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In the Mind and Eye of a D1 Parent with Terry Wolf

Welcome to The Baseball Awakening Podcast, where we dive into the raw, unfiltered, unsexy side of player development.

Guest Bio:

Terry Wolf is the father of Trey Wolf, a freshman pitcher at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Summary:

On this episode, hose Geoff Rottmayer sits down with Terry Wolf and we talk about the process he used to help his son become a division one athlete.

Show Notes:

On this show Terry and Geoff talk about the following:

  • When his son started playing baseball.
  • Whether he plays multiple sports.
  • When he started pitching.
  • When he becomes a pitcher only.
  • What age he started playing competitive baseball.
  • The importance of making sure he found time for his son to develop.
  • Explained how his son was a late bloomer.
  • Understand that develop through the ages where major growth happens is important to stay on top of.
  • The amount of work it takes to become an athlete
  • The routines he developed and how it helped him with consistency.
  • Whether he chose to play summer ball vs development
  • What his high school years were like and getting to trust of coaches and teammates.
  • How his son believed in himself to push himself in his work.
  • The focus he put in school to help him get the most out of potential scholarship.

Website:www.baseballawakening.com

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Email Address:geoff@baseballawakening.com

Transcribe:

Geoff:

On today’s show, we interviewed Mr. Terry Wolf, a parent of a division one pitcher at Oral Roberts University, and we talk about the approach that he used to help his son become a division one athlete.

Intro:

Welcome to another episode of The Baseball Awakening podcast where we dive into the raw, unfiltered, unsexy side of player development. Get ready for some knowledge bombs with your host, Geoff Rottmayer

Geoff:

Welcome to The Baseball Awakening Podcast, I am Geoff Rottmayer and today we sit down with Mr. Terry Wolf. Terry is the father of Trey Wolf, a freshman pitcher at Oral Roberts University. Terry, how are you?

Terry:

I’m doing good. How are you?

Geoff:

I’m doing all right. You know, Terry, I brought you on today because your son Trey had gone through the process of becoming a division one athlete and I thought you could provide them insight to the parents who are listening in on the profit that you look at the parent to help Trey fulfilled that dream of his.

Terry:

Sounds good.

Geoff:

Let’s start with, you know, look at what age did Trey start playing baseball?

Terry:

eight years old, coach pitch.

Geoff:

And did he play any other sports?

Terry:

Uh, yeah. Or early on prior to high school with. He wrestled, he played basketball, football in baseball.

Geoff:

Now, do you think that any of those other sports contribute to him being a better athlete?

Terry:

Oh I am sure it did. No, with different footwork and know winning and losing probably help some things, you know, no building some character, uh, you know, getting along with his teammates and stuff. Uh, but you know, I’m just guessing that, you know, through the difference.

Geoff:

Yeah. Yeah. You nailed it, man. All those different sports play a, a, a role in developing an athlete, soccer, basketball, wrestling. Although all the mental toughness and the practice and all the stuff that you said are all super important. I think, you know, and so, and what age did Trey start focusing on baseball

Terry:

freshman year of high school was when he just baseball.

Geoff:

Yeah. And at that time he became a pitcher only, right?

Terry:

Yeah. So a is the high school is the largest high school in the state of Oklahoma. There are around a hundred kids that try out pretty much whenever he makes the team, you’re either position guy or a pitcher guy and he’s kind of a bigger guy, slower-footed guy. And so his opportunity was pitching on with and uh,

Geoff:

Right and at what age did he start pitching?

Terry:

He started pitching around 10, maybe around 9-10 somewhere in there

Geoff:

On rec ball and when did he start playing competitively? If he did

Terry:

He played competitive, probably starting around 12, 13 or 14 more competitive,

Geoff:

Yeah and knowing what you know now, you know the culture is the kind of mess up and a lot of ways, you know, and you and I talked about it before, but knowing what you know now, what are your thoughts? I think it was a great route, whether planned or not

Terry:

Yeah, I would have probably even more of it because it’s like the competitive tournament started. It’s like a never-ending cycle. It just keeps going and going. I do like the competitive side for, you know, competitiveness, uh, you know, some good players and your kids are playing against, you know, if your kids are a pitcher, he’s facing good hitters. If he’s a hitter is facing good pitching, but it limits where you could actually work on, you know, your deficiencies as a player.

Geoff:

Yeah. And that’s great. But like you said, it never stopped. And when you have the year-round playing, the development side of player gets put on the back burner. And so, so you become, you know, okay, playing games, but the fundamental is working to get you to that, that next level and everybody’s forgetting.

Terry:

There’s so much more to even aside from mental and competitive one parts developing your stuff. And then, uh, the whole other huge part is taken care of your body movements, your body strength and the weakness parts of your body to where that part is just kind of way overlook. Not even worried about that part until something’s wrong.

Geoff:

That’s very important in. I’m talking about that, you know, you, you take pride in the kind of doing some research and I highly recommend parents taking a small interest in doing some research. You know, you took the route that you said it is, this is what best for my son and, and everyone needs to kind of invest in their kid and reach out to people that can help do what you gotta do and understand what you got to do rather than just kind of following the culture. Right. But Terry, let me ask you, um, let’s talk about the time that we went from 12 and under to 13 and under when the field got bigger and now try playing competitive ball. So what was that transition like?

Terry:

I didn’t notice a whole lot, you know, in the back with the field got bigger. It’s, it’s, it’s maybe an adjustment period, but I didn’t notice a, you know, a wow factor or anything like that. I don’t, I don’t

Geoff:

a guy that every time he stepped on the field, everyone kind of looked at and said, wow, this guy, this kid can do, he can play d, One baseball, or even pro ball if he wants to do. Did he stand out like that?

