Well with most of us still playing baseball, whether it be high school or college. We all have to deal with the dreads of balancing school work, practice time, and a social life. This at times can seem daunting; it can make you wanna just quit and focus on one thing. I’m just writing about it because it happened to me last year and caused me to lose lots of quality innings as a freshman in college. I’m sure some of you have no problems balancing the two and I applaud you, I believe that is the absolute toughest thing to do in life.
At the same time don’t take it for granted though. I was like some of you, when I was in high school things kind of came easy and I could mainly focus on baseball and still do pretty well in school. I ended up graduating with a weighted GPA of 4.2, unweighted 3.5. So I went into college expecting the load to be a bit heavier but still just kind of shrugged it off. Well when we started conditioning in the fall we had 5 am workouts that lasted till 7 am. I had 8 am classes everyday so I knew this was going to be tough. For those of you who aren’t in college yet, the attendance policy is a little different than high school.
You’re expected to act like an adult and show up to class. So if you miss class… you miss class. There’s no such thing is an excused absence, you are responsible for making up missed work and getting notes and lectures from classmates. Also, absences don’t count against you. You could show up to class twice a semester and still pass if you ace all the exams (although thats physically impossible). Anyways, I took this for granted and slept in on days that we had workouts and kept telling myself, “I’ll be fine… I’ll get the notes from someone” Well the absences piled up and so did the work. I found my self trying to crank out 11 page research papers the night before class and staying up till 3 am when I had workouts that morning at 5. Needless to say I fell behind in class and it came back to bite me… big time.
I wound up failing one class and was put on academic probation during the spring. I was still eligible (just barely), but I had to take extra hours and spend whatever free time I had with tutors. Trust me, not how you want to live everyday during an already stressful part of the year. One day my coach called me into his office and informed me that I had been removed from the Varsity roster until further notice. (In DII there are Varsity and JV squads, JV squads play other JV squads and Jucos). I had worked really hard during the fall to impress the coaches and earn a spot. For the most part I did, I earned a job as a long-reliver/spot-starter. I was one of the only 3 freshman pitchers on Varsity. This hit me like a brick, I never had problems in school and now I was having the worst time in my life.
I wound up having to stay on the JV roster and was left of the playoff roster for Varsity. Also, I wound up staying at school for the summer to bring up my GPA and get some extra hours. I just wanted to let some of you kids who are going into college and are playing baseball; even you guys who are still in high school. DON’T NEGLECT YOUR SCHOOL WORK. You truly do not understand how big of an impact it can have on your baseball career. Especially for the recruiting process nowadays, and the new scholarship rules. Work just as hard in school as some of you do at baseball. I know at times it seems impossible but you must find a way. Don’t get discouraged if you are struggling and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. That was also a huge problem of mine, I had a hard time admitting I was struggling in school because I didn’t want people to think I was dumb.
You only become dumb when you fail to seek help when you’re struggling.