Forty-five days separate winning clubs from losing clubs.
As important as the fall and summer off-seasons are in building a successful college baseball team, there is no doubt in my mind that championships are won and lost during the Christmas break. The character of every team around the country will face its greatest test in the next 40 to 50 days. College baseball may be the only NCAA Division I sport in which coaches send their athletes back home, with zero supervision for over a month, right before the beginning of the season. Players can work hard themselves all summer, collectively work hard as a team all fall and waste it all over Christmas break. The coaches aren’t checking attendance in the weight room and your teammates aren’t there to hold you accountable. If an individual player doesn’t take it upon himself to continue working hard every day over the break, all the sweat, all the cuts in the cage, all the long-tossing and all the conditioning they’ve done throughout the entire off-season may be wasted. It’s all about routine and self-discipline. It’s not “Christmas Break,“ it’s more like “Christmas Make-or-Break.”
The Ders are no exception to this gut check of moral fiber. With our team scattered all over North America for the next 45 days, Islanders will be tested not only by their individual unsupervised work ethic, but also by the elements. It’s easy to get your winter work done when you’re in Corpus Christi; it’s still 70 degrees and sunny there. I’m fortunate that West Texas winters aren’t too bad and I should be able to throw on my high school field every day but the weather isn’t going to treat many of my teammates quite as well. Guys like third baseman Cody Clarke will return home to take ground balls in the snow of Pennsylvania.
Centerfielder Tyler Ware will be running poles in the bitter, merciless wind of Nebraska, and Infielder Dawson Yates will warm up by shoveling snow out of the batting cage in British Columbia, Canada before he can swing a bat. Regardless of the weather, each of us know that we have to punch the time clock and go to work every day over Christmas break if we’re going to be successful this spring.
We’ll all enjoy spending time with our families and will have fun seeing old friends from home, but the Dirty Ders are going to spend Christmas break working to earn a belated-Christmas present that we will receive in June…A Southland Conference Championship.
2 comments
Really enjoying this young man’s thoughtful and insightful comments about his senior year and the experience of being a college baseball player. Very much looking forward to the next installment.
Alex Jensen from Army is also a senior and entering the infantry after graduation.
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