Terry:

No, probably is the biggest difference. 13, 14 that, you know, I probably forgot about was at 14. I probably guys that are, you know, that six foot to six three that hit that growth spurt or puberty at 14 and 10. Some guys didn’t. And Trey was one of those gaps, you know, that it was more late bloomer guy. Uh, so that, that probably is a big difference. A lot of guys mature in early

Geoff:

this late bloomers and coming off Chris sale would be a guy who would be considered a late bloomer. So with all that said, so now trey realizes that, okay, he’s there and he’s likely to be a late bloomer type brother. He knew it or not. I’m mental. How did that weigh on him and how did you and the parents just say, hey, keep, keep, keep plugging away, keep working hard, love the game, do your thing and everything will come together.

Terry:

You knew that he would eventually transition and get all her. Just didn’t know when that was and then you don’t know how much it’ll be, you know, when you grow two or three inches or four or five or, you know, get faster, taller, bigger, stronger. Uh, so I started looking at ways, and that’s probably about the time that I contacted you was a, he never really had any arm problems, but his arm would get sore sometimes. And I didn’t know the, you know, I’ve never played baseball. I never played baseball in high school or anything. And I knew so little about baseball that praises a lefthanded kid. Then I was showing him how to catch her. I can just. And that’s the way that he stayed. So I knew I needed to find somebody else. So I had a, I think I’ve seen something about you online and went over there for an assessment and a, you guys kinda hit it off. And uh, I just knew there had to be, you know, good mechanics and then some good mental stuff. And I think that’s around the same time that it was like he believed in himself, but when you have somebody else believe in you, and that’s kind of where he started becoming aggressive or more like a bulldog mentality was, you know, he’s a smaller guy and uh, just hard work and learning about yourself. A lot of that came from that.

Geoff:

That was so determined. He wanted it. He would ruin the dripping in sweat and every session, whether it was hot or cold, it really. He didn’t need some direction and some guidance and he was willing to do whatever it took. And I got. I did get the steed, that transition, um, you know, not being so sure of themselves to develop me into the bulldog mentality and I think, and it’s been fun to watch and I think a lot of it, I always think that the parents, you know, you, you were very involved and I think you’re kind of buying into and reinforcing some of the things that we were working on. Played a big role,

Terry:

pitching lessons around town and stuff. And I would always go to the lesson because I didn’t know what they were saying. So I would watch the lesson and then see whatever they said and then I would go home and like just look up whatever they were saying and see if it matched up with what, you know, the knowledge I thought whether it was right or wrong and I just never really tell Trey my opinion or not. I would just try to build information off of was the right thing or not the right thing. And uh, you know, he was the one more so, you know, he would tell me this is right or that’s not right. Or they just kept looking for knowledge. I guess

Geoff:

that was the thing that stood out to me. You know, I’ve worked with a lot of kids over the year. Then I’ve never had someone who asked the question that did know he would go home and watch the Youtube video that I’m mechanical and then you know, and that was the part that I love. I love when kids want to learn and they ask questions and wanted to get better. Shoot. I remember one time he spent, we were working on something and he sent me a video and he understood what he needed to work on it. So he went home and a neck thing. About an hour or two hours later, I got a video from him working on what we were working on with him with a balled up stock thrown into the couch. He was that guy

Terry:

14 year old air. It was like the kids that were nine, 10 and 11 were really, really good. It was just, I was born that way, athletic and you know, fast or strong or whatever, and then had that early, you know, growth spurt. So you know, there’s still more so the cop of the food chain it and I think it just made him work really hard and then it was just a transition period probably that maybe a sophomore year later in that sophomore year that you could start seeing maybe once a month or once every couple of weeks you would see something that he did to where it was starting to transition of the hard work starting to pay off and then and then it’d be a little while and then you would see it again before you know, maybe that junior year you start seeing a lot more consistent transition, you know? And then when that starts happening, then you started getting more competent about yourself and believing in your process.

Geoff:

A lot of people are missing the boat on, you know, when you’re 12, 13, 14, all the way to 18 years old. They’re constantly changing. Their body changing in the awareness is changing. Things are always changing. And so there’s always a little transition period. You know, every time that happened and it’s easy to lose. And if you don’t keep working in front of a train, die and buy into a process and trust that process, you’re never really gonna get anywhere and you know what, if flow, it’s long, but at the journey and the result will show up at the right time.

Terry:

Yeah, get something out of it. But most of the time nobody’s going to put that much work in most of the time I just tried to support him. I’d always go to the lesson, but you know, see what you had to say or any of his lessons. I try to be a part of it and just hang out with him. And, and uh, you know, I’d ask any questions of what he taught and how the detail. And uh, I was always a big encourager to have happening. Write stuff down like of an adjustment was made right? It carry a little book, write it down, and then, you know, say six weeks from now you start struggling. You could go back and look, when I was doing this, I did this to fix it. Maybe it would help. And you know, maybe maybe it didn’t, but it kind of helps you self evaluate yourself, you know, through because there’s a lot of changes going on to that couple year process that you could just figure out on your own instead of having to have somebody else tell you

Geoff:

the sooner you can do that, the better off you’re going to be. And you know, instead of waiting until your junior or waiting until you get to college or Pro Ball, if you can already started this process of self evaluation, self assessment, awareness of what your strength and weaknesses are and understand what you really need to work on and all that stuff. And not waste a year because there are a lot of guys who say I want to play d one, but they’re wasting time right now under naming who they are. Or even reaching out to someone who can help them and find out who you know, who they are, where they need to work on. And he was just start questioning, you know, and having what you guys are doing with tray. It just encouraged it. And by doing all this stuff. So. And it’s not the sexiest stuff, you know. No, but, but, but that part of the process of being where you want to be. And in trade case he wants to be in the big leagues.

