Some Practical Advice from a Former College Athlete

This post has to do with my frustration over the rising costs of competitive high school sports.  I know, I know. . . this is not a blog devoted to athletics, but since it's my blog and it's what I'm thinking about today (and have thought a lot about a lot in the past 21 years since I graduated college) I'm going to write about it!

If you are parent of a middle school or high school athlete then you know the PRESSURE to participate in that sport of choice outside the regular season.  If your daughter plays volleyball she is told that in order to make the Varsity team in high school she will have to play JO (Junior Olympics) volleyball in the off season.  This runs clear through the spring (when I want her to be on my track team!) and the summer too!  Plus the coach is holding "training" sessions to boot at the high school!  Also, it runs on Sundays when worship is happening without you!  Now, the time commitment may not phase you, perhaps you don't have a life or a job so you can run her around all tar-nation to practices and weekend matches out of town. . . but what about the financial burden?  Just to walk in the door of the program it costs $500!  (At least!) Then you have to have a hotel for the weekend match, gas and food money for the whole family!  Say you have 5 matches in an off season, you probably have about $1500 wrapped up this whole gig and it isn't even the High School season.  But if she wants to play in high school it is the price you have to pay! It's the same for expensive swim clubs (checked the one out our son participated in during the spring offseason and it went from about $285 to just under $500-- forget it!), basketball programs, soccer programs etc.  Now if you are loaded and don't know what else to do with your money, then great, you can ignore this- we are on a different page entirely!  But bear this in mind. . . one critical injury in high school will dash your child's hopes of playing college athletics!  There are no guarantees about anything!

But if you aren't independently wealthy let me offer a viable alternative to the wish-dream of sending your child to get an education on an athletic scholarship. . . if you took that $1500 that you would have spent on each and every off season and put it in a 529 plan for college, plus a monthly amount that you knew you could afford, just imagine what you would have in the bank when it came time to send your child to college?  If your child is smart, why not focus on their academics?  With AP courses they can collect a couple of quarters of college while still in high school and it won't cost you a thing (or very little). After all that is the reason we go to college in the first place, right?  Academics?  This may seem obvious but let me share with you a little of my story. . . maybe someone can benefit from it in the long run. . .

I went to Ohio University on a Track and Field scholarship.  I was fifth in my class of 360+ and could have probably made it on my brain power if it had ever occurred to us as a family to think in that direction.  But I loved track (still do!) and so when the recruiters came a-knockin' I had to pick where to go. . . so off I go to Athens (beautiful place) and the first day of class is the first day of practice.  I was surprised to find out that it wasn't like high school, show up after school and run for 2 hours and hit the showers!  It was a FULL TIME JOB!  (Up at 6am run to the weight room to lift for 60-90 minutes, race to the showers and dining hall, then head to class, after class is over in the afternoon head the training room to ice my shins and get taped up, patched up, etc., head to the track for 2.5 hours of practice, then race to the dining hall again and then off to study tables where you are so exhausted you can barely keep your eyes open.)

Oh, I loved it, don't get me wrong, but it was eat, sleep and drink track and field!  And so I did, for four years!  (Still have four records in the top five of all time too, that's how serious I was about it!)  But, here's the thing. . . when it's over. . . IT IS OVER!  (Unless you think that coaching middle and high schoolers is a continuation of the legacy!)  Here's my concern, because I got the job done- got the BS in Science you know -- mission accomplished, right?  Well, somewhere along the way track became my GOD.  I cared more about the next triple jump record than I did about organic chemistry!  I was more concerned with healing an injury in my foot so I could compete in all the meets than I was about my genetics class!  I lost focus on why I was there in the first place-- to get an education, to get the best grades I could get so that one day I would realize my dream of being a physician.  That dream died along the way as I ran lap after lap on that green track.

Now of course it is true that others have done this and done it very well- maintained a proper balance between academics, athletics, family and faith.  But for me, not so.  I enjoyed my time on the track, I absolutely loved my coach who was like a second father to me, I loved my teammates, and I loved the success I enjoyed. . . however, I see now (actually I saw it a long time ago) that there was some major idolatry going on in my life.  My message is simple parents . . . weigh the pros and cons of your dream to have your child go to school on an athletic scholarship.  Is it their dream to compete at the next level?  Is it worth the time and great effort and financial burden to get them there?  How will you help them balance family life, friends, and their faith in God?

As for me. . . I'm putting my money in the 529 plan!