High School Prospects: Self-discipline Is the Way to Thrive in a Dragged Out Summer

As the heat beats down in mid- to late summer, know that this is your time to shine. As other athletes wilt under the extreme conditions, you have the opportunity to separate yourself from them by taking better care of yourself before, during and following games, matches or meets. And know this: college coaches notice.

Being involved in travel or club sports takes its toll on most athletes as the summer progresses. Too much heat. Too many games. Too little time. It’s especially true of those athletes who burn the candle at both ends by playing or practicing hard during the day and early evening, but then stay up until all hours of the night texting, staying on Facebook, partying, playing video games and watching TV. In athletic training parlance, that lifestyle choice is considered short-term highs with long-term damage.

If you are serious about becoming a college athlete, self-discipline has to be a part of your daily existence. In college, you cannot survive the rigors of early morning workouts, classes, studying and travel, not tgo mention long seasons, if you have it in your head to include all that other “stuff” to your life. Can’t be done. You will break down mentally or physically in some way at some point. Either way, your coach will not be happy and your time on the pine will become a regular thing. Then, of course, you will not be happy. 

Knowing that this outcome is even possible should make most athletes hit the pause button and reset toward a new course.  But that self-discipline thing gets in their way. Oh, you can get away with it for awhile. After all, you’re young. But, eventually you will pay double at the toll booth.

Doing the right thing when there are so many other fun things within reach is hard, hard, hard. Only a few can manage to fight through it. But, here’s a suggestion: look around at your teammates and opponents. Look closely and you can see the fatigue in their eyes and in their stamina. Day after day it’s the same thing:  they are slugs in the mornings, tired when they get to practice, and wear out at the end of a competition. It’s during these times that the athletes with proper rest, who eat well and endure through the heat and deep into games rise to the top of college coaches’ white boards. You see, yes, it’s that noticeable.  They are the athletes that show a special ability to manage their lives so that their productivity doesn’t fall off in any circumstance.

College coaches are searching for the prospects that can prove their ability, if not tenacity, to manage the variety of distractions young people have at their fingertips. The prospects that can demonstrate an uncommon degree of self-discipline are the ones which eventually become college recruits.