Terry:

It’s definitely not for everybody. The dream of playing college baseball or probation, the dreams the day in, day out because also there’s grace in there and doing other stuff. And uh, so what, what trade would do is he would go to high school baseball practice till you know, say five, 5:30 and then we will come home, get something to eat and then we would go do a whole nother practice over at your place, you know, three, sometimes four times a week. And he just didn’t, he never said anything to anybody. He just, you know, that was kind of his routine and he would just drag me along to, you know, to always go. And then there was probably sometimes where I started, I would back off and, you know, just come up with something else to do that where he would drive over to your place when he started driving, just so he would know what it takes to get over here, like the appointment, go to your session, you know, that way it’s his ownership of himself, you know, bigger and all that stuff out.

Geoff:

I can tell you why, but because he just got done with the team practice. But do you know why he came in? He didn’t waste time, you know, he went to France and he worked hard and then he came to us and he worked even harder and that was, he just, he just did not waste any time he came in, he knew what he wanted to work on and he got right to work and I told him so many times because if you keep putting in your work, you’re gonna like the end result. And he bought into that and he said, you know, I’m going to come in here for an hour. I’m going to work hard. Not Waste time thick to my routine, go home and as far over again today.

Terry:

So when he started freshman year, I tried out for the high school team, so then that summer all the guys went to summer ball, whatever 10 you could play on for the summer. And uh, so that sounds that we elected to not do summer baseball and just train all summer and try to get stronger and bigger and faster and you know, more flexible things like that. So that’s all he did that that summer, which was, it was a, I don’t know that it was tough for him, but it was tough for us as parents to believe in the process of supporting a, when you go to the Games and obviously all the parents are out there and then sports, you know, and all the parents talk and we can play for this team or that team or this coach or that coach. So. So that was pretty tough to believe in that. Uh, and that’s what he did that summer and the following summer. Uh, he did play some tournaments, but probably even that summer it would have been better to do the exact same thing even, you know, even more just building off of the first one. But hindsight’s 20 slash 20, you know, so

Geoff:

really want to help their kids man. And of course we all want to help our kids and, but, but it’s really easy to kind of get caught up into, well this is what I do. One else is doing so it’s gotta be the right way. And you know, I tell guys all the time, the showcase up, it’s great when you’re ready and when you’re ready and you have the desired number and you’re ready to showcase dumping benefit, great thing. But when you’re not ready, it’s almost a waste of money. So you should take, you’d be better off taking that money and invested in training a little bit and get that confidence up, get the guilt that where it needs to be and, and, and go out there and really show and when you’re ready until you’re ready to showcase something.

Terry:

So exactly

Geoff:

the width that you know, let, let, let’s talk a little bit about, you know, trey going into his freshman year poc, a little bit about how that season when he played freshman ball at Broken Arrow, a great program. He makes the team, he, the pitcher only. How did that year go? He’s smaller than everyone else. He’s the younger for his grade eight, probably not their main guy.

Terry:

So he couldn’t try out on that day and about 100 kids try it out and I took like 36 kids. Uh, they make two teams for the summer and then at the end of that summer season they get it down to about 20 kids, 22 kids. Uh, so he, he had a broken hand for the trial. So he had a private trial like a two months later and he, you know, the coach told him when it came to trap that the team is pretty full, but there’s a picture of holy spot you could do that and not get 10, no plantings or play time, uh, for, you know, when we left there we also could have lived on with the body and the edge of the next town. So there was some thought of he could go to the next town and trout over. There is a smaller school, you know, maybe more opportunity to still play a bass, which when the bad or pitch some to a and we just decided, you know, he was more, I want to do there and I’m okay with just pitching and that’s, that’s what he did. And so the freshman year started and uh, I mean he was, he was not so much on the radar that we played the entire schedule through that summer. And uh, me and my wife told him there was one game last and he hasn’t pitched at all is he had played first base and third base. And you know, just sparingly and I’m a licensed, he told him, you need to tell those two coaches, they were high school kids that had just graduated and stayed back to coach the next summer team before you actually make the high school team. And I said, well, you need to approach them and say, hey coach, I pitched a, you know, where am I at in the rotation? And uh, he was kind of timid. It wasn’t going to ask them. And I guess finally he was like, you the times over I got to ask. So he asked them and they said, oh, shoot, uh, well we didn’t even know you were a pitcher. So, uh, he, he, the next day was, they put him out there. He started and uh, the assistant head coach was there and he had a good game. And uh, so he made the team. And then my freshman year, he, uh, I don’t remember exactly, but I would say he, uh, you know, probably started three or four games. Maybe he could throw strikes. That’s what a, now that he’s graduated high school, I talked to the coach, you know, quite a bit. And uh, he, he said he just uh, he liked him because he threw a lot of strikes and just doesn’t walk people and uh, you know, and it was a hard worker. So kind of what gets kept giving him the chance to come back.

Geoff:

Yeah and for our listeners to understand how hard did he throw as a freshman?

Terry:

I think as a freshman, eight through 69, that was, that was that summer. So that was probably like October of that freshman year, I guess probably around 68, 69, somewhere around there. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure that.

