When do you celebrate?

Sorry Mom.

I feel your pain, but he a grown man, who has graduated college and made you proud in baseball.

He makes his own decisions and you just get to tag along.

Moms always get a vote....

I'd go with celebrating Sr. day this year, if he is back next year to play no big deal, he can be the camera man for his buddies. Senior day with his class and having parents involved is pretty special.

My son was in similar position, he and his housemates missed graduation due to baseball, they had their own ceremony after playoffs , complete with caps and gowns, MC, music, etc. I think they had more fun doing that graduation walk than doing the actual thing. The video I saw was pretty amusing, lots of alcohol involved.

My son graduated in three years with two years of eligibility remaining. He missed freshman year with injury e when entering college. His plan up front was if not drafted in the first twenty rounds (forty then) he would stay, play and get his MBA. He had no intention of being Single A roster filler.

He was playing his conference tournament graduation weekend. He didn’t care. His view was he either about to be drafted and signed or he had two more years. The non athlete friends he entered with weren’t graduating. His best friends were the team. He was with them.

He has a five years older sister. She worked in a law firm before going to law school. His MBA graduation and her law school graduation were a week apart. We did it up. Everyone in the family was at both graduations. His was first. Grandpa, my son  and I hung out a few days at son’s place and golfed. Then we headed for daughter’s graduation six hundred miles away. We rented a room at a restaurant and invited more people since this was “home” and she was married. We celebrated both of them. Then we aired out.

I asked my son what he was going to do that summer. He told me he was going to the beach, drink beer and party. He said in more lucid moments he would draft a business plan for getting a job in the fall. What he was concealing was he was two interviews from an awesome job where he had interned the previous summer.*

* Coach wasn’t pleased where he asked to be placed in summer ball so he could commute from the job. Surgery eliminated summer ball and the issue.

Yet another way that the Pandemic has made things strange and awkward: at my kid’s D3 “Senior Day”, the 3 fifth year seniors were celebrated…but of the six seniors some of them aren’t sure if they’ll be back and didn’t want to take part, a few knew that they wouldn’t  be back and did take part.

Your players should not be missing their graduation because they had to travel for baseball. The schedule should be at home when it happens. IMO that's poor planning on the coaches part.

I am not really sure about attending college and playing baseball for 6 years, covid or no covid, unless there was prior injury or a discussion with the coach. He may have entirely different plans for your son.

At some point, when is it time to move on?

JMO

Iowamom23, congratulations!  Weird or not, it's a good problem to have!

@TPM posted:

Your players should not be missing their graduation because they had to travel for baseball. The schedule should be at home when it happens. IMO that's poor planning on the coaches part.

I am not really sure about attending college and playing baseball for 6 years, covid or no covid, unless there was prior injury or a discussion with the coach. He may have entirely different plans for your son.

At some point, when is it time to move on?

JMO

One coach can’t control when the conference tournament takes place. The stadium may be secured years in advance.

Congratulations! I never walked in college. I’m totally fine Also never cared about walking for my masters. Have a celebration with family and friends whenever you want…you aren’t tied to a graduation with 10k people you don’t know.

My son graduated in 2020 and we had the baseball team over and did our own too (caps/gowns) dads shook their hands. Better than a normal graduation imo.

@RJM posted:

One coach can’t control when the conference tournament takes place. The stadium may be secured years in advance.

I am not sure what you are talking about.

My experience is D1, D2. Graduation is weeks over by conference championship games held end of May.

Go to NCAA.org for conference locations which are held at same venue, same time, year to year.

Smaller conferences  have automatic bids, no tourney.

I would somewhat disagree TPM.  Last year we were on the road during graduation.  SEC sets schedule not the coaches.  Our guys did a little celebration but most of our players who would have graduated said they would not have walked even if they had been home because it would have been a game day and the game was more important than sitting in a stadium with 100,000 people.  They had a team celebration and moved on.

I suspect that the conferences do take graduation into account, and set away baseball games when possible.  At a nearby state school, graduation is in the football stadium which is right next to the baseball stadium, logistically it's better for everyone if baseball is not playing at that time.

@PitchingFan posted:

I would somewhat disagree TPM.  Last year we were on the road during graduation.  SEC sets schedule not the coaches.  Our guys did a little celebration but most of our players who would have graduated said they would not have walked even if they had been home because it would have been a game day and the game was more important than sitting in a stadium with 100,000 people.  They had a team celebration and moved on.

Perhaps you are correct in some cases.

Most  big Universities will do graduations over a weekend or sometimes 2, depending on the degree and what sport you were involved in.

Or perhaps it's the University putting importance on what really IS important. And the AD and coaches making sure that it happens.

Good for them.

Go to NCAA.org for conference locations which are held at same venue, same time, year to year.

Not true. Some conferences use alternating sites. The dates are likely set by contract far before the school sets it’s calendar and graduation date.

My 2018 (college) player graduated in 2020 (last 3 classes online) with the diploma coming in the mail.  We still haven't celebrated yet!

@RJM posted:

Go to NCAA.org for conference locations which are held at same venue, same time, year to year.

Not true. Some conferences use alternating sites. The dates are likely set by contract far before the school sets it’s calendar and graduation date.

My bad D2  teams have different conf championship dates. I did say that I was not familiar with D3.

D1 on the other hand has been the  same week before Memorial Day for all schools forever, followed by regionals the following weekend.

Graduation is over by that weekend.

