Season Begins

glenbard north as well...wake up and play!.lol

5:30 AM for Burlington Central as well. Pretty good practice this morning, the kids were more awake than I thought they'd be.

I have to teach "early bird" now and so, we couldn't go at our tradtional 6:00 time for pitchers and catchers. We have to start tonight and I have 73 kids trying out so far for Varsity and JV. Freshmen go later this week since we have some problems I can't discuss. We also have a basketball game at 7:30 and the softball team also has to have access to the gym and cage. FYI, our outdoor cages still aren't up from the tornado we had last fall. WOW THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN! I CAN'T WAIT TO GET STARTED!

Coach, can you please explain the logic behind or any possible benefit the kids get being required to wake up at 4:00am on school days to practice? Studies indicate the kids are already sleep deprived. This lends itself to a multitude of incindental problems including health and educational implications. Could the reason for the early practices be, it fits the coaches schedule? Please dont tell me it teaches discipline, that reminds me of football coaches that foolishly deny water breaks in an effort to build toughness. That is until a kid comes down with major organ damage. Whose needs are being met here the coaches or the kids?

Waterloo also starts tonite but they have to work around softball as well. I believe pitchers will throw for the first time off the mound on Thursday. If basketball was to lose tonight, I'll probably start on Thursday or Friday.

Just under a month til first game!

Great post, slurve.

I've often thought the same thing...our result...availability of facilities...fieldhouses are taken up by girls volleyball and badminton after school and even basketball until the season ends.

In the early evening, they have to defer to the "senior walkers" group and various other such groups.

trying to weed out some kids...anybody have to weight lift or run to be considered?

quote:

Originally posted by slurve07:
Coach, can you please explain the logic behind or any possible benefit the kids get being required to wake up at 4:00am on school days to practice? Studies indicate the kids are already sleep deprived. This lends itself to a multitude of incindental problems including health and educational implications. Could the reason for the early practices be, it fits the coaches schedule? Please dont tell me it teaches discipline, that reminds me of football coaches that foolishly deny water breaks in an effort to build toughness. That is until a kid comes down with major organ damage. Whose needs are being met here the coaches or the kids?

It's a title IX thing in our school district. Our coach runs it so that the greatest burden is on varsity players and least on the freshman. Varsity is either very early or very late. Besides, waking up early is not a burden, it just needs to be planned for by starting sleep earlier. If the parents of those players allow their kids to stay up late the night before an early practice, how is that the coaches fault?

BTW, which studies are you referring to regarding sleep deprivation, or is that just something you saw on a 1 minute clip on the 10 o'clock news?

Slurve, for a new guy your posts seem kinda edgy. You have some axe to grind or agenda we should know about?

quote:

Originally posted by slurve07:
Coach, can you please explain the logic behind or any possible benefit the kids get being required to wake up at 4:00am on school days to practice? Studies indicate the kids are already sleep deprived. This lends itself to a multitude of incindental problems including health and educational implications. Could the reason for the early practices be, it fits the coaches schedule? Please dont tell me it teaches discipline, that reminds me of football coaches that foolishly deny water breaks in an effort to build toughness. That is until a kid comes down with major organ damage. Whose needs are being met here the coaches or the kids?

I'm not one of those "weeder outers" as a coach. I don't run them till they puke so that they don't come back and I want the best look possible before I make cuts. One major rational is gym space. We too are very limited. Every sport gets equal access to the gyms. Therefore, if you have a limited amount of time in there you have to make some concession. Getting up early is nothing for us and the majority of our kids. We've been doing plyometric training/weight room since the 2nd week of September every morning at 6:00. I say "kids" since we've had at least 6-7 girl's s****r players that have matched our baseball boys this year along with a couple of track people. Our kids in general are used to this. Yes, we could go outside today. However, we are at a disadvantage since our cages are still down due to storm damage, our field is wet, and the light is limited. Finally, and as Bulldog19 alluded to, basketball playoffs start tonight. Our JV coach is the head basketball coach. Our team really supports their friends in that program. (Many are also baseball players.) We have to get done in enough time to afford them the ability to support the basketball program. wogdoggy asked about lifting and running. Our kids tonight will get evaluated hitting in our two cages inside, they will run 2 60 yard dashes, they will throw the equivalent of 125 feet (3rd to 1st) and will throw the equivalent of 200 feet to assess arm strenght. Pitchers will throw a "half-pen" minuse any sliders. They will also be told that they don't have to throw a curve if they don't want and it will not be counted against them. All in all, we have so much work to do, with such a small staff, and in such a short period of time that we have to make use of every second.

