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I don't see why its sad. It's not an either/or situation. My own kids (2 of the 3) would be lost without athletics. Both of them are VERY good students. But football lights my kids up, makes them shine in a way that advanced math classes will never do.
I don't see why its sad. It's not an either/or situation. My own kids (2 of the 3) would be lost without athletics. Both of them are VERY good students. But football lights my kids up, makes them shine in a way that advanced math classes will never do.
Some of them even grow up to make a career out of it
Some of them even grow up to make a career out of it
I can see my oldest being a football coach. He is to small to be a professional player, but he loves coaching (he coaches little kids). This summer when we visited schools we also met with the coaches and he mentioned to them that he is interested in coaching.
I can see my oldest being a football coach. He is to small to be a professional player, but he loves coaching (he coaches little kids). This summer when we visited schools we also met with the coaches and he mentioned to them that he is interested in coaching.
My oldest is a college track coach (small school). It is not his end goal (he wants to train Olympic athletes) but he LOVES his job. It still amazes him that he gets to do what he loves so much and they pay him!
My oldest is a college track coach (small school). It is not his end goal (he wants to train Olympic athletes) but he LOVES his job. It still amazes him that he gets to do what he loves so much and they pay him!
One of the college coaches we met with told my son that coaching was like stealing. He said he would do his job for free. My son started coaching during the summer before his freshman year in HS. He started coaching because he needed service hours but he has long finished his service hour requirement and is still coaching.
This summer we visited ten campuses (division 3 football) and we met with coaches at all but one of them (the coach was on vacation). The schools covered an area that stretched from Maine to Illinois. As we were driving around it occurred to my son that all the people he was meeting were EMPLOYEES of the universities he was considering. It was at that time that he started talking about possible CAREERS in athletics.
I think he had come to the realization that he is to small to play professional football in the NFL quite a while ago. He has focused his college search on division 3 schools with high academic standards. However, I do not think that he considered that there are a myriad of careers within athletics that do not depend on being gigantic for success.
I think that many people focus on how hard it is to get a scholarship and write off athletics as a waste of time. However, for kids who really light up over athletics there are many career paths they can follow outside of being a player.
I don't think it's sad that there is attention paid to athletics. I think it's sad that people write athletics off as stupid.
One of the college coaches we met with told my son that coaching was like stealing. He said he would do his job for free. My son started coaching during the summer before his freshman year in HS. He started coaching because he needed service hours but he has long finished his service hour requirement and is still coaching.
This summer we visited ten campuses (division 3 football) and we met with coaches at all but one of them (the coach was on vacation). The schools covered an area that stretched from Maine to Illinois. As we were driving around it occurred to my son that all the people he was meeting were EMPLOYEES of the universities he was considering. It was at that time that he started talking about possible CAREERS in athletics.
I think he had come to the realization that he is to small to play professional football in the NFL quite a while ago. He has focused his college search on division 3 schools with high academic standards. However, I do not think that he considered that there are a myriad of careers within athletics that do not depend on being gigantic for success.
I think that many people focus on how hard it is to get a scholarship and write off athletics as a waste of time. However, for kids who really light up over athletics there are many career paths they can follow outside of being a player.
I don't think it's sad that there is attention paid to athletics. I think it's sad that people write athletics off as stupid.
It is actually growing by leaps and bounds, and I think it is terrific. There is nothing wrong with majoring in something like Athletic Training or Exercise Science, you can even minor in Kiniesiology.
People may look on the surface and think it is not a great career path, but not only can it be fulfilling, it can also be quite lucrative.
It is actually growing by leaps and bounds, and I think it is terrific. There is nothing wrong with majoring in something like Athletic Training or Exercise Science, you can even minor in Kiniesiology.
People may look on the surface and think it is not a great career path, but not only can it be fulfilling, it can also be quite lucrative.
My son was told that for football there isn't really a particular major that is necessary. I noticed that at the D3 level most of the coaches are former players. They have majors that are all over the place.
Athletics are not sad, but placing more importance on sports than we as a culture do on education is. That's what I think is sad. My kids play sports and love them and do reap benefits from them. But they know that their education is a higher priority.
What's sad? I can name you a whole list of athletes who wouldn't have given more than a passing thought to "reading comprehension, writing, and mathematics" if it were not for the incentive of maintaining grades to play team sports and the chance to parlay that into a college education.
Sports isn't a priority for everyone, but it is for a lot of people. You may be sad that the math team, debate team and orchestra don't draw the same crowds and focus as Friday night football, but it's just the way it is. Besides, in many communities the sports teams, particularly football, are one of the few draws that keeps the community connected to the school.
Sports also come with a whole list of positive benefits for the kids who engage in them. There is strong evidence of increased academic achievement, lower rates of behavioral issues, lower incidents of drug and alcohol abuse, etc. among athletes vs. non-athletes. The physical exercise and conditioning brought from sports cannot be overlooked. When a large percentage of kids in this country are obese and many more are ridiculously out of shape (even if their BMI's say they are healthy) I think we can make a strong argument for an increased emphasis on sports. This also ignores the various benefits in terms of relationships and conflict resolution that comes from participating in team sports. Sadly academics remains largely an individual practice and competitions take the form of I am smarter than you. Sports shows the importance of teamwork as the whole can only rise and fall together.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf
Athletics are not sad, but placing more importance on sports than we as a culture do on education is. That's what I think is sad. My kids play sports and love them and do reap benefits from them. But they know that their education is a higher priority.
You know, as a culture I think that we do assign more importance to education than sports. I have never met a set of parents with kids who participate in athletics that do not have exactly the same mindset that you expressed above. I'm sure there are counter-examples, but the "silent majority" is probably just like you.
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