On Sports

Hello all! Now that school has started back pretty much everywhere, I hope everyone is settling in well. My local schools have gotten back into the swing of things and sports are picking up. Football's underway. Fall baseball is about to start back locally for the younger kids. Wrestling, bowling, and basketball start back within a couple of months. Finally golf and volleyball are finishing up. Lots to keep track of here.

With so much focus on sports, I think it's really important to keep other things in mind. Just like a business owner cannot afford to be lax, neither can that owner be so consumed by the business that other areas in life suffer. The same goes for students. I firmly believe moderation is key. We must all give appropriate time to God, family, and work.

Student-athletes have a large responsibility in that they need to keep up academically and those that are looking to progress to the next level are not afforded the luxury of just playing for "fun". They have to essentially treat it as a job in and of itself if they hope to get scholarships to the next level. If you are not involved in these sports you may not realize how much time outside of games and practices it takes to really perform at a peak level. Some factors include off-season conditioning, reviewing game film, working on techniques, and going to camps-- with these being all outside of normal practices allowed by each state. I can guarantee you that championship caliber teams are not filled with players that just show up for mandatory practices and barely make it to games or matches.

This also doesn't factor in the student-athletes that are also involved in other extracurricular activities. I would highly encourage all student-athletes, especially those just beginning high school, to avoid overloading with too many commitments. It's important to be active and participate in activities, but it's also very easy to get stretched too thin. Be sure you can do what you're committing to do and can do it well with the proper time commitment.

Good luck to everyone this year! Be safe, study hard, play hard, and have fun!

On Sports.... Football's risks

Whether it's the NFL or NCAA football, there are more and more questions being raised on the safety of the players involved in the sport.

Check out:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/

and then

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/16/us-football-players-brains-idUSBREA3F1VB20140416

and even more stunning:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10821995/russell-allen-former-member-jacksonville-jaguars-suffered-stroke

&
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2037874-former-jaguars-lb-russell-allen-discusses-playing-through-stroke-in-nfl-game

&

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/jaguars-linebacker-russell-allen-said-he-is-retiring-after-suffering-on-field-stroke-172422209.html

So here's a question, if we find that the sport of football is causing permanent brain damage, what's the next step?

Are we, as a society, willing to give it up? I'm a fan of the sport and I enjoy it. BUT- it's not worth it if it is causing this damage. We cannot, as a society, turn a blind eye to these risks. We need to be aggressive. We need to be looking for more and more answers with bigger and more exhaustive studies, both of active and retired players from all levels ( little league, high school, college and professional). 

It's disturbing on a number of fronts that a player can suffer a stroke from a normal, everyday play. It's disturbing that players don't seem to have adequate time to recover between seasons. It's amazing with what's been found so far that this isn't gaining more traction in the national media. It's seems to be getting swept under the rug. It's reported, and then forgotten.

I hope we don't look back at this time with regret later. I hope we are proactive in protecting these players, whether it be reducing number of plays allowed, number of games in  a season, better (or less) equipment, player size restrictions, or whatever it takes, even up to to banning the sport. Fans' enjoyment of a sport, as well as the NFL's great money making machine, are not more important than the players' health. What if it's a sibling, child, or grandchild playing?  We need to remember and consider it from that perspective when these discussions come up. 

On Sports.... Choices

Hello all,

I was listening to a podcast while driving yesterday and something was said that me think. I was listening to Ivan Maisel interview Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany on the ESPNU College Football podcast.  You can listen here if you'd like. 

At one point, Delany made the stated that  less than 1/2 of 1% of college athletes have the opportunity to go pro. He and Maisel were discussing cost of attendance and aid grants. It was by no means their topic of discussion and something that Delany was matter-of-fact about. That number was stunning to me. As I was thinking about it, it drove home the point that college athletes need to be realistic. 

How? By making a good choice when going through the recruiting process. Choosing a program solely based on athletics would be overlooking a key aspect of the process. Academics do matter. Does that mean that someone should only look at Ivy League schools? By no means! Instead, when assessing a program, I believe the potential student-athlete needs to review the academic programs offered. What courses are offered? Is there an area to major that's interesting? Could a career be made with it?

With Delany's numbers, less than 1% will advance on to the next level. Preparation matters, even if someone is the best athlete in a sport. Sometime occurrences happen outside of our control (injuries, accidents, illnesses, etc). It's good to have a plan B. Go for your dreams, but have a backup. Want a cliché? Don't put all your eggs in one basket. The scholarship pays for the education so thought should go into choosing the education too. It's a benefit that I am afraid is often overlooked by student-athletes.

Choices do matter.