Divisiononeitis
October 10th, 2008 - by
I am a child of Merriam-Webster. Don’t believe me? Ask any one of my former colleagues on the newspaper staff.
Sometimes, the new words were intentional. Other times … not so much (thanks for fixing, copy editors!). But the title of the above post is my most recent creation.
Divisiononeitis(deh*vi*shun*won*i*tis) n. A disorder, usually occurring within the ages of 14-18 years of age, that is characterized by an often extreme and intense desire to only participate in the top echelon of one’s primary athletic activity at a post secondary setting.
A lot of the student-athletes I talk to, I also diagnose with Divisiononeitis. They think that they need to play Div. I sports to feel like they’ve accomplished something. And I’d say 80 percent of the time, I have to cure them the hard way by saying that they’re probably not going to make it to that level.
There’s an easier remedy, though — realizing that there are A LOT of high school student-athletes, but not that many collegiate student-athletes. With the exception of ice hockey and lacrosse, less than 10 percent of all student-athletes will be continuing their playing days in college.
What that tells me is that in order to play college sports at any level, you still have to be pretty darn good. Statistically speaking, you beat out, at the minimum, 90 percent of everyone playing your sport. That’s something to be proud of.
And like I said in a previous post, winning feels good regardless of what level you’re in.
So take two doses of reality, and call me in the morning. In the mean time, I’ll be waiting for either my Word-of-the-Year certificate from Merriam-Webster or my Nobel Prize. Either one’s fine!
