AmericanDad

Teammate support is supposed to be conditional. If you're doing everything in your power to be the best you can be to help the team win. You earn support. If you're lazy and immature and care less about winning. You don't get support and get treated like the outcast you are. Support is earned.

Parents should want their kids playing for coaches like Coach Izzo. Kids haven't changed, adults and coaches have. Kids are moldable, impressionable and will rise or sink to the level of expectations adults recommend and or tolerate. Demand effort, respect and a kids best and you'll get it. Accept excuses, half ass efforts and you'll get a spoiled, immature, entitled little brat. Parents, let others be hard on your kids. They're doing you a favor, and doing what you should have done.

Parents should want their kids playing for coaches like Coach Izzo. Kids haven't changed, adults and coaches have. Kids are moldable, impressionable and will rise or sink to the level of expectations adults recommend and or tolerate. Demand effort, respect and a kids best and you'll get it. Accept excuses, half ass efforts and you'll get a spoiled, immature, entitled little brat. Parents, let others be hard on your kids. They're doing you a favor, and doing what you should have done.

Lets be real and tell it like it is. Real competitors are becoming harder and harder to find. Vanity players that love showcases and convenient training are around every corner. Nice kids get their scholarships taken. Nice kids get released from pro ball. A kid can be the best kid on the team. He can sit on the front row in class and make straight A's. He can be the student body president and a kid everyone wants to marry their daughter. But. He's on scholarship and maybe NIL money to be an impact baseball player. He's on scholarship and possibly NIL money to help the coaches, program and his teammates win baseball games. If he can't make an impact athletically, he will be shown the door. It's supposed to be cruel, rude and nasty to allow the cream to rise to the top. It's a competition and it's not for everyone. Coaches want players with great makeup, but if you can't play, it doesn't matter to them. Coaches want junk yard dogs that want to dominate the competition. Coaches want dudes that can do it vs the equal and or better. Coaches want dudes with moxie, feel, different gears and heightened awareness in game defining situations. Coaches want players that take practice and games personal. Coaches want players that are more concerned with competing than their mechanics, gear and sunglasses. Coaches want players that want to be the difference between winning and losing. The players that want the ball or bat in their hand with the game on the line. Want to be a better player? Be a better competitor and you'll be a better player. Be a better competitor in everything that you do. Take everything personally, because it is. Represent the name on the back of your jersey like the toughest, most competitive player on every team you're on.

“Stop trying to impress the wrong people.” Cody Hall on the mindset shift that changed everything: When you step on the field, it’s not about proving anyone wrong. That’s negative energy. That mindset will drain you. Instead—prove the people who believe in you right. Better yet… prove yourself right. You already know what you’re capable of. Trust it. Don’t play for approval. Don’t play for validation. Play your game. That’s what takes you where you want to go. ⚾️