I could have never imagined how proud I would feel today watching my son sign his letter of intent. It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions getting there, but worth every minute. Looking back, I cannot think of anything that we would have done different and every challenge during the recruiting process was a valuable lesson learned. The most important things that we learned along the way were:
1. Find a competitive and more importantly reputable travel team. Surround yourself with players that have the same goals and coaches with a vested interest in you. In the end, that was the MOST IMPORTANT investment in his baseball career that he ever made. Rich Graham and Brad Marrs (RBA South and VA Cardinals) were truly interested in his future and their guidance in the recruitment process was invaluable.
2. Take advantage of every opportunity to get better. For my son it meant driving 75 miles each way for pitching workouts and practice. He will tell you that every mile was worth it.
3. Own the recruiting process. Take advantage of services like Play in School. Getting his video out there was also an invaluable tool.
4. Be realistic. It was early on that we realized he wasn't going to play at University of Texas but he never lost focus of the bigger dream- to play Division 1 baseball.
5. Don't do the work for him. We were very hands off in the recruiting process. We told him what our expectations were and discussed with him schools that we felt we "the right fit", and that was the extent of our involvement. He corresponded with every coach via his own email account and every phone conversation was held privately between him and the coach. We can honestly say that he chose where to play baseball with very little input from us. In fact, the school that he ended up committing to, we had no idea he had ever talked with them.
I could be untruthful and say that his main goal was education first and baseball second. But the truth is, it is baseball that has opened the door to education for him. He was the average kid with average grades that wanted more than anything to play baseball beyond high school, and that was his dream- not ours. It has made us incredibly proud to watch him evolve into the young man that he is today and cannot wait to see what the next four years brings!
Congratulations!
