This is now the 7th year I have published this post for Freshman Gamers.

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This post is for all 15u (2018 Gamers — current high school freshmen).  Parents, please make sure that your son reads this. This is a friendly reminder from the Gamers program that care about you and your success.

Grades matter.  If you want to play college baseball, grades matter A LOT.   Time after time, we see that GPA’s and test scores make the the difference in the college recruiting process.

Now that you are a freshman, your grades now count toward your high school GPA.  Three years from now, you will be filling out college applications.  Every application will ask for your GPA and a copy of your high school transcript.

In baseball, your skill level and athleticism as a Freshman don’t matter a much as your skill & athleticism as a Junior.

GPA’s are different — they are cumulative.  Sometimes, freshman do not realize this simple fact — your grades as a freshman count JUST AS MUCH as your grades as a junior or senior. 

Here is an example for you.

Say a player gets the following GPA’s:
Freshman – 3.6
Soph – 3.2
Junior – 3.6
Senior – 3.2

The result of this would be an overall GPA of 3.4.  Pretty good (our 15u-17u Gamers have an an average GPA of 3.6).

But, say that same player got a 2.2 GPA his freshman year instead of a 3.6.  (ALL C’s and a couple B’s)

Do you what he would have to achieve during his sophomore, junior and senior years to graduate with the same 3.4 GPA?

To overcome this bad start, he would have to achieve a 3.8 GPA for all three years to pull his overall GPA up to a 3.4 by the end of his senior year.

So, his grades would need to look like this:
Freshman – 2.2
Soph – 3.7
Junior – 3.8
Senior – 3.9

Which scenario looks easier to you?

Don’t put yourself in the situation of playing catch up.  It is hard to do.  Plus, freshman classes are a lot easier than junior and senior classes. It gets harder and harder every year to play catch up.

So, the point of this email is simple — Get off to a good start with grades during your freshman year. 

What are the common excuses that we hear about why players “mess up” during their freshman years?:

– They don’t hand in homework or “projects” (the easiest points to get).
– They procrastinate, waiting until the last minute for assignments and studying
– They have bad study habits (do not use their time efficiently)
– They spend more time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…. than on schoolwork
– The are not serious in the classroom, preferring to be the class clown or just doze off

Essentially, they do not take school seriously and don’t put their best effort forward.  That is not consistent with being a Gamer.

It is now mid-October.  You are well into your first semester of high school.  If you are doing well, congratulations and keep up the good work!!

If you are not doing well so far, fix the problem RIGHT NOW.  Talk to guidance counselors, teachers and your parents.  Get a tutor.  Fix the problem before it gets too late to impact first semester grades.  Your grades are not going to change unless you change something.  It is your responsibility.

Remember, these grades count and will be with you for the next 3 years. 

If the Gamers coaches or directors can help, let us know.  We see a lot of young men go through this process and know what works.  That is why I am sending out this email.

Getting off to a good start is one of the most important success factors in high school.  It is like throwing a first pitch strike.

Good luck,

Coach Gallion

Select level sports require significant investment on the part of parents and players.

First, there is all the financial investment — for games, practices, instruction, training, uniforms, equipment, travel, etc…  It adds up to a big number in baseball, and an even bigger number in hockey and other sports (try figure skating or gymnastics!!!).

Second, it is a tremendous time investment on the part of the player and the parents.  Practices, games, working out, travel, fundraising, etc..  It takes so much time.  For passionate players, this is fun and they enjoy it.  But, there is no question that the time commitment pushes other activities down the list of priorities.  This is an investment.

What’s the payoff from all this investment in time and money?

1. The opportunity to learn how to succeed — the value of character, hard work, discipline, teamwork, focus, etc.. that select level sports provides an incredible platform to teach.

2. The opportunity to pursue a passion at the highest level that you are capable of, which creates self-satisfaction, happiness and is a whole lot of fun.

3. The opportunity to build deep relationships with teammates and coaches that share your passions. Relationships matter.

The most important payoffs are qualitative. Select sports can make you a better person.  If you want to convert it to numbers, in select HS baseball you also get the opportunity to get 30-60% of your college paid, worth about $80-100k.

So, the equation is simple — you put in the investment in money and time, and then just collect the payoff of the 3 points above plus $100,000 in college costs.  It’s that simple right?  Unfortunately, not even close.

Investment of money and time/effort does not “entitle” the player or parents to anything except the opportunity.  There are no guarantees you will get the results above.  That’s just real life.

There is no entitlement to success in sports.

There are no guarantees that:

If you spend money on training, you will be an above average player in games

If you train and eat like an Olympic athlete, you will succeed on the field

If you attend every practice, you can throw strikes on the mound or hit strikes at the plate

You can do everything right, and fail in the short-term.  No one is entitled to success.  Sometimes, it is really, really hard and takes a lot longer than patience allows.  My personal belief is that hard work and perseverance will eventually create success.  If not, David Eckstein would not have won 2 World Series rings.

