Hot heads mean cold shoulders to high school prospects wanting to play college sports

Learning self control starts with parents and discipline

Tempers flair.  Helmets get tossed.  Clubs are tossed.  Coaches dissed.  It’s pouting at its very best.  And, it all adds up to a big, fat zero with college coaches for high school prospects that charge down that dead end path.  The athletic ability may be there, but the missing link is attitude and competitive maturity in far too many high school athletes wanting to play at the college level.

Never mistake this fact:  college coaches are watching and listening for any signs that a prospect is incapable of self control.  They don’t need it and they don’t want it, so they don’t recruit the prospects that display it.  When they see a prospect lose their composure, their minds leap forward to the day in college when that athlete will encounter a similar set of circumstances and the only evidence they have to predict an athlete’s reaction is what the observe or what they are told by reliable sources such as other college coaches or competing coaches in high school or club sports.

If your child is unable to resist crossing the line in terms of good form, it’s time to have a heart to heart talk.  Explain how this behavior goes beyond showing their competitive drive.  Impress upon him or her that it is simply unacceptable regardless of the situation.  It solves nothing.  In fact, it creates problems while closing doors to college programs.  If you listen closely enough, you can hear the doors slamming shut one by one.

Teach your athlete that they do not want to go there.  An education could be in the balance.  Thousands of scholarship dollars are at risk.  And, once in a lifetime opportunities can be swept away with one tantrum or unsportsmanlike act.