While driving back to West Point on Sunday morning from my hometown in Charlotte, NC., I was able to do a lot of thinking. Ten hours in a car by yourself affords you that opportunity. My mind wondered between reminiscing about my last summer at home as a college student and how fast the college experience goes. For this edition of my College Baseball Daily Journal, I decided to provide my outlook on a few separate topics relating to college and appreciation of time. This not only relates to collegiate athletes but also anyone who is currently studying in college.
One of my former college coaches would always tell us THE most important gift you can give someone is time. This is something that I often overlooked and did not quite understand until now. Time is an intangible that you cannot get back. Stepping into your freshman year, head spinning one hundred miles per hour, the last thought on your mind is graduation. That is too far away. You are more concerned with getting organized, finding out where the dining facility is, and where your classrooms are located. The truth is, those four years will fly by and before you know it, you will be sitting where I am today, preparing to begin your senior year. I cannot express enough how quickly the time goes. For the college baseball players out there, take time to reflect and appreciate what you are doing. This great pastime of baseball will eventually come to end at some point for all of us, hopefully later than sooner. I know, speaking from experience, that sometimes going to practice certain days seems like a burden, but I challenge all of you to take a step back and appreciate the opportunity you have earned to play baseball in college. There are thousands of guys whose time on the baseball field ended after high school and you are not one of those. I understand that you may feel like there is a thousand different things going on while at school because I feel the same way, but I believe that if you take twenty minutes a day or even twenty minutes a week to find a quiet place, and reflect on where you are and what you are doing you will see things in a different light. For me personally, I sit in the stands at our baseball stadium and look out towards the field, the Hudson River, and the entire West Point campus. This puts things and life in perspective. It is important to find this time because I guarantee that it will make a positive impact on how you approach things such as practices, workouts, class, and people.
This brings me to my second topic which is the appreciation of the people around you. Whether it be professors, classmates, teammates, make the effort to be thankful for each and every one of these individuals. The great thing about college is that you meet people from all different types of backgrounds. You can learn a lot about not only those you meet but also about yourself. As for my baseball team at Army, and every other team across the country, we are like a brotherhood. We do everything together. There is a bond created that is so strong, that it feels as though we have known each other well beyond the years spent in college. I think this is what makes a great team. If you are an upperclassman on your team, ensure the younger guys are getting taken care of. They are entering a team that has known each other for a long time and are new so it is important to get them on board and feel comfortable. I promise you, the sooner this happens, the better your team will perform. Quality relationships off the field lead to better performance on the field. My challenge to you here is to not just be a good teammate, but be a great one. Maturity is wonderful thing. Go the extra mile for your teammates because it will reflect on not only his performance but the teams.
Lastly, I want to give a shoutout to one of our new coaches, Tyler Cannon, who just joined the staff at Army. Coach Cannon recently was the volunteer assistant at UVA after playing professionally in the Cleveland Indians organization. We’re lucky to have him around the Army Baseball Family.
-AJ
