"What a strange trip its been"...its been about two years since I joined this website and I can honestly say that it has been one of the most important tools in assisting my son with his dream of playing college baseball. For those just now starting the journey, for those that are in the thick of things and for those who have already experienced this path, you will, are, or have lived through it..
We (and I know that some readers react to the "us, I and we versus the him and he") took the path recommended by this site and the members on it. Played travel, did PG, showcased and camped. No it isnt cheap but it certainly paid off. It is a very stressful and confusing journey "D-1, D-2, D-3, NAIA, Juco hut hut" woops wrong sport. I asked the questions and received the answers right here.
We finally started to get some activity summer before his junior year, not any big time D-1's but D-2 and JUCO interest. We had developed a website for him with all of his info and some video and sent it to some 50 plus schools. Jr. started getting bigger and stronger and really worked his butt off both in the classroom and on the field. He had a great High School season as a Junior, but we all know there is not much recruiting activity at the H.S. level. This past summer was the key. He played in all the PG's with a summer team, which I strongly recommend, and participated in regional showcases. The emails started coming and then the calls after July.
Now the fun begins, as I have read here so often, many of the players on his summer team had committed, but he had not. It was a good thing because his skill level went up considerably towards the end of the summer. He is a RHP and finally hit the 90 mph mark. Life changed as we knew it. Jr. had 6 offers (2 D-1, 3 D-2 and a JUCO). They were all great schools with great coaches and academics, what now? We'd caught the fish now what do we do with it?
We prayed and talked and posted and finally came to a decision "before Jupiter" and accepted an offer from a great D-1 program to a school that he may have not gotten in to without baseball. (what a door this sport has opened!!)
At this point everything is right in the world, or as close as it can get. We are all somewhat calmed down, he can focus on school, have a blast at Jupiter, really have fun his senior year and an incredible future to look forward too. Baseball, I so love the game.
I want to strongly recommend to anyone beginning this journey to consult this site as you are not going through anything someone else on this site hasnt experienced, it helped me maintain my sanity. I also want to thank all of the posters for the input, with all of the posts you can find something to relate to. I also want to give a special "shout out" to the old timers. Your wisdom is invaluable, we really learned alot (even when you guys got mad at each other).
To HSBBW, how cool it is that you started and maintain this site, thank you. I will now "play it forward" to maybe help someone like me throughout this "Journey"
-LTG2
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