College has team show up at 8am for 1pm DH to prepare the field ?

[manitoudan]

Thought it was rather bizarre that a small college I'm familiar with would have the girls show up at the field to remove , and roll up , the IF tarp and rake the IF and line the field before a DH . Is this common in small college ball ? The starting pitcher commutes an hour from home , so that's outta bed at 6-6;15 to get to the field , field prep for 1-2 hours , then they " went home " or wherever before the game . That's the story as it was reported to me . Sounds insane but I'm nuts myself .

 

[manitoudan]

Maybe there was a better explanation for the 8am arrival that I'm not privy too ?

 

[coachjwb]

Maybe that's the time that fit the coach's schedule so he/she could supervise, or the girls' schedules to minimize missing classes? I think it is fairly common for the smaller schools to have the players help with things, though I agree that the 8AM sounds way early ...

 

[manitoudan]

it was a sunday , no classes . Seemed nuts to me to have your starting pitcher ( and others) get out of bed at dawn to prepare the field for a 1pm DH .

 

[coachjwb]

That is weird ... not necessarily about the pitcher ... most coaches are going to treat all players equally, but why so early ... maybe avoiding church time later??

 

[WWolff]

Maybe they do not have the staff to do it,and that is there general practice ?

 

[daboss]

For whatever the reasoning for the time, having the team help prepare the fields is reasonably normal for small schools. I'm sure there's a good reason for the time as well.

 

[Static_97_North]

I would say that the coach was punishing them for something. If not a punishment then that is ridiculous. 10:00 would be plenty earlier enough to get field ready and do little warm up.

 

[HITTER23]

Ok, maybe the field was in sad shape, alot of rain the day/night before and needed to squeegee, drag and put in some more time to get it ready. 2-3 hours puts you at roughly 10-11am , gives you only 2 hours before game time for your team to get dressed, eat and to the field for warm ups.

 

[SonicMojo]

Doesn't seem at all strange to me for a small school. I think the early start time accomplishes two things:

1. Gives the players time to rest after getting the work done.
2. Discourages the players from staying out and partying late Saturday night. (It is college after all.)

 

[Bink44]

Doesn't sound strange to me either...builds character and work ethic! Most Teams in the MAC roll the tarp on and off the fields and perform all post game maintenance and cleanup as needed! you know the old saying this aint rec ball

 

[DougA10]

Daughter had a 1:00pm Sunday game, and they had to be there at 9:00am to remove the tarp. On the field at 10:00am to begin warm ups.

Not really out of line compared to other coaches.

 

[Maxx]

Not uncommon at all to have early morning tarp duty. Happens at the mid major D1 programs as well. Unless you have a grounds crew of 20 people, how else do you expect to remove the tarp?? Every D3 school I coached at, we did the field prep as well.

 

[manitoudan]

Thanks for the opinions my OFC friends .. Not the way I would roll that way with a team if it were under my direction but I guess I'm really a softie -- regardless of my rep as a hard a$$ .

 

[reagansdaddy]

Played small college football 20 years ago. We always had to report at 8 AM for breakfast for 1 PM games. Usually had a walk through as well. I never thought about it. It was a good way to get us home early the night before and out of bed on game day. Laying around is not a great way to ensure peak performance. Need to stay on a good schedule.

 

[wvanalmsick]

"The beatings will continue until morale improves. That is all."