Minnesota Blizzard Baseball

Separation Season

           A lot of Coaches and Athletes refer to these winter months as the “Off-Season”.  Not playing any ball and stuck inside a facility can start to wear on a competitor’s mind.  It’s human nature, competitors want to compete! 

This isn’t the Off-Season though, it’s Separation Season.

Some of the best advice I heard during my playing days was when I was at Iowa Western, and Coach Rardin always preached “Something Separates Everyone”.  The dog days of the cold winter months in Minnesota can be tough, but when you look at them as an opportunity to separate yourself from your peers it can be A LOT of fun!  I will go over the four best ways to separate yourself from your peers, and how it plays into your recruiting process from my own experience! 

1. Academics

The first question every single college coach asks me is, “How are his grades?”. Duke or Harvard can’t waste their time on a player with a 2.0 GPA.  They must know right away IF they can even recruit you!  The better grades you have, the wider the range of schools who can recruit you.  Not rocket science, but it is important!

During one of our past recruiting seminars, National Champion Coach at Augustana Tim Huber brought up why they recruit kids with high GPA’s.  First off, Augustana is a very high academic school, not everyone can get in.  But Coach Huber said, “We recruit players with his GPA’s because to us, your GPA is a direct correlation to how much you care and how hard you want to work”.  ACT and SAT scores are based on your performance on one day and one test. Your GPA is a 4-year score that shows how much your schoolwork means to you!

The winter is a great time to SEPARATE yourself by increasing your GPA.  There are no games to play, there’s no practices to go to.  Get into the classroom, get with a tutor if you need to, and separate yourself from others who are going to take it lightly over the winter because that’s the easy thing to do!

2. Social Decisions

The very next thing a coach asks is, “What type of person is he?”  “What do his teammates say about him?”.  YOU WIN WITH PEOPLE! 

The best teams I’ve ever been on had nowhere near the most talent.  We won with people.  We cared about each other.  We wanted to see each other succeed as badly as we wanted to succeed.  Does talent help? Of course. We’ll talk about that at the end.  But who you are is a SEPARATOR!  What you do on a Friday night with your buddies is a separator.  What you do in the community is a separator.  Who you are as a Student-Athlete is a separator.  Your teachers will know you’re on the baseball team.  You are representing your whole team when you are in that classroom! Being around like-minded people will only set you up for success.  Work hard to be the best you can but put yourself around people who are better.  You will naturally work harder to become as good as them, which makes you better!

3. Nutrition / Physicality

Believe it or not, the first thing a coach sees when they come to watch you is YOU!  It’s the old-fashioned eye test!  Do you LOOK like you can play at their level? Can your body withstand a 60-game college season?  Can you afford to get a little banged up during the season and continue to play?  Guess what, SEPARATOR!

Everyone has their own lifting program they are on now a day. Great! It’s all a waste if you don’t eat correctly.  I am a great example of this.  I was never that physical.   I was told by every coach, “We’d love to see you put on 20lbs”.  This really impacted on my recruiting process out of High School, because I was separated from my peers in the wrong direction.  I lifted and did everything I was supposed to, and then went home and didn’t fuel myself nearly like I should have.  When I got to college, I was the weakest player on the team everywhere I went.  You guessed it, SEPARATOR!

Don’t just lift and workout to get stronger, fuel yourself correctly.  Whether your goal is to gain, lose, or maintain weight what you are putting into your body matters.   If you don’t know what to do, I’ve got you.  We have a former Olympian Nutritionist on staff!

4. Athletics

The one you’ve all been waiting for, and truthfully the one we focus on the most.  Obviously, the product you put on the field is important, but none of it matters without the first 3, which is why this is the last!  When a coach comes to watch you play, they already know you’re good! Crazy, huh? Well, how do we separate ourselves from others on the field?

Throw the hardest.  Hit the ball the furthest.  Run the fastest.  Be the best player on the field. SEPARATE YOURSELF!

Sounds obvious, but it’s the truth.  If you want to be an “early recruit” Division 1 guy, you MUST have a tool that separates you!  Arm Strength, Speed, Exit Velo are separators!  These things will get you noticed, but how do you get recruited?

Follow the first 3.  Get good grades, make good decisions off the field, and take care of your body.  The last thing, and most important thing on the field at least, be the best player.  If you want your phone to blow up, make it blow up.  Schools recruit the best players. You need to fit the first 3 criteria first, but once you do the ball is in your court. 

If you have any questions or are wondering, how do I get help to separate myself, contact me!  The Next Level Program narrows in on all four of these separators and will give you a step-by-step roadmap to help you become the best overall player you can!  The results are there, don’t miss out!

Cole Albers

Next Level Program, Co-Owner and Mentor