BTW, we have a very good hockey club that traditionally comes in first in its division. It starts playoffs tonight. As I was typing this, a couple of kids came in and let me know that they have a playoff game. I could be a jerk but why. They will get their work in and go. Hockey is not an IHSA event and so, they aren't excused from practice. However, they have worked hard and I believe they deserve the opportunity to help the hockey club advance.

All of this is just what we do. I'm not saying we know it all, are perfect, and/or are even close. It is what it is. I intend for it to be fun.

WOW 5:30am practice what happend to practice at 3 after eight period in the gym why so early? so that means if you take the bus to school you have to wake up super early like 4:30 and the studs that all ready know they on the squad stroll in at like 6 if that

For most programs it just comes down to gym space. Try to get gym space now with, badminton, lacross, volleyball ect it gets tough to work it all in.

Our reason for being up that early is very simple... our gym time for today is 2:45-4:30, but with varsity basketball still going, that boots us to the morning. Sometimes at a school without good facilities, you have to make sacrifices... I'd rather not be up at 4am either.

We do normally do pitchers three days a week at 6:15 am, but that's for them to get individual work since all of our pitchers are two-way guys. It's the only time I get to see them individually. Once games start we don't go pitchers and catchers in the morning unless we have a long layoff.

Slurve...Don't pay any attention to CPL's comments about your post being "edgy".

We already know that there are some great high school baseball coaches; good high school baseball coaches; and, some that s..ck. Simple as that.

Great post.

quote:

Originally posted by Dodgers28:
Lets get back to baseball, St. Charles East hit the ground running this morning, pitchers and catchers at 5:30am. Get rid of this snow and in a few weeks we will be playing ball!

Dodgers28, you posted this and obviously, as a parent, are enthused that the season is off and running. However, you have just found out about people. Instead of the intent of the message being perceived with a matching exuberance, you find those naysayers of society attacking the coach etc. I find some of this interesting and somewhat reminiscent of others. Of course these various angles and opinions are what make this site to interesting.


Good luck this year to you and your son.

Schools with a fieldhouse are at an advantage. Since we don't have one my son had 6am pratice and go until 7am. School starts at 7:30. They have conditioning after school. We are also hosting a basketball regional so that cuts down gym time for all. He was up at 5 and wanted to get to practice by 5:30 to help set up. He happens to be a team captain and takes the leadship role seriously. Cougar235, I bet most coaches won't take kindly to players showing up late no matter if they are a stud or not.

Coach thanks you usually bat around 400 in my book. I think this is a swing and miss. Kids at this age need rest as much as they need the endless supply of food they go through. As the father of four 2 teen boys and 2 preteen girls - i know firsthand that the boys respond better, conduct themselves better and are all around more pleasant to be around when rested. I played ball back in the day and i dont recall ever having ridiculous five am practices during the week. I think you and others are doing more harm than good. Let the kids rest! Think outside the box, perhaps utilize a park district facility or even a room in the building. Plyo workouts can be done anywhere, so the argument of limited facilities rings false.

Good luck to all the HS Freshman trying out. Brings back memories of when my son was a freshman and all the nervousness of the ENTIRE house during the week of tryouts. Now that he's graduated and moved on to college I find myself missing the anxiousness of waiting to see his face after school which would tell me if he survived the next round of cuts; I think he was more nervous then I was. Those days went much too fast, so enjoy the HS experience while you can.

Mykla, just curious did your son have 5 or 6 am practices before school?

