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It isn’t fair, really, that young athletes are scrutinized so closely.
High school athletes, in particular, find themselves under the relentless lens from the time they begin playing sports in ninth grade until they call it quits. That is not a good thing.
Truth is, our culture expects too much from athletes, but especially youngsters. A good one gets more than his or her share of accolades that can skew their perspectives. And those who stray from the straight and narrow are too frequently and promptly tossed onto the pile of no-accounts, ne’er-do-wells and numbskulls. Once pushed aside, they face a long, uphill battle in their communities.
We smirk when a pimple-faced bagger at the local grocery store overloads a bag and it breaks. We find humor in the school band’s saxophone player holding a note longer than anybody else at the end of the fight song. When a baton twirler drops a high toss, we feel bad, but nobody leaves the stadium complaining about it. And we don’t jump all over the kid who misses a spot on our car hood at the fund-raising car wash. In those cases, we smile and think kids will be kids. No harm done.
Athletics, however, is a different story. Miscues elicit very different, often unpleasant reactions.
Let an athlete miss a key free throw at the end of a game, block a defender from behind on a long, go-ahead touchdown run, or look up and let a slow roller go between her legs in the bottom of seventh as the winning run crosses home, and some parents and fans crumble like sand castles. It’s like world peace was in the balance.
And the kids making the mistakes, because they have seen how people act when it has happened to others, are forced to endure a level of embarrassment which no one needs to undergo.
What on earth is wrong with us?
It is not the game, match or meet which is at stake. Not by a long, long shot. It is the heart and soul of that kid who has been led to believe that he or she has let down teammates, coaches, classmates, family and friends.
In short, our young athletes are put under that bright lens far more than is necessary or appropriate. It doesn’t make sense. They don’t deserve it and we shouldn’t put them in that position.
Yes, competitions and competing is important. There is no question that they build character and push maturity one more step up the road. The lessons learned are invaluable. But a young athlete coming up short is, in the end, as important a lesson as winning championships. Those of us a bit long in the tooth know this to be absolutely true. And those parents who have yet to hit mid-life should know better anyhow.
The kids who are permitted to make mistakes and are not humiliated by their peers, or their peers’ parents and fans, usually grow up to be more well adjusted and capable of overcoming life’s problems than those whom we carry off the court or field on our shoulders because they won a plaque which most folks will forget about in 10 years or less.
Why is that? They get it, that’s why.
They know that life goes on without a first-place finish. They are proof that tomorrow, when they get up, the math test in second-period class still will be waiting on them; their little sister still has to be taught how to catch a grounder; and their dinner will still be on the table.
We aren’t raising professional athletes. We are raising young people whose future roles as American citizens, or citizens of the world, will hold far more weight than a handsome trophy or the memory of one glorious night when everything went perfectly.
It’s about time we, as adults, made that more of a priority than expecting our young athletes to live out our unrealistic dreams of stardom and perfection.
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.