A Field of Dreamers

Forward

Our path into the college baseball recruiting experience started much like most other families in youth baseball:

We knew absolutely nothing.

What originally started out as an activity to play on the weekends with our sons and their friends, grew over the years into a lifestyle never expected.

Growing up in Flower Mound, Texas, each of our sons played youth baseball; and as they grew older, played travel baseball, and eventually, high school baseball.

Each stage of their baseball experience had its share of highs and lows - but overall, the experience for each was more positive than not, and I honestly say that early on, I never thought for a minute that one of my sons would ever play the game past high school.

I'm not sure of where this thought comes from – why there was a defined end to the activity. Perhaps it was due to my own experience as a youth baseball player - but just the same, that's how I felt. It was just a game, and we all had a good time with it. From time to time, we'd come across the occasional over-the-top-family who started their recruitment effort at birth; but for us - it was just a game, and our sons were just enjoying the company of their friends.

During this early stage of their baseball experience, I'd say our sons were neither good players nor bad players - but some of the other boys on their teams were very good for their age group. These boys were bigger, ran faster, could pitch better, and could throw farther. Although there were times when I wished my sons could be like these other boys, I was more content with the fact that they were having fun with friends, and in the back of my mind, I always felt their development and growth would even out against all these other early-blooming baseball wunderkinds.

When we moved from Texas to Utah in the summer of 2003, the interests of my sons were many, but they still chose to play Baseball year-round.

I originally thought Baseball in Utah would be of a lesser quality, but to my surprise, it was pretty much the same as Texas - but far less-competitive, and that was fine with me as my intention with each son was to make sure they had the opportunity to do as many activities as they wanted. In their early years in Park City, they played youth baseball, football, and basketball; were frequent visitors of the skateboard and BMX bicycling parks; took up skiing and snowboarding - and one even tried hockey.

Still though, baseball always seemed to come first to everything else, and somewhere along the way, a seed was planted, and the big dreams of playing baseball beyond high school took root.

Our lives have never been the same since.

I know you'll agree with me when I say that one of the most difficult things a parent may do is to guide your children through an area you have virtually no experience. It is an effort of great highs, and deep lows; many a sleepless night; and a general sense of tentativeness in everything you try to do to help. Perhaps that comes from the fact that it's their dream - not yours, so my preoccupation with making the right decisions in their baseball activities was that my actions do as little harm to my kids as possible.

When we started participating in travel baseball - and later on, college showcase events, I didn't think much about cost or time because the effort was largely-still, local in scope, and for the most part - affordable.

We'd always make an effort to keep the pressure of play at this level low, but as we became more immersed in the college recruitment experience, I began to meet other parents attempting the same, and learn of the dollars they were shelling out just to keep their son in front of the men who would determine years later - who would play the Game after high school.