But, feelings of entitlement derail this journey.  If players/parents feel entitled to success, then they lose patience when things get tough.  No one goes through youth baseball without some tough months.  But, if you feel entitled to succeed, you start looking for excuses and blaming others when you experience failure.  Perspective is lost.  You look for the easy way out, when in reality there is not one.

No one is entitled to success.  Sometimes you just fail, even if you do everything right. Maybe that is the single most important lesson that select sports can teach.  It’s about the journey, not the destination.

2014 baseball season ended for me last night.  Bitter sweet.  Managed to break my personal record for number of games coached this year: 30 with 14u in April/May, 49 with 15u summer and 32 with 16u Fall — 101 total.  Got to 99 last year, and to exactly 100 in 2005 and 2006.  101 probably will end up being personal best.

Way eclipsed the total practice time this year though … 102 total team practices (non-game days).  20 more than prior years, thanks to double duty with 14u during the Winter program.

Very rewarding to work with so many fine young men over the course of 10 months.  I am honored to coach them and keep learning stuff all the time.

It is Pirate Fest in Ft. Myers Beach this weekend during the Perfect Game WWBA Underclass National Championship, just like is has been for the past 8 years.  Full Pirate gear and a Pirate Ship.  During the simulated battle, a couple scrawny Pirates (right out of Pirates of the Caribbean), yelled out “mutiny“.  As this played out on the Boulevard, I reflected on the following:

A common criticism of club sports programs (baseball, hockey, soccer, volleyball, etc…) is that kids get “burned out”. This can be a legitimate concern for players, parents and coaches. It is sad to everyone when a player no longer enjoys a sport. But, the term “burnout” is being used way too frequently these days; making this topic is worth discussing

Over the past decade, I have been around hundreds of young men that have played A LOT of baseball. And, I honestly cannot recall a single pure case of  true “burnout” — where a player had passion for baseball, but then lost that passion because he played TOO MUCH baseball.  That just does not happen.

Instead, all of the cases where a player/parent used the term “burnout” were one of three situations:

• The player simply had too many competing priorities on his plate. There is a limit to what a teenager can do. The combination of 1-2 sports plus high level academics is pretty close to the limit. When you start adding music, choir, boy scouts, church groups, college applications, ACT tests, school clubs, a 2nd or 3rd sport, girls, part-time jobs, etc.. , it gets out of control very fast. All of those things are good and worthy activities. But, there is only so much time available. It is impossible for a teenager to be successful in 10 different things. It may superficially look good on a college application. But, we all know that truly successful people set priorities and focus their attention on the things that are most important to them.  If elite sports is not the short list of priorities, then that’s a rational decision — but it is not burnout. 
• Instead of being truly “burned out”, the player has decided that he no longer wants to advance to college level baseball, so the hard work is no longer worth it. Sometimes there is a disconnect between where a player can play college baseball and where he wants to go to college.  Again, this may be a rational decision — but it is NOT burnout.
• The parents — not the player — get burned out from the schedule, travel and cost of club sports. This is 10x more likely than player burnout since the parents do not experience the joy of working hard, being part of a team and playing the game. So, we need to be very careful to separate player burnout from parent burnout. Parent burnout is real and is a lot more common issue.

So, the secrets to dealing with situations above are:

• Teach young athletes to prioritize their activities, to make sure they are selecting activities that are most important to them. If baseball drops off the list, then that is OK. But, that is not burnout — it is called setting priorities and is an important part of growing up. If baseball can help teach that lesson, then it has played a significant role in a young man’s development.
• Help young men through the decision process on college baseball, so they can make rational decisions and decide early on whether or not they want to push for that goal. Also, it is important to be realistic about college selection and let college fit guide the process.  A successful college experience is a lot more important than just playing college baseball.
• Deal with parent burnout. Find ways to make it easier for parents to be part of a club sports by relieving schedule and travel requirements. Program organization, communication and advanced scheduling help alleviate parent burnout.

In addition to the situations above, there is more a natural form of frustration and personal anxiety that comes with high level sports. Everyone feels this way sometimes, and it feels like you are “burned out”. Face it, no one enjoys doing box jumps or 2 sets of 50 pick-ups. And, no one enjoys an 0-15 slump at the plate, or walking the winning run. Sometimes the combination of hard work and the frustration of failure feels overwhelming.  These are “sticking points”.

When players reach this point of frustration, it is easy to quit and claim “burnout”. But, to truly excel at something requires that you get to this sticking point and push through it. Repeatedly.

A short  break to re-energize can help  (the offseason).

But, 9 times out of 10, players love their sport, love to play it and love working hard to get better. Sometimes a player just needs a little support and mentoring to help push through sticking points.