Psychiatrist Gary Malone — a former student athlete — reminds parents of middle-school and high-school athletes to chill before we push too hard toward college athletics and scholarships. He reminds all parents of these critical numbers:
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Only 3 percent of high school athletes will go on to compete in college
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Less than 1 percent of college athletes turn pro, where the average career is three years
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Don’t become obsessed with one child’s athletic career at the expense of the other kids in the family.
A distinguished fellow in the American Psychiatric Association and high-performing student-athlete throughout his own high school and college years, Malone says he appreciates the benefits of extracurricular programs. “Athletics can be extremely beneficial to a young person’s life, but I think we have our priorities backwards,” Malone says. “Imagine how much better off our country might be if, instead of football, we were obsessed with our children’s performance in science and math. In my home state, Texas, a new high school football stadium is opening that cost $60 million dollars and seats 18,000. That’s all funded at public expense. We constantly read of districts across the country cutting academic and arts programs and teachers’ salaries due to budget shortfalls. How can this make sense?”
It’s great when kids want to compete at the collegiate level and even better if they get $$ to do it, but not all kids are cut out for that life. As parents, we need to appreciate that sentiment because in the end, kids need a career when school is done.
Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one.