You dont remember the dates? Your son went to and played at a D1 program correct?

University calendars, including graduations, are planned out 10 years in advance.  I doubt that's true of baseball schedules.j

I love graduations; my oldest son graduated in 2020, too, so it was cancelled.  I don't really feel like senior days in sports are a celebration of the academics (after all, fall and winter sports don't have them at graduation-time), so I would say having a family/friends party in honor of graduation makes the most sense.  You can easily buy a cheap cap and gown and take pictures, even go back to campus for that.

@TPM posted:

My bad D2  teams have different conf championship dates. I did say that I was not familiar with D3.

D1 on the other hand has been the  same week before Memorial Day for all schools forever, followed by regionals the following weekend.

Graduation is over by that weekend.

You dont remember the dates? Your son went to and played at a D1 program correct?

My original point was his graduation and conference championship overlapped. School calendars aren’t the same at every university.

It didn’t matter to my son. He graduated in three years, it wasn’t his class. He was staying two more years to play and get an MBA. He didn’t feel like he was graduating.

it was several years ago. It’s not something I think about anymore. I hadn’t thought about graduation since then until this thread came up.

@RJM posted:

My original point was his graduation and conference championship overlapped. School calendars aren’t the same at every university.

It didn’t matter to my son. He graduated in three years, it wasn’t his class. He was staying two more years to play and get an MBA. He didn’t feel like he was graduating.

it was several years ago. It’s not something I think about anymore. I hadn’t thought about graduation since then until this thread came up.

All D1 Baseball Tournaments are  held last week to weekend in May, dates depending on size of conference and when Memorial Day falls. This year the B10 switched to Ameritrade Park and the school I thought  ( guess I was really mistaken) your son attended does not have commencement that time of the month, or does any other D1 university, to my knowledge.

FYI for anyone who doesnt know, D1 conferences time of year is always right before Memorial Day as regionals begin the following weekend. I suppose D2 and D3 hold their regional playoffs around the same time (in May) before their World Series.

I can say from experience, in the 4 seasons of D3 baseball the baseball team has never attended graduation. The school does a separate graduation for spring athletes on the Monday following grad weekend. It is taken as a badge of honor to still be playing as it is playoff time...i have never heard one parent of player complain about the arraignment. I actually preferred it, it was small, intimate and all of your boys are there! At our school the almost all of the underclassmen attend in support and it turns into a huge party anyway.

It is his degree.  He paid for half of it, so we let him decide when to walk and when to celebrate after graduation.   Then they really celebrated when their respective student loans were paid off a couple years later.  My two oldest will celebrate again when they complete their Master's degrees and their companies pay for it.

To answer the question directly..."When do you celebrate?".... my wife and I really celebrated when he (they) had a job ready after college, started in their respective careers, and moved into their own place.  Clearly a bitter sweet occasion, however the eagle has to leave the nest at some point. 

Mine returned to Clemson after 9 years to complete his degree. He was a student assistant to the baseball team under Monte Lee in 2015/16  and it was awesome. His last year as a returning athlete was paid for by the Tiger fund. It was created to encourage athletes to graduate. He graduated May 16 with the other baseball players and went back to a scheduled game and senior night. 

10 days later they won the ACC championship, 10 years after they did the first time.

I am happy to have these memories and the pictures to prove it! 

@TPM posted:

All D1 Baseball Tournaments are  held last week to weekend in May, dates depending on size of conference and when Memorial Day falls. This year the B10 switched to Ameritrade Park and the school I thought  ( guess I was really mistaken) your son attended does not have commencement that time of the month, or does any other D1 university, to my knowledge.

FYI for anyone who doesnt know, D1 conferences time of year is always right before Memorial Day as regionals begin the following weekend. I suppose D2 and D3 hold their regional playoffs around the same time (in May) before their World Series.

I was wrong about the conference playoffs and graduation. He had an away series during graduation weekend. But given the conflict everything I posted about how we handled it and my son’s indifference still applies.

This is going to happen to athletes from time to time. It’s just one of the sacrifices like all the classes and other social events missed.

My D2 son just graduated on Saturday.  They had a conference tournament game Saturday and I dont believe any of the graduating seniors walked.  There was a small photo ceremony the day before since the game schedule overlapped with the graduation ceremony.  Senior day was celebrated before the game a week ago and recognized seniors who had used up all eligibility or are not coming back.  Graduating seniors with eligibility were not recognized.  There was a cook out for the team and friends/family following the game.   It was done the same way last year and I am not sure if COVID related or not.   Most D2 conference Tournaments started this past weekend and all will be completed by Sunday with Regional pairings coming out next Monday I believe.   We are planning a celebration later this summer after everyone has a chance to catch their breath.

@FriarFred posted:

My D2 son just graduated on Saturday.  They had a conference tournament game Saturday and I dont believe any of the graduating seniors walked.  There was a small photo ceremony the day before since the game schedule overlapped with the graduation ceremony.  Senior day was celebrated before the game a week ago and recognized seniors who had used up all eligibility or are not coming back.  Graduating seniors with eligibility were not recognized.  There was a cook out for the team and friends/family following the game.   It was done the same way last year and I am not sure if COVID related or not.   Most D2 conference Tournaments started this past weekend and all will be completed by Sunday with Regional pairings coming out next Monday I believe.   We are planning a celebration later this summer after everyone has a chance to catch their breath.

Congrats to Blake! And to you and your wife as well!  

@FriarFred

That's awesome. Congratulations!