Mother’s dissatisfaction with son’s college choice exemplifies selfishness at its lowest level

Athletes deserve to have the full support of their parents

High school athletic prospects headed for college can have it rough.  Outside chatter from their friends, teammates, coaches and even family can make their decision, regarding which school to attend, confusing and unsettling.  There’s no easy way to shut down the chatter, either.  It’s part of enduring the recruiting process. 

So, how’s a prospect supposed to sift through all the bothersome distractions?  How can a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old kid be expected to make the right call?  We saw a painful example of this last week when a high school senior, a highly-touted football recruit from Louisiana, Landon Collins, announced his intention to enroll at the University of Alabama only to hang his head in embarrassement as his own mother openly decried the decision on national television.  How can that be?  How can a mother, on what should have been the happiest day of her son’s life, throw ice water on him in such a public way?  Here’s how:  to this mother, the decision was about her and her desires, not about what would ultimately make her son happy.  She should be ashamed.

Young athletes should certainly consider the opinions and advice of their parents.  But, parents have an obligation to support their children and their decisions when it comes to choosing a college regardless of the parent’s peronal preferences.  It’s the athlete who must live with the decision.  He or she knows what feels right to them.  They’re the ones who will step onto the campus, eat in the chow hall, go to class, interact with the coaching staff, live with the team and compete day in and day out.  The parent has a life to live, too, but it is not on the field, court, track or pitch.  Their chance has long passed.  Now, it’s time for their child to select which path he or she will take and that child deserves the respect and support of their parents even if the child’s decision is contrary to what the parent thinks may be best.

Life and death will not hang in the balance of these college decisions, but living a full life will.  Athletes, even in the face of all the pressure and adolation, are people first who have to wake up each day satisfied that they have chosen the right course for themselves.  Heads up parents, when you elect not to support your child’s college decision, in the end you are creating far more problems than you are solving.