What can a student athlete do?

My son keeps a daily "sheet" of what needs to be done for the next day/week. He updates it every night before he goes to bed and uses it as his reminder of his school work/ work out goals.

He developed it on his own, as his old man still needs to take a time management course or three.

STAY AWAY FROM GIRLS!

Play every game as if it were your last

Big,

One routine that could be very helpful for a student.

After each days class's - recopy the notes taken during the class - highlighting the important part of the days lessons as you copy. Can be a bit of a pain at times - but in addition to organizing the notes better - it is a subtle form of studying and reinforces the main theme of each lesson while it is still "fresh" in your mind.

Usualy, very good players that at the same time are excellent students, they know what to do, and they are doing it. To be a good student and to be good players they need the same: Work (Study) hard, distribute the time in priorities: Study, baseball, else....
They don't party every day and when they do they don't stay to late, they know what are the fields where they need to improve, and they do whatever needded to improve. They don't have a limit to their dreams, so they don't stop working hard, and they know the sky is the limit.

"Peace is, the respect for the other people's rights".
Benito Juarez

Kellerdad,
Wow, that's unusual. What's your secret?

Knowledge is Power! Thank you Mavens and HSBBWEB!

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Originally posted by ChicksDigTheLongBall:
Kellerdad,
Wow, that's unusual. What's your secret?

Knowledge is Power! Thank you Mavens and HSBBWEB!

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His Step Mom is my secret weapon. She is good at that sort of thing.

My wife tells me, if I ever learned some decent time management skills, I'd be a millionaire 10 times over.

I enjoy shooting from the hip. Having too many "organized" people in one house is a drag.

That's cool!

Knowledge is Power! Thank you Mavens and HSBBWEB!

Kellerdad's kid has got it. I do pretty much the same thing. As soon as I'm done with my classes, I'm right to the syllabus to see what I have to have done for the next class. It's written down on one sheet, then I even get out all of the things i'll need (books, notes, etc.) and leave them out on my desk. I prioritize it too, of course, based on which class has to have the work done first, long term projects and such. Also have to take a look at the practice schedule to see when the best time everyday is to sit down and actually get something accomplished. Being up north and inside until mid march we get our practice schedule for the entire month, so I can set everything figured out. I'm a history major so I mostly have to read and write papers, so it's fairly simple to organize (ie: read at least 15-20 pages a day to get done on time or even early). There's also a lot of discipline involved too. You can organize all you want, but if you aren't disciplined enough to follow it you won't get anywhere with it.

I think Racab is right on. Good athletes are good because they are driven. They maintain focus on their goals athletic and academic, because they have learned the easy way from others mistakes and minimize distractions.

Kids can have a social life...after they take care of business.

bighit15 -

SAT scores and grades were so important to the scholarships offers during the recruiting process for us that I learned a few things during that time. One thing that we did for our son was take the SAT early during the Jr. year to see where he fell...Then take a course or study for the next test to get better scores in the area that needed improvement. For example, our son's math scores were high, so he took a course in high school in vocabulary and Greek and Latin roots. His scores at the end of his Jr year were considerably higher in verbal, and because he continued to take challenging math courses (statistics in addition to the regular trig & analysis) his math scores went up also.
I am also a firm believer that all Juniors should take the SATs in June. They have just finished all their courses and are then better prepared to fill out those college applications in the fall.

We now know that the main reason that our son signed early is because he had good grades and good SAT scores. When he was being recruited in the summer and fall before his Junior year, he was first looked at because they saw him play, and saw his talent. But when he talked to them or visited and they found out his academic status, they had an offer on the table pretty quickly to sign early. As a matter of fact, one Ivy league coach told us that if you can get a 1200 or better on the SAT, you can go anywhere if they are interested in you for baseball.

If the athlete does not do well on those June SATs, then they can prepare over the summer for them and take them again in the fall.
I still believe there is a college for everyone, and there is a fit somewhere that is right both academically and also for baseball.

I think that my son made it easy for himself by working hard his junior year so that he did not have to take the SATs fall of Senior year. And he (we) enjoyed the "ride" of being recruited having the fall less stressful while taking his unofficial and official visits.

The way I look at it is that a player is only recruited once in his lifetime from high school - starting July 1 after his junior year. Why not be ready!

discipline ...a system of rules of conduct or method of practice. The ability to do the right thing even when we don't want to.

If I could only teach my child one value in life the above mentioned would be it.