Geoff:

Yeah, I think you’re right. I think he would ride around 67, 68 right around there. So. All right. So now going through his freshman year, he went out there and he competed, you know, he showed those coaches what he can do. He was throwing side, getting guys out. What was his, what was his mentality like? Did you see him kinda gained confidence that the went through the season as he was getting playing time and it and getting guys out, you know, now, now he has them wrapped outing, you know, everyone does. But for the most part he did pretty good for a freshman. So what was his mentality like? Did you see him grow, get more confidence, you know, and again this time he putting in work with us, he’d work in there, he’d work in a tail off and you can kind of see him transitioned into this player,

Terry:

the baseball season in February. He, uh, I think at the start of that season he was like 79 to 80 something like that seed and it was just throwing strikes and towards the end of that season, uh, I think he was like 82, 83 or something and his confidence was getting better, you know, mixing with the boys on the team and just continuing to work at practice and go work at your place. So it just kept, kept growing from there. At that time he was doing a lot of mental stuff too. I’d actually forgotten about this, I don’t know what the machine was called, but you concentrate on doing other things while concentrating on this video. And so growing up he was more of a, he was like solid b’s and you know, maybe I need to see something like that. But uh, after that summer he was like, always, we’re always in one B. I don’t know if that’s what helps that, but it didn’t hurt it and he didn’t do anything differently other than that was the only thing I remember then have him doing differently, was a lot of mental process in a lot of stuff while other things are going on or I think at that time you were doing it for like listening to people in the stands or the other team cant match you or trying to arouse you. Uh, so I do remember that

Geoff:

the idea was to train the, did the slow the game down in to get more focused. Then obviously the, the men and business is across the board, you know, with the sport or school or whatever it may be. Your ability to focus, what being improved with that system. So, and I remember every time he came in he was very competitive with it and he wanted to get better at any wood and an end result and help them on the field and in the classroom. So with, with the subject of school, um, his freshman year, he got all A’s, right?

Terry:

Yeah.

Geoff:

Yeah. So for now, Trey, at this point at understanding, hey, and maybe you and I talked about this, but going to college, you are likely not going to get a full ride scholarship in baseball. Um, there’s more money in academic than there is in baseball. And Trey bought into that and you guide, the parents reinforced that and he worked hard at it. Grade then end result and I’m kind of jumping ahead a little bit. He went to or you and got a lot of academic money

Terry:

athletically to get you there. But the most crucial thing was your GPA and your act score. That was the machine. Just part of a, you know, when the colleges were looking it was like, no, we’re already talking to you because we’re interested. But what are your GPA or your act? Because if, if those are not very good, then we’re kind of done talking, you know,

Geoff:

baseball, money and they’re not going to give a more baseball money if you can’t get the grades and stay eligible. So grade then we talk about all the time. But if people are listening in to your kids to work hard on their grades is important.

Terry:

Yeah. Uh, absolutely. I mean that’s kind of the message I got from when they were, you know, we listened to him talk to him.

Geoff:

Absolutely. So let’s now jump ahead to his junior year was thrown around around this time

Terry:

junior year. He started I think around 85, 86, somewhere in there I think. Uh, and then, uh, right before the season ended that junior year, uh, he was like 88. And then the month after the season ended where he did play summer ball, uh, we were at playing a tournament at Tcu would have had the video board and I didn’t go to that game, but people were sending me text and that’s the first time that we’ve seen him hit 90 on the light board. And somebody texted it to me, uh, so that was a pretty big, crucial year of gaining strength in his legs and his hip mobility and stuff like that. And then throwing strikes with that increased speed. And I would say that year is probably when you know he’s been, he’s been going to baseball and going to your place and unbelieving in it and all that. And I think at the, a little into that season is probably when he started seeing the benefits of everything and everything was starting to come together, have a believing in itself, trust and everything. I think that’s when a lot of routines were, were made from him that I didn’t notice the routines until later on that summer, uh, some parents would, you know, texted me and asked about widest trey do this or do that. And I told him I didn’t know. I didn’t even realize he did that stuff. So then I watched for, you know, a certain band workout or, or uh, you know, the days he would start, he would go eat at a certain restaurant every single time. He would do a certain arm care thing every single time. I didn’t know that. I didn’t watch for that stuff, but it just tried to keep it consistent and then also kind of jumping ahead. But when those colleges started looking or calling, that’s one of the first things they kind of noticed was being consistent. Like, like I don’t know about the routine stuff, but the results of doing the same thing every time instead of a, you know, a few were a hitter in you, you know, go three for three and then two months go by before you go to for three. You know, I think it was something like that.

Geoff:

It is a structured routine and it’s something that takes time to develop because God had to figure out what works for them, what doesn’t work for them, but the but the, but they had to start the process of trying to figure out what all that is and it’s tough and it can be very tough at a young age for them to do that. But that was the one thing that I saw over the years is that he would get him very consistent. He knew what he needed to do to get ready and the routine kind of came together that year and he had a great year and that’ll lead into a carried into summer ball and then that led to or you owe you and all these guys calling him.

