Preparing for the season

Another sunny day and I am wondering how long it will continue....after all, it is winter. Perhaps Old Man Winter and Mother Nature are lulling us into complacency then will hit us with a big one....It's their way of having fun...

It's February 7 and in 10 days we leave for Florida. Buddy begins his college pitching career in a few days. He is not talking about it, but I wonder how nervous he is. How do the coaches prepare the freshman for D-1? It's my opinion that this is a very big deal. For Buddy, it is something that he has worked hard for, sacrificed and dreamed about....so, now that it is finally here, is he ready?

When a person is so close to achieving their dream, how do they respond? Is it like the feeling that you get when a big project is completed well? Is it elation? Happiness? Contentment? And when the big dream is actualized at such a young age...then what? What does an 18 year old do?

I have some ideas. If a person as a teenager achieves a long term goal, I think that there is a confidence that develops that helps them in the future. If the goal is something that has been longed for and that person had to sacrifice and work hard to achieve it, the mind is stronger. A person gets the sense that he or she can attain anything. With hard work and determination, so much can be accomplished.

As a parent, I never pushed my children into anything such as sports or music. The decisions came from the individual child. It was my job to be supportive and drive them from place to place (and fund it too....). With Buddy, he decided that he wanted to grow as a ballplayer. His dad and I fed his hunger with providing him the opportunities. He further decided that he wanted to play in college. Again, dad and I helped him with the coaching lessons and travel teams. He had to do the rest.

So, now we plan on traveling to Florida, then NC and Va. Whether he plays or not, I will continue to do what I did when he was 4 years old and hitting plastic balls off a tee. I will attend the games and support him and the team. I will take the journey with him as someone that he can confide in and count on win or lose. It is going to be a very interesting season....