Balancing Academics and Athletics
March 3rd, 2009 - byLike so many of you, I am a parent. My wife and I have six children between us. Several of our kids are potential college athletes in the sports of swimming, cross country, basketball and track and field. Knowing how important academics are, my wife and I work hard to make sure their grades are as high as possible.I delivered “College Recruiting Simplified” in Dryden, Michigan recently. Brian and Bonni Hazen were among the parents in attendance. I thought they had a very interesting way to motivate their athletic son to reach a GPA goal. This is what they wrote me:
Charlie,
When our oldest son started his high school career, Bonni and I stressed the importance of his achieving good grades. We noticed that as the year progressed, and especially after basketball season started, that he seemed to never have homework, and his grades started slipping. Knowing how important it is to teenagers to learn how to drive (after all, we were once teenagers too, believe it or not), our son was given the ultimatum that unless he improved his grades and achieved a 3.5 GPA, he would not be signed up for drivers training. He was unable to meet the requirement by the end of his freshman year. At the start of his junior year, and although he still fell just shy of the mark, I informed him that since he had shown that he was willing to work hard, he had earned the privilege of taking the training.
Although his not being able to drive has been rough on the family since we have to drive him everywhere, it has been worth the sacrifice. All too often, it seems as though many young people have a sense of entitlement, and an unwillingness to work hard.
We do not know if our son will go on to participate in college level athletics, and if he does, that will make it that much harder to be successful academically. Learning at a young age that every one of us must work hard to attain the goals that we set for ourselves, will make it all the more possible.
We very much appreciate you visiting our school, and the presentation that you gave. The things that you talked about helped to reinforce the value system that my wife and I are striving to instill in our sons. Sometimes, as you most likely know, there is a greater impact when somebody else says it, particularly if it’s an individual who has achieved success in their endeavors.
Brian and Bonni Hazen
