Our son will be starting his freshman year at Rice as a pitcher. What do they do in the fall? What happens next other than we hope he does well and gets some playing time in the spring.

Texbbfan,

Congratulations!

Fall time is getting used to college life and classes and getting into a daily routine and practice, workout, practice, workout, practice, workout, practice etc, etc.

A helpful suggestion, have your son pickup on his workout now, running,lower body. Your son can call his trainer and get a summer workout routine. Many freshman are not used to the workout, and it is exhausting until he gets used to the routine. My son found that to be the biggest adjustment.

Playing time in the spring most likely will be in the form of relief pitching, possibly a start. Depends upon who is returning and what the need is.

Considering Rice may be in contention again to return to Omaha, your son might be one of the lucky freshman to make the travel squad!

Enjoy and best of luck!

quote:

A helpful suggestion, have your son pickup on his workout now, running,lower body. Your

Really good advice. Start running now like you are going into the Marines.

Congrats to your son BTW for the opportunity he has at Rice - a tremendous opportunity. I say go out there and let it all fly. Fall certainly can be used to get the coach's attention. There are a lot of team/individual workouts and intrasquad scrimmages in the fall.

There will be another tryout in the Spring. There is nothing for a freshman to lose and everything to gain - so go out and have fun. If you don't find yourself in the lineup at first, keep working to get better and hopefully your luck will change

Forget the Marines, try Marathon Man...lol.

Dave's HC is a running freak, so can you imagine? Now, son LOVES to run but as a freshman it was like pulling teeth!

Ahh, frosh and folks have no clue!

I can't speak from the experience of ever having played college ball or having a son that plays college ball (not yet anyway - knock on wood). However, if I had a son or daughter starting college I would beat into their head the importance of kicking butt in the classroom right from the get-go and getting a good start academically. In my opinion high schools do a poor job of preparing students for the academic rigors of college.

In my case I rarely had to crack a book in high school yet managed to finish with a 4.2 gpa my senior year (honors classes). When I got to college it was a different story. Being away from home for the first time there were parties to go to, dates to go on, etc. etc (oh, and maybe look at the books once in a while). I really struggled for a while academically, it's a whole different world than high school. (I did finally wake up and managed to emerge with my degree.)

Thanks everyone, it was this message board that gave us info that got us where we are now. This is a new step and appreciate all the input. I know it is a little premature, but I hear about college players playing in summer leagues. How does this happen?

The college coach will take care of that for you

quote:

I know it is a little premature, but I hear about college players playing in summer leagues. How does this happen?

First, style offers great advice on the academics. One (academics) enables the other (baseball). I made a lot of sacrifices for my son to play in college and I explicitly told/expected him not to let me down in the classroom.

I also think it is easier for ballplayers to do well than non-athletes. The coaches have a vested interest in seeing the players excell in the classroom. There were mandatory study sessions most nights of the week. It was like having a parent there watching over your kid making sure things were getting done. A big plus imho.

To the question at hand. TR is right. The coaches are in charge of summer placement and it is not too premature to ask. Placement occurs in the fall so it is worthwhile imho to let the coach or assistant know you are interested in playing in the college summer leagues. Since he is at a top program like Rice, they should have no trouble placing him in a top collegiate summer league this fall.

CD - I think you're completely correct. I've often praised the boys playing baseball who are able to acheive in the classroom as well, because of the demanding schedule. However, if my son didn't have baseball paying the bill, he'd have to work to do so. If he did that, he'd be putting in as many hours on the side as he does with baseball, but wouldn't have the academic support. I think having that coach watch over them and the mandatory study halls makes all the difference for many of our student athletes.