Monday, May 16, 2016

Truth and Consequences


Recently I had a parent tell me after one of my talks that his son was driven to get an athletic scholarship to college. He understood that some athletes could  “afford” to play multi sports, but they were very few. The multi sport athlete path to a scholarship was only good for the truly gifted athletes. 
His son needed to play one sport year round to get the DI athletic scholarship.  The extra time and private lessons would allow him to get better faster. He also said that the other athletes on his son’s club team were playing one sport year round. They were getting “full rides.” His son was every bit as good as those other boys who were getting athletic scholarships.
He then reiterated that since recruiting had gotten to be for younger and younger kids that his 15 year old son could fall behind them if he didn’t concentrate on one sport year round. Besides, his son loved his sport. It was the only sport he wanted to play. Why would he take that dream away from his son?
As he walked away I was struck by the thought : Who was he trying to convince, me or him? You could see the angst in his tone and body language. This whole process was stressing him out.
Was it because deep down he truly did not know if this path was best for his son? Could it be that now that his son was 15 years old and there were no offers he saw that a lot of time and money had been spent on a pursuit that was slipping away? Now, he had to do everything in his power to justify to himself and his family why he embraced this race that does not exist?
Or was it simply true that he had been fed so much false information over the years that he did not know who to believe. He did not know who to turn to. He did not know who to trust.

This is why we do what we do at Frozen Shorts.

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