Terry:

So at the high school level there’s a conference play two days a week and then you play a third or fourth game during the week. That is not a district game. So a lot of people that go to the games or game or winning as you can. But realistically, only those Monday, Tuesday games count that, you know, for your chance to play for a district championship or go to the state tournament or whatever. So he, so he was not one of those guys, uh, even at a junior year, so he was not a Monday, Tuesday guy. He was a, you know, Third Game Guy Starter or fourth game got started. And uh, so that, that year he went eight and one on the mound for his record and it didn’t have a lot of walks. Uh, and, and so we won a district that year and he, he pitched in that game and uh, that team I think had beat us the night before where it almost made us or something that was a double elimination game. Uh, so I, I think, uh, I think what has happened as they were upon us, like 12 to two or something in the second inning and we ended up coming back and beating them that night. So then trey pitched the next night and, uh, I think he gave up one run. We ended up winning the district, uh, like five, one ballgame or five zero a ballgame or something, and that’s when I think a lot of the players on his team started, you know, kind of accepting him as a player if he always had the coaches up to the school, you know, they were always helpful telling him this or that and taking them under their wing. And. But I think that when, and through the work ethic, they’re a kind of a, I don’t know, I don’t know if they believed in any more or they just accepted that, you know, he’s one of our guys now. I could see that happening that year too. So that was a good thing. And a lot of that comes with a baseball. It’s like you got to produce so if you don’t produce, don’t expect anything and you just got to keep producing and doing what you’re supposed to do.

Intro:

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Geoff:

Yeah, in Trey, he, he would, the guy that wasn’t afraid to go to a code you and ask for feedback and I think that’s important and I used to tell them, and I think you guys did too, was to make sure that when you ask for feedback that you except whatever that feedback is, the, whether it’s good or bad because you don’t want to hear what you want to hear. You want to hear what you need to hear. Right? So he and he was good at that. So. So now, now he, the junior year he played summer ball. He’s doing really well. All these golder call him. I’m talking a little bit about what that period would like. You know, all this hard work and coming together. He’d getting attention now and for the people that are listening, granted, but people that are listening remember, prior to this point, and correct me if I’m wrong, try one thing, getting a lot of the tension and then all of a sudden he blossom and I always tell guys, if you, if you keep putting in work, you will blossom. And he blocked them that you had done a lot of opportunity, came his way and he would like what would that period life for and for you guys with all the investment that you put in emotionally, financially, and with time

Terry:

because you want your kid to a kid, they think that they know what they’re going for. But when it did happen, I don’t think that he knew really what to do because it just kind of all happened at once. He, uh, one of the coaches up at the high school putting in to go to a tournament and a town about two hours from our house where you stay with a host family and you play baseball. And there are teams that come all the way from Alaska, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona. And uh, so he stayed with a host family and, and uh, some schools watched and he pitched well that day and uh, there was uh, a two junior colleges talk to them that day and then this we’re Roberts where it goes now, was there to watch him and they talked to him a little bit and then like right after that he went to another tournament at Oklahoma state that just Kinda, I’m not sure how you get put in that, but anyway, last minute he was asked to be in that. And so he went to that and did really well. Uh, another, uh, actually took him to that. And so before they had made it back home, he had received calls from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State or Robert’s a and a couple other junior colleges. And so then I was kind of at the point of what are we doing it, you know, Kinda what decision did you make and who goes here and asking them to come to check out the school, come on visits and, and there’s just kind of like our head spun. It was Kinda like you worked so hard to get to something and then when it happens you kind of don’t know what to do, what’s the next process. And so it was like one of those deals to where you work super hard, super hard. You could go to 45 tournaments, uh, you know, throwing a certain speed or hitting the ball a certain speed or you know, running a certain speed and uh, you’re just spinning wheels and wasting time and you go to one or two tournaments and do the things they’re looking for or hit the speeds they’re looking for and it’s immediate feedback. They’re gonna, they’re gonna find, you know, I mean there are some schools that called him, I’d never seen those schools ever understand or at a tournament that he played at, I don’t know how they see or, or what have people talk once you, you know, do what they’re looking for a. So that part of it was probably the craziest part and it was like what decision does he want to do? And things like that. So when we went on some visits to some schools and tried to see what is the best fit for him and uh, so kind of went from there.

Geoff:

Yeah, that was an exciting time, you know, from the outside looking in and seeing how much you and your wife put into trey now with time financial than and emotionally, all that investment kind of came together. So it was pretty exciting to see it and I tell trey on time, you know, I’m really glad you bought in and you allow yourself to bloom into what you are. And he did and it was just exciting to see

Terry:

trusting other adults, whatever the process is this process different than the norm of you trying to get your kid on the best competitive team or the competitive team that wins all the time or around the, a group of parents that know what they’re supposed to know to get their kids on, you know, a better program and then you go a different direction that nobody else was going. That is about a process and learning and knowing your body and things like that. You’re, you’re kind of going in unchartered waters with no, no, you haven’t seen another kid do that around here. So it’s, it’s all or nothing once you start going that way. Uh, luckily for him and it all worked out and you know, now looking back on it, you know, a large group of kids that went the other way, it didn’t work out because they were a, you know, a large group of the kids that played at that age are still the same clear they were at that age

Geoff:

Florida and I’m speaking a different language than everyone else. It was kind of tough to get them buying. But Trey, you and your wife, all these died to try it out and I’m appreciative of that, you know, trying it out. But now I’m trying it out but sticking to it because you could have easily had said, you know, this guy, what’s he talking about? And maybe you guys have that conversation, but you know, this guy that know he’s talking about. But, but anyway, you guys stuck with it. So it’s exciting to see the next step at Oru and he wants, you know, trey wants to play in the big leagues, man. And so now he’s working hard to get himself ready to compete again, guide them a little bit older and he had a pretty decent freshman ball or you and that exciting. So the wolf me what happens here in the spring and for now, you know, he’d worked hard in this next step would you to prepare himself for professional baseball,

