I recently met with a friend’s son, a 14 year old high school freshman who has been struggling with his grades during his first two marking periods. He was an A student in 8th grade but is now barely a B-, C student. What happened?
I had him go through his schedule with me and we discussed the transition from a very small (14 students) eighth grade class to a 250 student freshman class. He didn’t seem too bothered by the shift to a much larger learning environment with different teachers for each subject – he knew a lot of kids from town sports and in his neighborhood and is not an awkward or shy type who might struggle with the social aspects of the change. Next, we got deeper into his classes – typical college prep level math, English, bio, history plus a couple business electives. What I did notice was the lack of a study period. We then discussed extracurriculars and he told me how he was on the freshman football team and was practicing all summer, several hours a day and everyday after school until 6. When he got home he had to shower and eat and by the time he could sit down and do homework or study, it was 7:30 or 8 - then had to be up by 6:30 the next day. I think we discovered the problem.
As an educational consultant for the past 9 years, I’ve heard countless stories from students about how they didn’t have time to research colleges, do homework, attend family functions, explore a hobby or just spend time with friends because of the commitment they made to sports programs. Many not only play for the school but are on travel teams as well – making trips up and down the east coast to play in 3-day tournaments over holiday weekends. The brightest kids seem to be able to keep the grades up while they play, but many struggle and tell me they know they could do better if they just had the time. What????
Don’t get me wrong, I know organized sports is beneficial for many kids. They learn team work, dedication and how you don’t always win, no matter how hard you work. However, I fear that sports culture is robbing our kids of the chance to become interesting people. Are most of these student athletes going to make a living doing their sport? Do they have any time to figure out what’s interesting or important to them? Have they passed up opportunities to learn about the world and their place in it because they must be on a field for practice or they ride the bench? Do they have time to get a job where they can learn about how little ends up in a paycheck when you earn minimum wage? Will they never know about a talent they may have for music, theater or fine arts?
The result of spending too much time doing a sport shows up glaringly in students’ college application essays. What do they have to write about themselves? They all want to share a story about their shining moment scoring the winning goal, making the shot, saving the game etc. Worse yet, they want to write about recovering from knee surgery, their 5th concussion, their dislocated shoulder – they are 17 and have more experience in rehab than most 60 year olds! Many have no other hobbies or interests because they don’t have time for them and if they do spend time doing other things, their grades are atrocious. What message about priorities are we sending to our kids?
Again, I’m not anti-sports, I’m pro-kid. I want to see our young people have the chance to grow into interesting, involved, and curious adults. Why has it become almost impossible to play a sport, be in a play, be on the debate team and get a summer job? Why are we limiting our kid’s potential for the sake of a winning season?
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