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Author and consultant Stephen Covey famously wrote about seven habits for managing life. One of those is called First Things First. It is a powerful concept, but one that is sadly unfamiliar to many high school prospects and their parents. Not knowing that can manifest itself in off-target efforts and lost dreams.
Simply stated, many parents today want to rush everything. National Scouting Report scouts see it every day.
Parents think today’s kids need to be “playing up.” They have to make the all-star team, work out at the best gym, attend the biggest camps and start on varsity as sophomores. Coming up short is tantamount to abject failure.
It is pitiful, really, because families are missing the true point of high school athletics: to supplement children’s lives, not dominate them. There are other more important issues about which our kids should be passionate. Non-athletic families get it, but athletically geared parents are woefully behind in their thinking for the most part.
What are those more important issues?
First and foremost, grades and test scores — the two things which influence an athlete’s college future more than anything. With colleges having different entrance requirements, the objective should be to create an academic foundation and resume which will, in turn, attract as many colleges and coaches as possible. If a high school athlete is shooting only for the NCAA minimum standards for admission and becoming freshman eligible, he or she has a bigger problem than being drafted.
We all know that very few prospects will go professional. Reaching the pro ranks is not an achievable goal most athletes can, or should, even contemplate. Yet parents spoon feed that option to their young athletes and refuse to ween them from it. In doing so, children begin to identify with a false hope.
Instead, parents should be helping their kids to see sports and their benefits as supplementary to their lives. It is a perspective which will serve young people well by dissuading them from believing that academics are little more than a necessary distraction.
Here’s how it works:
Every college has its own admission standards. Some are pretty low, but others are very high. The NCAA’s eligibility requirements are laughable to these select schools. They should be to parents as well.
High achievers in academics, even above-average students, enjoy a large array of college opportunities. Settling for anything less is misleading a young man or woman who has the talent to reach beyond their perceived potential. So why not see what is out there? Why not become an explorer of opportunities?
Four years of playing high school sports should not be the high point of a youngster’s life. Playing sports holds a multitude of valuable experiences and benefits which can carry a child through tough times in the future.
When a majority of parents get that, their kids will, too. Then we can celebrate as more young student-athletes are recruited by colleges whose reputations can launch a person’s life to unexpected heights.
Teach your young athletes to take First Things First. And the first thing they should respect and develop a passion for is schoolwork instead of workouts.
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.