I played JC-level ball at Golden West in Huntington Beach (southern calif). pretty high level of ball. Most starting teammates got scholarships and started at Col St, Wichita St, Usc, Ucla, Washington St, etc. High School I played fball and bskball, TE /OLB 2-way starter (capt. and all-league, blah blah). My teammate played on Cowboys starting off. line for several yrs. I also played hoops, captain, starting pg.. lotsa fun!
First off, in my experience nearly all major Div 1 athletes I've ever met or seen are bigger and/or faster than the rest of us. Some are blessed with incredible, muscular bodies and they never had to lift weights or do farmwork or whatever, it just came on them like a few curly pubes in 7th grade lol ~ some don't even like sports! And the small guys in Div I are really fast, and reeeeally quick and strong for their size.
I'll tell ya another thing.... there were no free breakfasts or lunches back then and I was starving almost everyday... late for school, glass of milk, no lunch money almost always, didn't have the discipline to make my brown bag the night before half the time... hardly eat most days til dinner then overeat like a pig, or eat the wrong thing. :142smilie
At practice coaches didn't know what the hell to do w salt pills.... we'd be out there in 90+ weather with no water breaks (not until my sr. yr were we allowed water breaks after some kid somewhere died and it was req'd by law I think). Sometimes we had 1 salt pill before practice, other times it was 4-6 pills... none of us knew what the hell we were doing... coaches just set the open pill bottle near the water fountain.... no friggn idea what we were doing to our bodies.... :facepalm: My nutrition was shit ~ God knows what coulda happened with good meals and training methods :shrug:
I was a very good high school player... but NOT a Div 1 guy. Too small, Too weak, Too slow. :nono:
1st yr JC torn ankle the very LAST practice (last minute!) of "Hell week" and couldn't walk for 6 wks, came back about 75% last half of season.. it's shot to hell. Bad tears take a longgg time to heal.
2nd yr, shoulder separation the wk before Hell week starts.... 8 wks to heal... fuk this chit man. I'd had enuf of the injuries, and I'd planned to move on next yr, proceed w education, so fball was done. Played hi-level intramurals at SDSU w/some other ex-jocks but the rest was done.
Shoulda played D3 instead.... I had small schools (Harvey Mudd, LaVerne, Pomona-Pitzer, Claremont and a few others) after me, but had no guidance from family (mom n dad going thru divorce, no money for college, and weren't sports people) coaches were hardly around, etc, blah blah... (Btw our line coach started for Jim Plunkett's Stanford Rose Bowl team).
There was no help or discussion from our coaches or parents for those of us w talent to possibly play the next level or higher... none. seems strange now, but it's true.
So was a completely unusual situation for myself and my circle of friends, none of us had a clue.
I'd tell mom these fball coaches were calling me to go to their school and she'd say "how much to go there?" and I'd say "I'm not sure, some kind of partial scholarship, you get loans or something" and she'd say..."I don't have any money for you to go to school, you better do like your brother and go to JC, it only costs like $10 per semester" and the matter was closed... I had a basketball game to go play anyway. Absolutely no guidance.... and was just kinda livin in the moment yknow? didn't argue about it, she had no time or interest in discussing it... not exactly ideal.
I didn't even know Harvey Mudd and Claremont, etc were Top academic schools, get an education there and walk into a high paying job.... nahhh no need to think about that aspect of the situation lol :violin:
Overall report: broken finger, sprained the hell out of both thumbs, something to my hip I'll never know lol, fractured ribs, dislocated collarbone, separated shoulder, acl left knee, cartilage and ligament damage right knee, and both ankles torn to shreds, concussions (I'll guess around half dozen) that were consistently ignored... loved it all!! (well the injuries weren't that much fun actually, and the concussion headaches were pretty nasty too).
I finally stayed healthy and got in "pro shape" around age 24 and felt great! working out 5 days/wk (and reduced the incredible levels of toxins lol) ~~ got reeeally quick, became a really slick-fielding 2b (honest lol) and hit da chit outta da ball. And I was in the best, healthiest shape of my life! Competitive softball, vball, golf (2 aces) and then hoops again in my 30's... a couple back injuries eased me out at 42.
