Strive For Pro Ball or Get Out?

Guest Blogger: Inner-Sports

by Garret Kramer

Last night I received a disturbing call from the parent of a highly recruited high school baseball player that I have had the pleasure to work with. He told me that he and his son had attended a recruiting camp at a well known and respected university, and the first thing that the head baseball coach said to the group of about 30, is that if you don’t want to be a professional baseball player, you should leave the room immediately. Now I have listened to some overzealous coaches in my day but this statement is truly bewildering to me, and probably not for the reasons that you think. Let me explain.

First of all, there is nothing wrong with having a dream. If your dream is to play pro ball…then if you’ve never had a dream you’ve never had a dream come true! However, what the coach is overlooking is that there are many, many successful and well known collegiate athletes who dream other goals in life. Former Florida State safety Myron Rolle, put his senior eligibility on hold in order to accept a Rhodes Scholarship and study in Oxford, England. Rolle dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon and thus, serving others. “I want to help impoverished nations build up their vaccination programs,” he said in 2008.

Now if head coach, Bobby Bowden, had told Rolle not to come to Florida State because his priority wasn’t playing in the NFL, the team, the player, and in the future, those in dire need of vaccinations, would all have missed out on a wonderfully productive experience and opportunity. To be clear, I am not diminishing the goal of playing professional sports, not at all; my opinion however is that athletics present a wonderful prospect for lessons and growth, so let’s keep the focus on the feelings and experience along the way. The goal of getting there will take care of itself, what a player does when they get there is a far more important issue.

In addition, of equal concern to me, in the above example you have a respected and well intentioned coach whose vision for his recruits is dangerously distorted and confused. While from where I sit I cannot possibly know the reasons why, I can virtually guarantee that when he finds a moment of quiet and in turn truly reflects on the message, he will realize that there is something very “off” about it. Many university and professional coaches today (and some high school coaches as well) are allowing external issues surrounding the position: money, adulation, winning on the scoreboard, to regulate their thinking and actions. When this situation occurs, a coach will always get in his or her own way, say something (like above) regrettable and ultimately fail. Coaches, like players, need to start recognizing the thoughts and feelings related to an insecure state of mind and refuse to react from this place.

My dear friend and Head Hockey Coach at the University of Maine, Tim Whitehead, is known for his poise and calmness, yet trust me, he is equally susceptible to the same negative or even insecure thoughts. One of the main secrets to Coach Whitehead’s success is his ability to maintain the presence of mind to remember the self created origin of thought, only pay attention to avenues of productivity, and in turn have a consistently positive impact on the lives of his recruits. Who by the way, almost always become his players!



Garret Kramer is the founder and Managing Partner of Inner-Sports, LLC. Inner-Sports evaluates and then coaches athletes of all ages on the behavioral characteristics that lead to peak performance on and off the field of play. Inner-Sport’s evaluative partner has created the behavioral assessment used at both the National Hockey League and the Major League Lacrosse scouting combines. Inner-Sports and Garret work with Baseball Factory players at select player development events.