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See a player who never had to worry about whether he was getting a scholarship.Coaching in this day and age can be so tough. There are so many demands on coaches today that simply didn't exist 10 or 20 years ago. One of those things is in the area of scholarships. It seems like there are more parents and kids after scholarships these days than ever before. A student-athlete leave a school in a heartbeat if they feel that their coach is not going to help them earn a scholarship, even if the kid has zero ability to actually earn a scholarship.
Rising tuition for a college education might be to blame. A club sports scene that promises scholarships just as long as you participate in the right club might be to blame. Social media might be to blame. It's hard to tell why it seems as if more parents and kids expect a scholarship today.
It all starts at home, and parents, be careful not to overemphasize earning a scholarship to your child.
Statistics show that only about 1.9 percent of male high school student-athletes, and just 2.3 percent of all female student-athletes, go on to play NCAA Division 1 sports. This means that just 2 of 100 football players will earn that coveted D-1 scholarship. And remember, this is a nationwide stat. Some programs will send a handful of kids per year from their team to a D-1 school, and some will send one every 20 years.
Overemphasizing a collegiate scholarship will do many negative things to your student-athlete or child. But the first one that will come is stress. Teenagers with that kind of pressure will feel unneeded stress while their parents and or coaches are overemphasizing a college scholarship.
For some kids, an emphasis on scholarships can take the joy out of the game.
Photo by Gary Jones
The next thing that happens is that the student-athlete stops having fun playing their sport. It becomes something that induces stress, not fun. The reason they started playing is gone, as they become solely focused on one thing: earning that scholarship. When the fun leaves, the pressure mounts, and the student will stop playing to the best of their ability. They will press when they need to complete a high-level athletic task. If they have enough of these games, where the fun is void, they will get tired of playing, and sometimes this leads to them quitting the sport.
What happens when that scholarship offer never comes?
If you have overemphasized a scholarship offer, and your child failed to earn that, is his whole high school career meaningless? Does his effort still have merit?
One of the worst things about overemphasizing an athletic scholarship is that when it fails to come to fruition, your child will feel empty about their experience with high school athletics. When focused on the ends, instead of the means, you are setting your kid up for failure.
Chris Fore is a veteran Head Football Coach and Athletic Director from Southern California. He consults coaches and programs nationwide through his business Eight Laces Consulting.
