their families.
I was talking to the dad of a cut player last night - I told him I would never want to be the guy that had to pick 17 out of this group of boys.
So my heart goes out to all the players who love the game, worked over the winter, and did not make the cut. And for the players who did make it - don't slow down and look behind you because some of those cut players are not giving up and will be back next year looking to take your spot.
Not sure who said it in one of the responses, but it was said making the team gives you a uniform and a spot on the bench, so true! Practice started yesterday at 5:45 am, time to earn that spot in the lineup.
But of course for every happy story like my son's there are disappointing and sad stories. Some of the cuts that were made were very tough. These kids have known eachother their whole lives, have played with and against eachother since they were in tee-ball. Every one of them played travel ball, and most of them work on their game in the offseason. I have been watching most of these kids play their whole life and it is tough to be on the other end, you know them, you know their families.
I was talking to the dad of a cut player last night - I told him I would never want to be the guy that had to pick 17 out of this group of boys.
So my heart goes out to all the players who love the game, worked over the winter, and did not make the cut. And for the players who did make it - don't slow down and look behind you because some of those cut players are not giving up and will be back next year looking to take your spot.
Not sure who said it in one of the responses, but it was said making the team gives you a uniform and a spot on the bench, so true! Practice started yesterday at 5:45 am, time to earn that spot in the lineup.
InTheGap - good stuff.
I would be interested in hearing more about your school because it sounds similar to ours. Is your school a large public high school or a large all-boys Catholic school for example? What is the enrollment per grade?
Our school was the largest in Ohio with over 1,000 per grade. It was a big deal to make the freshman team with over 100 kids trying out. It was even a bigger deal to find playing time on the freshman team as almost all the kids came out of fine traveling programs. JV's were another big weedout time. It was a really big deal to start varsity as a junior at our school and the majority of kids did not start on varsity until they were seniors. Competition like this creates lots of anxieties. On the other hand, if you can manage to compete your way on to the field, it is a great experience for the next level after high school. Learning how to love competition is the mental key to the whole ball of wax.
I would be interested in hearing more about your school because it sounds similar to ours. Is your school a large public high school or a large all-boys Catholic school for example? What is the enrollment per grade?
Our school was the largest in Ohio with over 1,000 per grade. It was a big deal to make the freshman team with over 100 kids trying out. It was even a bigger deal to find playing time on the freshman team as almost all the kids came out of fine traveling programs. JV's were another big weedout time. It was a really big deal to start varsity as a junior at our school and the majority of kids did not start on varsity until they were seniors. Competition like this creates lots of anxieties. On the other hand, if you can manage to compete your way on to the field, it is a great experience for the next level after high school. Learning how to love competition is the mental key to the whole ball of wax.
Cleveland - it is a large public school in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Not quite as big as your school, enrollment is around 2800 - but other than a lower enrollment it sounds exactly like your school. There are fantastic student-athletes, the basketball team is currently in the state finals after going 24-2. Football team was 11-0 in 2009 and I think 10-1 in 2008. The freshman baseball teams lost 5-7 games between the A and B teams last year.. needless to say the competition for the athletes is very tough.
Now we just need this snow to melt so we can get on with it!
Now we just need this snow to melt so we can get on with it!
I'm happy for your son, Inthegap12. Just remember.. in the offseason, focus on having him working twice as hard as anyone else in the city to get better. Hard work and talent is hard to deny. Good luck.