Boost Your Mental Acuity!

Bernadette Bechta: Blackboard Basics

Summer reading lists can cause groans among high school students. However, the time you spend reading and preparing for standardized tests over the summer can drastically improve your performance in the fall and spring test dates. During the summer months your mind is free from homework, tests, and the daily school routine, so it is the best time to improve your reading and testing skills.

Proper preparation certainly has its rewards! One of my most memorable students is one who could not afford to enroll in a SAT prep class yet needed a high score to receive an academic scholarship. Instead, she decided to read at least 20 books each summer to improve her comprehension skills and vocabulary. The result: a perfect SAT score (1600/1600), a college scholarship, a fellowship for her Ph.D. She is now a Professor at a prestigious university. The lesson here is to visit the library often this summer; checkout books on various topics, look for audio tapes for those baseball trips and college visits, and practice, practice, practice for those SAT tests.

There are several approaches to SAT preparation.

1. If your schedule and budget permits, you can enroll in a SAT prep class that meets your schedule. However, check out the references, ask questions, and determine if the class format meets your learning style. Look for a program with flexible makeup dates that coincide with your summer baseball schedule.
2. If you are disciplined with your time, you can work with SAT Prep books. This can be an effective strategy that allows for flexibility. However, you must work on a regular basis (at least 6 hours/week in the summer), and take Practice Tests and analyze the results. I surveyed my students and included some of my favorites, so here is a list of what I consider to be the best SAT Prep books on the market right now: Bernadette's Favorite Summer SAT Prep Books and a Few Others.
3. Hire a one-on-one tutor. This approach always helps the student who is trying to improve their score to a certain level. A tutor can personalize your approach to the test and help you to analyze your previous scores.

Additionally, while you are visiting colleges this summer and driving to showcases, camps, and clinics, try reading one of these books, mostly sports topics, for pleasure.

Great Sports Stories and more...

Consider reading to be your summer workout for the mind. When you go to the gym, stop at the library. When you pack your baseball bag for a trip, toss in an audio tape or SAT prep book. Give up an hour of ESPN each day to work in your SAT Prep book. The results in the fall will show in your mental acuity; that is, a buff mind!

Bernadette Bechta serves as the main academic contact for all players and parents in Baseball Factory's Exclusive Program. With over 20 years of experience as a teacher and advisor at the high school level, Bernadette will provide families with guidance on topics ranging from application essays to financial aid. In addition, Bernadette’s two sons have both gone through the Exclusive Program, so she knows the ins and outs of the process from a parent’s perspective.

Let the Results Speak for Themselves

Julie Thompson – A Baseball Factory Parent’s Perspective

College acceptances have started to roll in—an exciting time, as our sons look forward to playing at the next level. As parents, we see the effort, the hope, the joy, and the disappointment that accompanies the quest to play baseball in college. We delight in our sons’ good news, and try to remain stoic when the results aren’t what they wanted. It’s a time for both celebration and perspective.

Inevitably, we begin to hear comments from friends and family. Most of them carry heartfelt congratulations or at least, good intentions. Sometimes, though, one player’s good news triggers insecurities in others. Comments and speculation arise as to why a player made a particular choice, and what that choice implied about his other options. The comments can be surprising and hurtful; transforming the perception of these boys as individuals we know and care about into faceless beings, evaluated as impersonal competitors. Most of us teach our children to rise above negative remarks. Some comments are easier to pass off than others, though, and sometimes both parents and players stoop to a perpetrator’s level. I’m not talking about the crazed parents who start physical fights on the field. I’m talking about the quick and snippy leading comments that can come from someone who until that moment, you’d stood with on the field for hours and thought you’d shared a reasonably good relationship.

I try not to get outclassed by my children too often. Sometimes it happens, though. Like most parents, I get riled-up if I think my child has been overlooked or short-changed. Kyle always seemed to be able to take a higher road. He was particularly good at ‘taking things from the source.’ While he might have gotten annoyed, he always held his tongue. ‘How do you do it?’ I asked. His reply was simple. ‘I let the results speak for themselves,’ he said. I think of those words and the dignity my son maintains as a result, when I’m ready to counter a comment with something I might regret later.

Results ‘speaking for themselves’ is a fluid process. There’s always another result after a result that’s already taken place, and you never know what’s coming next. The acceptance doesn’t reflect a deadline for success, but instead an accomplishment for all who achieve it. For those parents whose sons got into their top college/baseball choice, savor it. For those who had hoped for different results, it isn’t the end of the line; it’s a step in their life (and often ours, as well). Hopefully, your son thrives where he has decided to go. Life is dynamic, though. Coaches change, injuries happen, and sometimes actually being at a school makes your son realize it wasn’t what he thought it would be. He may start out in one program and finish in another. And fortunes can turn quickly. I’m always taken by the way the world can fall out from under you when you think you’re about to soar—and fortunately, also by the way life can improve when it looked so dark just a short time earlier.

So, as the acceptances roll in and the conversations commence, remember the effort our sons have put into playing the sport they love, and the hope each one has for playing baseball at the next level. The results will speak for themselves. With their effort and a bit of luck, hopefully, they will speak well.


Julie Thompson is a parent of a former Baseball Factory Exclusive Program player. She has volunteered to share her opinions, observations and general thoughts regarding the college recruiting and player development process. She will share what worked and what didn’t for her son, in the hope that other parents and players may benefit from her experience.