This week my son, an '09 catcher, committed to Duke University. We were incredibly impressed with the quality of the Duke coaching staff, and I will feel completely comfortable with them leading my son over the next four years.
It's kind of hard to believe that the recruiting phase has concluded. I started coming to this site back when the first thread I would check when I logged on was the "pre-high school" thread. He can now relax, have fun playing football this fall, and enjoy his senior year and last high school baseball season.
The people on this site have been incredibly valuable to my son and I as we went down this path. I have made terrific friends here, and have met more than a few of you in person.
The cumulative wisdom of the people here is simply amazing. I tapped it constantly. There is nothing more valuable than having the ability to ask questions to those who have gone down the path before you.
Gee, I can remember when your guy was a little squirt just going into HS! This is awesome, another ACC parent!
Congratulations, I know your son has worked real hard to get where he's going. You might want folks to know that this is a result of being seen at the Standford Camp.
Forget the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey instead...anonymous
Posts: 12778 | Location: South Florida | Registered: July 28, 2003
Wonderful news!!! It has been a blast following his high school career - back to when we first met at a Perfect Game event so many years ago in San Bernadino. Looking very much forward to following his career at Duke. Great university gets a great kid!!!
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" There's nothing cooler than a guy who does what we dream of doing, and then enjoys it as much as we dream we would enjoy it. " -- Scott Ostler on Tim Lincecum
Posts: 1320 | Location: Monterey, California | Registered: May 28, 2004
Congratulations. And, what an awesome school. I would love to have one of my kids go to Duke - baseball or no baseball. That's is truly something to get excited about. Good luck to him.
An expert at anything was once a beginner.
Posts: 315 | Location: South | Registered: July 05, 2007
FrankF: Actually, it WAS something you said. You said it got cold in the winter in the north!
Jerseydad - there is a cute back story to the UNC/Duke issue. Years ago, my son loved to tease his mom by rooting for Duke against UNC in basketball. Over time, that kind of morphed into him wanting to play baseball at Duke.
When he was in the 7th grade he actually even wrote Duke's coach at the time an email saying he wanted to play for him. Coach Hillier wrote back with a very nice response.
That all kind of faded as his high school years progressed. But it was rekindled in a major way when Duke called July 1!
And Mom is just fine .... I knew I had successfully weaned her from her Tarheel identity when she rooted for OSU against the Heels for two straight CWS finals. She's happy her son will be in North Carolina, where all her family still live.
And TPM is right: it was at the Stanford Camp where they saw him play. We had never communicated with the (current) Duke coaching staff prior to then. They saw him at Stanford, and reached out. The Stanford Camp literally changed the course of his career and his life.
The experience reinforces what I learned on this board time and again: you never know who might see you, who is watching, and sometimes the school you end up going to was never on the radar screen for most of the entire process.
This is the news I was waiting for, Rob! This is truly awesome news.....and I guess our boys will just have to wait until the NEXT level to team up as a battery once again!
Great news!
Bob
"I would be lost without baseball. I don't think I could stand being away from it as long as I was alive." Roberto Clemente #21
Posts: 2756 | Location: Neither Here Nor There | Registered: November 26, 2003
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OUTSTANDING!!!
