Brooks Auker 2029 will be attending several camps upcoming. He will be playing TE for the Byron Tigers moving forward. Big frame for a freshmen with genetics that make you think he’s not done growing! Good luck this summer Brooks! @BretBielema@EDGYTIM@Abdul_Hodge@LeVarWoods@CoachTimNDSU
A PARENT’S JOURNEY THROUGH YOUTH SPORTS:
Age 5: “He’s got a cannon.”
Age 6: “He’s the fastest kid out there. Coach said so.”
Age 7: “Rec ball isn’t challenging him anymore.”
Age 8: “We tried out for select. Obviously made it.”
Age 9: “$2,800 for the season. Plus uniforms. Plus tournaments. Plus hotels.”
Age 10: “Cooperstown is basically a family vacation, right?”
Age 11: “He needs a hitting guy. And a pitching guy. And probably a mental performance coach.”
Age 12: “I’m not a crazy sports parent. The OTHER parents are crazy.”
Age 13: “We changed schools. For academics. (And also baseball.)”
Age 14: “Showcases are a requirement at this age.”
Age 15: “Ya his ranking just ticked up. We’re cooking.”
Age 16: “He just needs to get seen by the right school.”
Age 17: “The D1 schools want him to walk on. He’ll earn a spot by sophomore year.”
Age 18: “Okay, D2 is actually really competitive.”
Age 19: “He’s redshirting. Strategic.”
Age 20: “He’s focusing on school now.”
Age 21: “You know what? He’s so much happier.”
Roughly 7% of high schoolers play in college.
About 1.5% of those get drafted.
Less than half of draftees ever play one day in the big leagues.
The odds of our kids going pro are somewhere between “struck by lightning” and “find a $100 in old shorts.”
I love youth sports (all my kids play a bunch of them) just keep a good perspective my friends. ✌️
Congratulations to Byron's Caden Considine on setting an IHSA state record in baseball for most career runs scored. He crossed home plate for the 222nd time Friday in Byron's 13-2 win at Princeton.
We have a problem.
Somewhere along the line, “Playing multiple sports is good!” turned into, “you have to play all of your sports simultaneously year round!”
We’ve lost the plot. Kids cannot play a baseball, basketball, and football season all at the same time.
8th grade 4x100 broke the school record with a time of 53.53 at the Rt. 72 Conference!
Harper Hogan
Kenna Boyer
Hadley Considine
Mila Snyder
#ByronTigers#TigerPride
Coach Ferentz is a tremendous teacher of the fundamentals. Every detail is important. Coaching fundamentals at the youth sports level is lacking IMO with way too much emphasis on just playing games in most sports.
Luke Falk shared a Mike Leach story that stopped me cold:
Two kids. One rich. One poor.
Every training camp, Coach Leach told his team about these 2 kids.
The rich kid has two choices.
Get soft. Get entitled. Expect everything handed to him because he was handed more.
Or take the resources, the coaching, the opportunities, and compound them into something greater.
The poor kid has two choices too.
Say nobody gave him anything. Blame the world. Make his circumstances the reason he never became what he could have been.
Or outwork everyone in the room.
Luke said the locker room had both. Kids from wealth. Kids from nothing. Kids with every advantage. Kids who scraped for every inch.
Same choice for all of them.
Ownership or victimhood.
Fuel or excuse.
The rich kid can waste the head start or build on it.
The poor kid can drown in the deficit or weaponize it.
Greatness doesn't come from where you start.
It comes from which kid you choose to feed.
Credit to @coachlukefalk for continuing to share golden nuggets about Coach’s legacy
Very fortunate this year to be selected for this @ibcacoaches award because of great girls, families and fantastic assistant coaches from our HS to MS to our PD parents! Very blessed to share this honor with my dad, John, who received this award in 1990!
BEST MOMENTS from 2025: Byron wins the 3A State Championship in an all-time classic!
This was a non-stop highlight reel that came down to a game of inches!
The season saved the best for last!