At the beginning of the season when weather was poor he had 6 am when he was on Varsity. Had very good basketball and volleyball teams who use the gyms early evening, which allowed Fresh and Sophs to use gymns right after school. The early time helped him as he was on the hockey team which had practice after school. The first few weeks of the season were tough on him (during Varsity seasons) but he survived...and still maintained a +3.0 GPA.

slurve, Excuse me but I don't believe that the "argument of limited facilities rings false" at all. Our HS does not have a fieldhouse. There are athletes of multiple sports and genders all trying to use the same limited space. What generally happens is that the varsity baseball team might have 1 or 2 very early morning practices in a week, and later practices on other days. Then maybe the freshman or sophomore boys will come in early for a couple of days. But as has been said, basketball is still king and the main gym will belong to them during prime hours. The girls basketball team will use the auxiliary gym for their practices.

It isn't a great system or one which promotes 10 hour of sleep every evening, but for a short period of time I don't think it does any irreparable harm to the student/athlete.

Shortage of facilities...

Currently we have one "big" gym. It's smaller than a lot of other gyms in the area which are considered "second" gyms. Also, we have another gym but it is only useful at this time of year for batting cage stuff. It is an even smaller gym floor AND it has our school fitness center in there so there's even more space taken. How do you expect a baseball team of 60 and a softball team of 25 to practice in there without going into long hours after school or possibly going before school?

Our freshmen boys basketball team practiced many times either at 7:30 PM or at 6:30 AM this year. Our weight room opens at 6:50 Tuesday and Thursday mornings and I know the football team lifts from 3-4:30 3 days a week after school.

I'm lucky because I have weights class so I get to lift during school. I don't get up until about 7:10 each morning. Once I get going with baseball that may change because there will be days where the batting cage will be available (optional) at 7 or thereabouts. That won't happen too often though because where our batting cage is at is also used to "babysit" kids before school.

Boy our coaches can't wait for the new school to open with it's large main gym, a smaller gym, possible additional wrestling room, separate weight room and fitness center and multiple fields. If only the State Legislature would get busy...


CoachB, you been to Jerseyville's new school?

It's clearly all about space. Our school does have a very large field-house type gym (and a few others as well) but if you think about all teams that are starting their seasons, it is impossible for all of them to be there at the same time unless all you want is a small space. With Frosh, Sophs and Varsity you are talking about 100 kids or more for baseball alone.

Going at 5:30 gives them a lot more space to work with and hopefully they can throw all across the building and not worry about beaning some girl hitting the birdie on the side. It's much ado about nothing. I don't mind seeing my son get up at that time, so long as he got to bed the night before.

Why would a coach want to get up so early if he didn't have to?

well i guess it comes down to gym space we never had early practice cause i went to a chicago public school and we only got about 15-18 kids come out anyways, we took grounders in the hallway or small girls gym (cause there was no badminton) we ran the hallways and stairs (with the track team) for conditioning, and took bp in the wrestling room and the pitchers pitched in the small girls gym but i guess when you have 75 kids come out and tryout like the suburban schools you cant do that

Slurve,

This has become a tradition at STCE. Is it a pain, yes, but what else can be done. Our pitchers go from 5:30 to 7:00am and then everyone goes from 5:00 to 7:00pm. We simply do not have the space. we have a large sports center that is in use all of the time, we also have indoor track, softball, badmitton as well as drill team and many others. One good thing is I always know where my son is this time of year, in bed - LOL. CoachB25, best of luck to your team as well.

Thanks been. Cplz no axe to grind other than after standing on the sidelines for a long time, just got tired of reading a lot of self-serving garbage. it is the opinion of the writer that many of the experts here are in it for themselves not the kids. They like to take center stage and whatever position they take on subject is the "right" position. It would be nice to see some of these coaches and self proclaimed experts appear to be in it for the right reasons. Just seems that this isnt the case. Now i hope i dont get in trouble for voicing my opinion or concerns. And i really hope this isnt to edgy

I edited my message since it would have served no positive purpose.

