I showed up to my freshman year of college baseball ready.
I was ready in the way most freshmen think they're ready. I had done the summer program my school sent me. The ENTIRE thing. I followed it to a T. When I walked into the weight room that first week, it was obvious. I was ahead of most of the other freshmen. Some of the older guys, too.
There's a reason they give you that program. It spits you out exactly where you need to be for fall ball. I hit the ground running because I wasn't catching up. I was on the path.
**The guys who did their own thing over the summer?**
They struggled. Some showed up having trained with their personal trainer back home. Others lifted with their buddies in a garage gym all summer. Whatever it was, they came in doing things their way.
Then they walked into a weight room OWNED by the strength and conditioning coach.
Your S&C coach wants it done his way. That's the job. That's his gym. And it does not matter if you prefer back squats to front squats. It does not matter if you think single-leg work is overrated. If you're asked to front squat, you front squat. If you're asked to do single leg, you do single leg.
The best athletes adjust. They don't complain. They solve movement problems and lift heavy regardless.
**Your coaches will always side with your strength coach.**
This is the part that catches freshmen off guard. They think if they explain their reasoning, someone will listen. Maybe the pitching coach. Maybe the head coach.
Nope.
The people the university hired are going to stick together. They're not going to take your side over the guy they pay to get you stronger. So when a player complains that the program is too hard or "not right," nobody cares. Not the strength coach. Not the baseball staff.
You are not getting sympathy. You're getting labeled.
**Don't waste their time.**
Strength coaches will chew you out if you show up half-asleep. If you're not giving it your all, they notice. They remember. And they talk.
They WANT you to get better. That's their job. If you don't want it as much as they do, you become a problem. Problems lose playing time.
**I dealt with tendinitis in my knee that summer.**
I didn't complain about it. I went to the athletic trainer, got a quick fix that actually worked, and kept lifting. I took advantage of the resources I had access to. That's what the resources are for.
You're going to run into setbacks. The question is whether you use them as an excuse or use the people around you to solve them. College baseball has athletic trainers, strength coaches, and recovery tools your high school does not. But they only work if you walk through the door.
**Be a coachable athlete.**
That phrase gets thrown around a lot. Here's what it actually means: do what your strength and conditioning coach tells you to do. Not because he's always right. Because learning to execute someone else's program is a skill you will need at every level of this game.
Your opinion on the lifts does not matter. Your ability to be coached does.
That's why Athora Lab exists. We prepare you for the actual environment you're walking into. Not a fantasy where everyone cares about your preferences. A weight room with standards, a coach with expectations, and a fall season that starts whether you're ready or not.
Show up ready. Or show up behind.