Terry:

you basically have to start over. All nine kids can hit that you’re facing and the class works tough schedules, longer workouts in the morning, workouts in the evenings, a study hall, adjusting to new teammates. And so that’s all that is a process. And then figuring out how to pitch to that and kind of grown from mayor come and I’ll put a new plan and uh, it’s an adjusting process of figuring yourself out. And then, I mean, he even goes in there and he’s been over to your place picking your brain and asking me what you think of this. And uh, so it’s just a growing, growing deal. I guess it never ends, you know,

Geoff:

go to a done level or even a duke or whatever and you know, anytime you go to that next level, a lot of things started to kind of come to play there, guide that away from home. Guys have girlfriends that another school or they have more schoolwork than they’re used to and they just have to jump to a schedule that committed to the baseball lifestyle, you know, and, and all day long every day. And there’s some adjustment that we made and I think if you really loved the game of baseball you’ll figure it out. But, but it is different and we can talk about it all day but until you’ve experienced it differently and I think he’d do a great job kind of making the transition.

Terry:

No. Freshman, sophomore and sophomore to junior from junior to senior was, you know, on another velocity jump towards the end of that year is popping out at 93. And it was like, you know, some games were 89 slash 91-time games were 90, 92. That velocity just kept growing and he kept looking. And, and select the hugest jumped from junior to senior was the junior year, he had like 44 strikeouts and then a senior year you had 116 or 19 strikeouts. Uh, and he’s facing the same 6:18, uh, so that just the increased velocity and then getting the command style than because I think he pitched 70 something and ends and it had like 11 walks. Uh, so it’s just throwing strikes.

Geoff:

Then they knew that they knew he was going to get out there and they knew what they were going to get out of him because of he too very consistent.

Terry:

Yeah. And he was a district charter guy, uh, but just kinda stick with the process, but you got to go all in. You can’t a workout one day a week and then put 25 tweets on twitter how hard you’re working. You got to be quiet and go do your stuff. And if somebody else was happening to push you to do you probably not gonna make it is not. If you’ve got to, you know, drag me along, you know, you’re probably not gonna make it. And then another thing that I, that I wish I no earlier on was if your kid really to play college baseball, if, if he’s a decent player and he just works hard and has awesome grades, there’s a place to play for every kid. There’s like the stigma of, well they’re recruiting kids in eighth grade or seventh grade or you know, if your kid’s a sophomore, there’s no money left. That’s a bunch of bs. My kid was a senior and, or, or even a junior. And there were colleges that have plenty of money left. I mean there was, right. So even his senior year there was schools calling and he was already committed somewhere that still have money, big program. So that’s a, that’s a deal from like agencies wanting you to play all summer, you know, it’s building this and, and you know, there are some kids and uh, you know, eighth, seventh, eighth and ninth grade, they do get committed. But it’s not, that’s not where all the spots on her,

Geoff:

you know, really young. And I’m not sure that’s good for the game, but that’s another conversation for another time. But everyone else kind of gets caught up into that emotion and if you are, you got to understand that if you’re good enough, you have the right numbers, you’re consistent, you work hard, you have good grades, they’re the place for you to play for now, when tr tray with the guy who went in and kind of feeling like whether he knew it or not, what were the late bloomer type? So you went in throwing 60, stabbing in 68, 69. He left high score, throw, throwing 93. And he did that by, by working hard. He did that by buying in and trust into a process, taking care of himself, working on routines, setting goals, having you and your wife, encouraging him and all that. So I feel like the parents, um, yeah, trained in a lot of it on his own, but I think you and your wife deserve a lot of credit for. We’re committing to getting him to training four days a week. Uh, unfortunately. What would be in taught encouraging him to, uh, to work hard, you know, because there are people out there that are pretty hard on their kids and they’re not really giving them the kind of, the proper training, the proper guidance that they need, you know, the game hard. And if it’s not going to be great performance that the great performance after performance, you got to put in the work. You got to learn to be consistent. You gotta show up, you know, and everything, you know, the, you gotTa, you gotTa commit to getting your kid to practice. You got to commit to getting them to training. You’ve got to be consistent with that because consistency is the key. And if the parents are consistent, then it’s going to help them as well.

Terry:

I never worried about the women lost it would just break it down to Brighton, this little notebook, whatever pitch he was working on for that day, whether it was a fastball, change up, a curve ball, whatever he was, I would seem writing. Sometimes he says this pitch on this count and it was good. The battery did this and and so whatever he threw, he was working on puzzle. He didn’t worry about all those other pictures that day. So saying they lost her one. It was, he wanted Peter is that pitch and that count and got whatever he was trying to get out of it. That’s all we focused on instead of worrying about, you know, I walked two guys, two hips and we lost or whatever. They’ll break it down into smaller wins I guess. I mean same as maybe a hitter, you know, hitters looking for certain pitch on a certain count and he goes over four, but he never really got the pitch he was looking for were maybe hit it well and got out. So whatever.