The key is to develop a system you're comfortable with and DO IT....every....single....day.

Seadog

The choices we make dictate the lives we lead.

#12's...Agree with you 1,000,000,000 %

Kids should get Strunk and Whites, The Elements of Style, to help with their ACT writing.

1. Work first and then play.

When they get the homework done BEFORE they go to hang out with the guys they get a lot more of it done ithan if they wait to do it AFTER they get home. They also study more efficiently because they want to still have time to play.

And that includes reading ahead a few chapters especially now before they start all the trips.

2. Learn how to study on a crowded and noisy bus. They spend a lot of time on the bus heading to games - it can be wasted time, or useful time depending on how they choose to use it.

Good advice all. I originally was talking about college kids, but quickly relaized that I was getting responses that apply to everybody.

Aparent

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2. Learn how to study on a crowded and noisy bus. They spend a lot of time on the bus heading to games - it can be wasted time, or useful time depending on how they choose to use it.

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Great post!

the Florida Bombers
"I love the HSBBW"

Big, The best thing that happened to my son was the first quarter of college. The baseball players had mandatory study hall on Mon and Wed, and mandatory tutoring on Tues and Thurs. It did not matter if you were a 4.6 in HS or a 3.0, it was mandatory for everyone. It helped them learn how to study and have discipline and not get off track. A lot of Freshman can get sidetracked in a hurry and the coach at UCLA did this and has not had players get in trouble with their grades.

Pick one of the standardized tests, ACT or SAT. Then go to your Guidance Counselor and ask for back copies of the PSAT,SAT and/or ACT, our experience is that the College Placement office had developed an arsenal of back tests, call the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ and ask to purchase any back SAT or PSAT tests. This is over and above what you might find in "Ten Real SATs." Going over the kinds of questions that appear on these tests is the best preparation; you may consider it bad tasting medicine, but it will serve you well. Good grades without solid SAT/ACT scores behind them don't mean much. The SAT may be changing, but it isn't becoming rocket science, analogies will be dropped and will be replaced with "writing" which is similar to what is already found on the PSAT Writing Section and on the SAT II Writing Section. The ACT Writing section mirrors the PSAT in content.

I was given The Elements of Style as a first year associate in a law firm a long time ago.... Frankly, tell your son to pull out his "Pocket Style Manual"(which he may have to write high school papers) and go to the "Grammar" section, look up what you don't know. It is not rocket science, it is simple grammar rules, but students are befuddled at test time, because they don't know how to approach the questions, just like coming up to bat in a game, you have to have a plan.

In Hillsborough County Florida schools, beginning in Elementary, the students are required to keep an "Agenda" book. This is modeled after the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Steven Covey.)

My son is in seventh grade and uses it extensively. We as parents are required to sign off on certain items.

It has made him a more effective student. Part of the classroom work requirements start with filling in and reviewing the next week assignments. We review it with him weekly.

You should be able to get a similar "daytimer" type agenda from local office supply stores.

We knew from an early age that our son would get a scholarship to paly ball in college, we just didn't know where. Still, how he performed in academics was just as important as how he performed on the field.
He has been very fortunate to have great teachers and one in particular in 5th grade spent the entire year on learning how to do research and time management, something that stayed with him forever. Of course everyday I had to ask if the homework was done (he hated me asking that) and I have to remind myself now that he is a senior with a scholarship that it would be the kiss of death to ask that these days.
When my son began as sophomore I sought out the guidance counselor in his school who had the most knowledge with NCAA. He made a plan that would actually bring my son's required courses finished by the time he was a senior. He also told me that with my son's GPA and courses taken, baseball ability, he only needed to take the SAT once in his junior year, and he felt seeing his PSAT score he would be fine. Because of baseball, he finally took it in June of last year, and he was lucky he managed to get what he did with no preparation. I realize now it should have been taken earlier, regardless of what the counselor said. It was my only concern I had during recruitment and because of his GPA, all honors classes, NCAA requirements met, all but one course required for graduation, not one school really cared about his SAT scores being any higher. In fact I do believe that because he was essentially "done" with school, the offers came quicker than expected. We were lucky but I learned that as much as I thought I had planned in advance, if his June scores were poor he may not have been so lucky.
Make a plan and be sure to follow it, you don't want to come up short in the end. Anyone seriously wanting to be recruited and considered after July 1 of senior year make sure you have all the ducks in a row. It might make the difference between your son and someone else's.