What happens between the college Fall and Spring seasons

The pace steps up considerably when they return from the holidays.

You should be ready to play when you return.

The first two or three weeks at the first of the spring semester are the toughest, especially for freshmen, in my opinion.

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The first two or three weeks at the first of the spring semester are the toughest, especially for freshmen, in my opinion.

As the mom of a freshman player, I am curious why you say that.

There are three reasons for my opinion.

First, it is the first time through for the freshmen, and they don't know what to expect.

They are likely lulled into thinking that if they can make it through the fall, they can make it through anything.

The second reason is that the pace steps up because the season is approaching and there is only a few weeks to get prepared.

So, when they return from Christmas, a little out of shape, they get hit with physical fitness pretty hard to get them back into shape quickly, so that work on baseball can begin.

The third reason is that this is when the challenges for spots in the lineup really start.

The coaches have a likely idea of who will play from the fall, but will begin to critically test those decisions by putting more pressure to those players to perform. The freshmen players who are expected to contribute will be expected to perform at the same level, or greater, than the older more experienced players. The performance level is also raised because the weaker players have been eliminated and there may be transfers in.

So, thinking they have it made, struggling with being out of shape from too much pie during the holidays, and being asked to perform at a level that they are not accustomed is tough.

The biggest thing that a players can control here is maintaining fitness (including swinging the bat) during the holidays, and developing a mindset that they are going to contribute to offset the anxiety that will be created by the stiffer competition.

FO, those were very helpful comments. Thanks!

My son and other players we have had do not wait for XMAS VACATION TO END--they are back on campus before New Years already working out and getting ready for "official" practice to begin in January---
Those players that want it do not wait for others to give them the formula---they go for it themselves---

One difference from the past... under the uniform start date they cannot begin practices on the field until Feb. 1. January will be much like the first month in the fall - heavy on the weight workouts, speed training, hitting in the cages, and individual workouts i.e. OF defense, IF defense etc. Their number of hours allowed for this is dictated by the NCAA rules - assuming your son's school observes all the rules. Then, when 2/1 rolls around, they have roughly 3 weeks to prepare on the field for first game action.

I agree with FO the key for players is to stay in shape (and swinging the bat) over the holidays.

Natural, I think that means about another week of fitness.............

Keep in mind that the rules for JUCO are different than D-1,D-2 or D-3.
Mine will be keeping up the workout routines and continue to swing a bat, throw and catch.
FO has it right, best as I can tell. This is not a time to ratchet down. Keep up the hard work and the routine that you have established over the fall.

FO - depends on the school. Natural son returns to classes on January 5 due to his school's 4-1-4 semester system. So he will be spending most of the month of January working out and waiting to get on the field.

DG:

While it has been alluded to you can not appreciate how much the intensity increases in the spring. Practices get longer, weight sessions intensify, running increases both in speed and repetition. This intensifies what the kids, especially the freshmen that have not gone through it, feel.

You will hear that your kid is exhausted, hungry and they will complain about not having time to get school work or even to get there laundry done.

Winter break is a time to make sure that you are physically ready, it is a good time to get ahead with any reading that may be required during the first two months. If you son can find some “joy” in working and make a few bucks, great, but he needs to make sure that he is both physically and mentally ready as the season will start very fast

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Any other insight is greatly appreciated. My son has been challenged in so many ways over the last few months; living with roommates, balancing a checking account, cooking and cleaning as well as difficult classes where the teachers don't seem to care if he passes or fails. But it will be good for him in the long run. He seems to go from the lowest lows when he forgets how to pitch and is having difficulty in classes, to being pretty happy, depending on how things are going. He's especially happy when I take him out for a decent dinner afer a game.

I will let him know that the challenges grow exponently in January.

.

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Originally posted by TRhit:
My son and other players we have had do not wait for XMAS VACATION TO END--they are back on campus before New Years already working out and getting ready for "official" practice to begin in January---
Those players that want it do not wait for others to give them the formula---they go for it themselves---

Yep.

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Last year, when mine was a freshman, Thanksgiving was his first time home. He brought a roomate home with him. They were home for four days. While they always had a baseball and glove in their hands, they really didn't do much of anything. They ate some home cookin' which was non-stop, watched movies, played video games/guitar hero, visted a couple of friends, and slept a lot.

It was a recharging of the batteries and rest that was needed.

At the winter break, it was different, he hit the gym and threw pens along with significant long toss, weather permitting. A bunch of friends came up for New Year's which was soooooo fun for all of us. Then back to the grind.

Time off and rest is needed. If they become restless, they know what to do.

DG, so glad you brought this question up.
There are many of us learning along with you.
Thank you to those of you who responded. It is very appreciated!

New motto:
" Champions are made in the off season ".

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Time off and rest is needed. If they become restless, they know what to do.

This is important... They need some down time also. Not a complete shutdown... but staying away from a bat and ball during the month of December won't hurt a thing and may help... It makes it fresher when they start up again.... However you don't want to completely stop conditioning, and may be finishing up on a FALL building program....

After new years they ramp it back up again with the specific skills...

I agree with having some downtime.
First year son was home for a month, he took off two weeks, but ran everyday, then back to conditioning and tossing but back then you had to be ready for practice which began earlier than it does now.