Geoff:

And one of my first questions is always, you know, the Pitcher, you know, my, my first question is always how did your arm feel? Because I want to know how I feel because you know your arm and everything and if you can’t throw you can’t play. So that’s always my first question. And then I’m always asking, so what are you working on? You know, how are you doing with them and what can we do to improve it because he was the guy who was aware of what he needed to work on for the most part,

Terry:

freshman, sophomore year, but more the middle part, the last part of the junior year and senior year is kind of when a lot more kids or families start hearing about that he was coming over to your place and the number one question that they would call me and ask or were asked him was how come his arm ever hurts? Oh, I don’t know. And you know, they wanted to know what the process was that they do an a or housing recovering, things like that because that was a. all these kids his arms or, or hurt can’t play or having things like that, uh, to where his arm didn’t hurt. Uh, so he always felt that he had the same process, the recovery process. Uh, so just doing that all the time. And I think some parents or kids or whatever was, was noticing that and they would just call an ask and a tough, you know, sent some kids over there over the years. And uh, his buddy went with him last year, which was, you know, really help that kid out a lot. The good thing was that kid was the same mentality of kids, you know,

Geoff:

you don’t want to admit that their arms hurt. So when I had to do and I worked hard at was developing the trust for a trade if feel like he can open up and be honest about how I was feeling and everything else in general. So it, in, that took them time. They probably took that first year to really figure out what his solution was to keep his arm healthy because I remember the evaluation sheet and I had a bar down there where the scale one to 10, how bad does your arm hurt? And he had a stabbing on his shoulder and an eight on his elbow. So it took them time. But he really bought in and he developed his own routine. And that was the big focus, a routine that he developed that he felt worked for him and so that he can be consistent with it because his arm is everything as a pitcher.

Terry:

No, he usually calls you and says, Hey, this is what I need to do here. Get me back in line on this or something. And I was just.

Geoff:

A lot of time what we’ll do is let’s go back and look at your routine, what have you been doing or not doing, and then we’ll know what kind of take a look at the mechanics and a little tweak here and there can make a big difference, you know, both physically and mentally.

Terry:

When it started college it was trying to find that routine and find yourself. And I’m the same like the first few games. But I watched it. He pitched in, it was a, he was throwing strikes trying to figure it out. And it was, he was, he was not given up a lot of kids, but the couple that he would give up or harder hit than, you know. So you’d go for a while and then boom, hard get ball goes through a wall, boom, hard hit wall. And so he was trying to figure that out and so he had a couple of those outings and then now he had three or four outings where he hasn’t given up or some of them having them in giving up a hit a so you can see that he’s figuring out the process of what works for him there. And probably the huge part of that came from you have an increased workload of, of practice. Now how do you stay fresh on the day you throw whatever that is, I don’t know, but uh, but I can tell, I can see that it’s starting to figure out a and his velocity is starting to grow again or, or stay more consistent at the higher level. Uh, so, and he’s developed some better secondary pitches with more movement that are more consistent.

Geoff:

The biggest challenge right now. And you’d make the transition, would it be the physical component, the mental component or the emotional component? And he said it would mental. He said, you know, I gotta figure out how to pitch and get guys down because it used to be I can miss over the plate and they’ll throw a bi guy, but now that’s not the case I got. I got talented, very talented, hit it around me who are older, 22, 23 and he younger typically for his grade and now he’s making more about the game and more about pitching, which is a great thing.

Terry:

It’s just a continual growth learning about yourself and I’m super super teammates, so know if he’s struggling with something, I’ll tell him what works for them. And then it’s, you know, it’s Kinda, that’s how ideas work. I guess. I see somebody do something, it’s better than what I’m doing. I’ll just steal that idea and then I see somebody else do it and I’m like, Eh, don’t seem to work well. I just won’t use that part. And that’s Kinda what I’ve seen him do is just, just constantly taking knowledge from whoever kind of research what your thoughts are on it. And if you can use it, use it. If you don’t, don’t, but you just gotTa keep taking in new information of new ways to do things or sometimes there’s not a better way to do it, but a lot of times there is.

Geoff:

Right? Yeah. That, that’s the cool part about that transition. Now you got guys, you got 25, 30 guys and every single one of them want to be there and they want to play baseball and they want to get better and they’ll do whatever they can to help each other. In high school you have guys that are just content with playing high school baseball and that’s fine, but now you’re had a lover where everybody wants to be there. Yeah.

Terry:

General, several other pitchers, parents and the kids are all there to help one another. Nobody’s worried about you taking, taking years, father whatever, to help one another and we’re all trying to be better as a team or get to whatever your next goal is. Uh, it’s like, uh, they’re holding you accountable to do a good job as you’re holding them accountable and you just kinda grow to gather. I’m asking. It’s exciting. You know, hearing about their deals and what the next, you know, whatever is next goals or next steps and this is, it’s harder and harder and harder. So

Geoff:

I love hearing about it. I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, but I’d like to end the conversation with what advice we have a listener who, who, who had the ballplayer who go on to play Division One and there’s a lot of different routes to get there so we can talk about that another time, but we have someone who’s listening and there’s fun goal at the play Division One baseball. What would be your advice as a parent to help them help their son,

Terry:

a young kid or a high school kid or or what?

Geoff:

Well, let’s do them all. Let’s start with 10 to 14, but before high school,

Terry:

I’d probably say I had another. If I had another kid and he was a 10 year old, I would take him over to you and figure out know you’re going to do that assessment of what’s all the stuff that he does. Is He, here’s the fast and he hit homework. Can you throw hard, figure all the good things out and then you’re going to figure out all his deficiencies of, of, you know, how his hips houses, you know, mine, you know, houses mental, a work ethic, figure out whatever you are deficient and then spend until you get to high school of working all those things because that’s, you know, say till you’re a junior in high school or middle part of that junior year. Anything you do before, that doesn’t matter. None of those games matter, there a do, you do need those some, you know, you’ve got to play baseball and you need some guidance but you don’t need to spend, you know, 10, $20,000 on all over the place to, to find that out. So, I mean literally you could take, I mean, now that I don’t, once I could, I could get a kid and taken over to you, figure out all those deficiencies and then when he say he was a pitcher and he’s throwing the velocity that schools are looking for and he has played baseball, you know, throughout the time, just not, you know, at the level of flying all over the place, just, you know, play in your state or your town. And uh, and then I, you know, if you wanted to, so your kid did want to go out of state, you know, well maybe that junior year you go to some tournaments out of state and when he hits that numbers that they’re looking for, your phone’s going to ring and fee. If you don’t, then, I mean it’s realistic. You could run him all over town and having a, you know, throw 80 to 82 as a junior and go to a 45 showcases. They’re not going to call. They’re giving them too much to anticipate if this could happen or that can happen. Just wait until you can do it. And then just go do it. Uh, but it is a, it’s a lot of work