Makes me always think that baseball woulda been the sport to get into... less injury for sure, but it was so damn boring when I was 16 compared to fball and hoops lol
wowwwww.... was that as long and self-indulgent as it looks?? yep, think so! blame heatspix!! :mj07: ~ the older I getz, the better I wuz!! :SIB
Lob Out!!
First off, in my experience nearly all major Div 1 athletes I've ever met or seen are bigger and/or faster than the rest of us. Some are blessed with incredible, muscular bodies and they never had to lift weights or do farmwork or whatever, it just came on them like a few curly pubes in 7th grade lol ~ some don't even like sports! And the small guys in Div I are really fast, and reeeeally quick and strong for their size.
I'll tell ya another thing.... there were no free breakfasts or lunches back then and I was starving almost everyday... late for school, glass of milk, no lunch money almost always, didn't have the discipline to make my brown bag the night before half the time... hardly eat most days til dinner then overeat like a pig, or eat the wrong thing. :142smilie
At practice coaches didn't know what the hell to do w salt pills.... we'd be out there in 90+ weather with no water breaks (not until my sr. yr were we allowed water breaks after some kid somewhere died and it was req'd by law I think). Sometimes we had 1 salt pill before practice, other times it was 4-6 pills... none of us knew what the hell we were doing... coaches just set the open pill bottle near the water fountain.... no friggn idea what we were doing to our bodies.... :facepalm: My nutrition was shit ~ God knows what coulda happened with good meals and training methods :shrug:
I was a very good high school player... but NOT a Div 1 guy. Too small, Too weak, Too slow. :nono:
1st yr JC torn ankle the very LAST practice (last minute!) of "Hell week" and couldn't walk for 6 wks, came back about 75% last half of season.. it's shot to hell. Bad tears take a longgg time to heal.
2nd yr, shoulder separation the wk before Hell week starts.... 8 wks to heal... fuk this chit man. I'd had enuf of the injuries, and I'd planned to move on next yr, proceed w education, so fball was done. Played hi-level intramurals at SDSU w/some other ex-jocks but the rest was done.
Shoulda played D3 instead.... I had small schools (Harvey Mudd, LaVerne, Pomona-Pitzer, Claremont and a few others) after me, but had no guidance from family (mom n dad going thru divorce, no money for college, and weren't sports people) coaches were hardly around, etc, blah blah... (Btw our line coach started for Jim Plunkett's Stanford Rose Bowl team).
There was no help or discussion from our coaches or parents for those of us w talent to possibly play the next level or higher... none. seems strange now, but it's true.
So was a completely unusual situation for myself and my circle of friends, none of us had a clue.
I'd tell mom these fball coaches were calling me to go to their school and she'd say "how much to go there?" and I'd say "I'm not sure, some kind of partial scholarship, you get loans or something" and she'd say..."I don't have any money for you to go to school, you better do like your brother and go to JC, it only costs like $10 per semester" and the matter was closed... I had a basketball game to go play anyway. Absolutely no guidance.... and was just kinda livin in the moment yknow? didn't argue about it, she had no time or interest in discussing it... not exactly ideal.
I didn't even know Harvey Mudd and Claremont, etc were Top academic schools, get an education there and walk into a high paying job.... nahhh no need to think about that aspect of the situation lol :violin:
Overall report: broken finger, sprained the hell out of both thumbs, something to my hip I'll never know lol, fractured ribs, dislocated collarbone, separated shoulder, acl left knee, cartilage and ligament damage right knee, and both ankles torn to shreds, concussions (I'll guess around half dozen) that were consistently ignored... loved it all!! (well the injuries weren't that much fun actually, and the concussion headaches were pretty nasty too).
I finally stayed healthy and got in "pro shape" around age 24 and felt great! working out 5 days/wk (and reduced the incredible levels of toxins lol) ~~ got reeeally quick, became a really slick-fielding 2b (honest lol) and hit da chit outta da ball. And I was in the best, healthiest shape of my life! Competitive softball, vball, golf (2 aces) and then hoops again in my 30's... a couple back injuries eased me out at 42.
Makes me always think that baseball woulda been the sport to get into... less injury for sure, but it was so damn boring when I was 16 compared to fball and hoops lol
wowwwww.... was that as long and self-indulgent as it looks?? yep, think so! blame heatspix!! :mj07: ~ the older I getz, the better I wuz!! :SIB
Lob Out!!
