Delivering Good Character Everyday is the College Athletic Prospect’s Top Job

It’s a Daunting Task to Stay the Course

Distractions, including temptations, are within reach of every young person.  The wide open world of communications has delivered options, good and bad, to teenagers through their televisions, smart phones, computers and any number of other techno devices.  As a result, staying grounded is a tough chore for kids.  For the high-school-age athlete, it is even more challenging because of the higher profile position they typically command in their schools and communities. 

Weigh that burden against the admirable goal of earning a college athletic scholarship.  It’s not a particularly comfortable place for the light-hearted or weak of character. But, to land that scholarship, today’s athletes must be stout minded and exceptionally loyal to their convictions.  There is no way around it, immediate messaging has put prep athletes on the spot 24/7.  Mess up and it’s out there for everyone to know and see in a digital play land turned reality show.  With one misstep, a high school athlete can watch all those dreams dissipate within days or even hours. 

Every day we read about college and professional athletes whose inability to control their actions lands them in a pool of public trouble and scorn, if not legal entanglements.  Stardom and idolatry create a slippery slope.  It’s all make believe, so a disconnect with the real world happens and these pampered athletes find themselves floating above everyone else in a place where there are no consequences attached to bad decisions.  In fact, to them, there is no such thing as a bad decision.  Since no one, save perhaps their football coaches, have held them responsible for their attitude, actions and decisions, reality becomes a blurred memory.   

Parents are the connectors, but if they fall in line with the other Kool-aid drinkers, young athletes are left to fend for themselves.  They too often, then, choose the path of least resistance.  Young athletes must be able to rely on their parents and the adults closest to them to add balance to all the superfluous noise.  

Building character should be the focal point of any adult involved with young athletes.  Athletic careers are short lived and adults should emphasize this key point to young, talented athletes.   When the applause and cheering have become things of the past, a human is left to navigate life absent of adulation.  Giving young athletes the tools to cope with real life should be at the heart of the lessons they learn while practicing and playing their sport. 

The deliverance comes with adults and peers whose greater interest should be to help athletes pursue a longer term, positive outcome.  They should be taught to walk into the public each day with a sense of purpose, that is, to make contributions to life, not to leach off of it.  Each day a youngster with goals of participating in college athletes should be conscious of their impact on others as well as the legacy they leave when the hoopla is finally finished.  Regardless if the endeavor is studying hard to make better grades or something as simple as being on time for practice, they should be made aware that every action really does influence their reputation in the classroom, at their school, in their community and in day-to-day athletic competition. 

Each day is an opportunity for young athletes, not just to improve their athletic status, but their character as well.  Securing a place in the minds and eyes of those observing which raises them to a higher personal regard is in the end what gives college coaches, and society at large, the confidence to ask them to be a part of something bigger than themselves.