Senior Year: Your child’s final year of High School is hopefully one filled with excitement about the future. One where you spend time reflecting about the past 17 or so years, and how on earth did you get to this point! There will be laughs and possibly tears as you may not want to see your ‘little one’ off to college. But, the Senior Year for an athlete who aspires to play College can go one of two ways. Your child may have already committed and officially signed their letter of intent. In that case, the Senior Year is definitely filled with excitement. Or, your child may be watching the days go by wondering why they haven’t committed yet. In this case, the Senior Year can be quite stressful, wondering where they will be a year from now and how can they get there.
This is where we will focus on our final ‘Spend Wisely’ piece; on the player that is in their Senior Year waiting for that interest.
Next Steps: Before I get into what I believe should be your course of action, let me touch on a word in my last sentence in the paragraph above…”waiting”. You do NOT want to wait. I have spoken with many High School players, at various ages, where I question them on what are they doing to ‘get recruited’. The answer is MOST ALWAYS along this line “Well, I am playing on Team ABC and we’re going to tournaments and I have a profile on XYZ website.” Essentially, they are doing nothing.
You have to think like a salesperson. It amazes me that parents and their kids treat this process any differently than business. You have to SELL YOURSELF. Any salesperson will tell you that you cannot sell anything if you never ask for the sale. As a player looking for a place to call home, you need to ‘ask for the sale.’
So, in no particular order, if you haven’t committed yet, and are not getting any correspondence from places of interest to you, here are the things I would recommend:
What you cannot do is sulk. Yes, you will be disappointed and frustrated and sad…and all the motions that go with feeling rejected. But, sitting on a couch or laying in bed drowning in those emotions won’t solve the problem. Only action solves the problem.
I firmly believe there is a spot for everyone that wants one. But you have to work for it. It will not come to you. Be open-minded; do your research; improve your skill set; and network! It’s a lot of work; but from someone who went through it, it was all worth it. Playing college baseball was a tremendous four years. I met my wife because of it and have two beautiful kids because of it. I met incredible people and gained experiences that have served me 20 years after I left Wake. My wish is that all kids who want the experience of playing college baseball get the opportunity to have it.
But, it takes work; so start taking action now!