Geoff:

being able to play this game at a high level. Do, you can take, you can go d to d, three and all those other levels, but there’s still work involved. You can’t just wake up one day and say I want to play baseball and it’s bad to get to a certain level. No, you gotta work hard and the higher you go, the further you want to play, the harder you gotta work.

Terry:

The d one schools, they’re all good players, right? Every kid is at a junior college, have something that, you know, they chose to go there and it was a good fit for them. Maybe grades, counseling, go there. You could have four or five kids on that team that, you know, they were about to get drafted in. Decided to go there to get drafted the next year. It’s, there’s, there’s all different kinds of reasons for kids to go to different places. To you a,

Geoff:

what’s your advice for the parents?

Terry:

The high school got so say you were a freshman. That’s I, I would have probably did your, did your high school season and you’re going to have to decide of the, you know, not everybody’s going to say, well I want my kid to not swinging a bat and be a pitcher only so you may, you know, make the move to the next town. And um, you know, if we would have made that move, it could’ve been a whole different outcome. I mean Chris, 16, 250 pound kid, he could swing the bat pretty good too. Uh, but, but we did make that move, but somebody else could. So you just play your high school games and then in the summer figure out whatever, all your weaknesses or whatever. If you’re a catcher or hitter or you know, short staff and just continue to live with you, you track everything. So it’s Kinda, if you’re a hitter or pitcher and you’re thinking you’re getting better, you got data to show you’re getting better this week. You didn’t get better this week, you didn’t. And then now you are to approve what’s working and what’s not to where all we have. If you go play, you know, so you do a 30 game session in the summer with the travel ball team. You just kind of value that you’re getting better if you’re a pitcher getting out. So you hit or getting on base when you might’ve pitched on the day that their ace didn’t show up or you bad on the day, their ace didn’t show up. So you got three hits or you pitched on the day that there are three big guys you know, couldn’t go to the tournament and you know, throw a one hitter or something. You’re not valuing the real data to where when you go hit a baseball on that track and how hard you hit it. Or you sold baseball. Not just basketball but your other pitches too. That’s real documentation to show I’m getting better. Or, or uh, like one thing I did notice you did different than other, like when you go to hitting or pitching lessons, most guys just take, take your money until your kid. A few cues to do while their pitches. And then I throw about 70 to 80 pitches and then afterwards they’ll talk about mechanical issues and then you’re going to, uh, not do that again, probably until it’s time to go back in a pitching lesson next week, uh, to where you’re stopping it and doing it throughout the session. But you’re also collecting data on different types of throws to know, you know, if you’re weak in this area, throw that part of your body is still deficient. So strengthen that part to make that stronger. So just little areas. So I’d probably, you know, high school kids do do that freshman summer and play your sophomore season. Did that again and then a junior summer or that junior year at high school. And then if your numbers are worth, they should be that junior summer, probably the summer to uh, you know, you’re kind of running out of time and that’s the time to, you know, go play in the summer to uh, you know, get looked at by schools. And, and that’s also the summer of, you know, if you did the process right and you should see the gangs that you need. Uh, but, but you know, there is some guys that maybe that don’t happen and so your senior year there’s still some guys that are getting offered during that senior season and even as the season in. So that’s probably the biggest thing is like you to say save your money and just worked on get better. And then once you’re in that, you know, get online and research a, some kids that you think your kids about the same size or would be the same side of internally and know how fast do they run, how hard do they get, how fast did they pitch an ex, you know, kind of, you did that a lot, you know, Trey will tell you a picture, you pull it up on the screen and kind of you know, what, what’s, what’s he doing differently

Geoff:

throughout this conversation about getting the numbers. So let me just kind of share with our listeners what, what that really means. So if, if I’m a guy and I go into the high school season and I’m hitting 500, but I have 38 singles and my extra balls me this 78 to 80, that 500 really doesn’t mean much because you have to take in account the competition. So, so almost like that 500 doesn’t really matter because that’s 78 to 80 mile an hour ball speed isn’t going to tramp layer that next level. So when we talk about numbers, we’re talking about you need the active boss be numbers, the velocity numbers and you need consistency of the numbers and those numbers and you can go on the Internet and find out what the baseline for your age. And that’s what we did and that’s what trey did. And I do this for our guys, but unfortunately we live in a time where that’s your end. Once you get the number, then they’ll kind of start to take a closer look at you. But. And, but prior to that, even though you can play, but the numbers aren’t there. And I’m not saying this was always, but it improved your eyes if your numbers are there in the body of your attention goes up. So I hope that clarified the thing that I’m going to do a podcast on that one later. So. But anyway, Terry, my good friend, that was a lot of fun. I learned a lot. Shuttle listeners will learn a lot. Thank you

Terry:

tag along

Outro:

  I ma Geoff Rottmayer

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