We had a great day today! A bunch of kids trying out, we were able to go outside and get our 60s timed, throw and then throw long for the arm strength test and then we hit in 6 stations inside. I hope all went well for everyone. I am blessed to have a bunch of great kids that helped today under some very trying conditions. Sorry but I can't explain this statement. Looking forward to the next 2 days and then we'll have the team made. We had some surprises today as well. Surprises are very good at this time of year!

Take care and, again, good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by slurve07:
Thanks been. Cplz no axe to grind other than after standing on the sidelines for a long time, just got tired of reading a lot of self-serving garbage.

Yet in another thread, you said, "I think the self promoters are entertaining. Lets keep personal opinions out of this." That was just yesterday.

Which is it slurve?

quote:

We had a great day today! A bunch of kids trying out, we were able to go outside and get our 60s timed, throw and then throw long for the arm strength test and then we hit in 6 stations inside

wow outside? parkinkg lot?

Good point DoggyWoggy....

CoachB and his Southern counterparts will have their teams in mid-season form by the time our Northern Schools even get outside.

It will be amazing if a Northern School can compete for a State Championship this year when it looks like we may not even get outside until the season begins, if then.

I agree with FBDad on this one. Due to basketball and other sports we had guys in the gym between 5:00 and 9:30 last night. It doesn't look like we will be outside for a while. Our guys did an outstanding job with a lot of distractions. I can't imagine how bad they'll be itching to go out in two weeks. We are supposed to open up on March 15th and it doesn't look too promising. Good luck to all of the players at tryouts and all of the coaches making some difficult decisions this week.

We were definetly spoiled last year, I recall we were outside the entire first week. Doesn't look like we'll be so lucky this year. Hopefully rain and 46 on wednesday will get most of the snow off the ground.

I'm not one of those "weeder outers" as a coach. I don't run them till they puke so that they don't come back and I want the best look possible before I make cuts


If you didnt run prior to tryouts or you didnt weight lift or you didnt get to the 5'45 am practice..you may get "WEEDED OUT"

if you cant get up ..do you want it bad enough
if you wont weightlift...etc

wogdoggy, I hope you didn't take my post as critical of anyone else. If so, I didn't mean it that way. I agree with what you posted. I do think it strange that some would question a coach who doesn't get a stipend to run plyos/weightroom in the morning where no roll is taken and players don't have to come. We offer that as a service BUT both boys and girls take advantage of it and I'd say at least 6 sports teams. They are there because they want to be there. Of course there was once this guy that walked upon the earth to end human suffering. People found fault with him! JMHO!

Wog thats another topic of contention these kids shouldn"t put a finger on a weight until the growth plate has fused. Not just because its unsafe, primarily because of the lack of supervision and the obvious fact that kids this age tend to showoff which leads to attempting too much weight which inturn increases the risk of injury. My older boy flirted with 90 last summer my younger boy 2010 hits the low 80's both look like they lift weights but never have all plyo, med ball, isometrics and pushups etc, they have three pitches 2 and 4 seem and a change. Both have never attempted a breaking ball and neither will be allowed until college. Coaches that introduce this stuff be it hs or travel are doing your kid a diservice.

Coach, Just curious do you allow your underclassmen to throw breaking balls? Im sure your seniors do just interested to know your stance on this. What would you say to a parent that told you his kid isnt to be shown a breaking ball? I am also particular about the pitch count. I say how much he can throw not his coaches. How would you deal with me?

Slurve, I like your style! We dont have any early morning practices and I usually tell our guys if they want to practice after school or if they want to go home and sleep that is fine as well. We dont throw any breaking balls or lift weights at all in the whole program. I tell the guys to wait until they are 35 years old before they start doing that.

ripcord,

I like your style. You get them ready for 35+ summer softball leagues. No sense in rushing things when they're 17-18.

Thanks Hopperhop.

rosy,

I like your style but not your spelling. Didn't you mean "when they're 17-18.

I would like to schedule a game with a team lead by slurve and ripcord. Then Ill show you a real diservice to players. No weights, no curveballs. Come on. Lets get real. Has there been a big time pitching prospect to come out of Illinois that didnt throw a cb?