NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

Sports start out as a game during childhood.  Over time the game and playful aspects lose some ground to the realization that sports, especially at the highest level, are serious.  Most athletes gladly trade the extra work necessary to excel at their sport for the competitive high that comes along with taking things seriously.  Likewise, many young people decide its not worth the work and divert their efforts to other channels.

Every year many young athletes decide to forgo or postpone educational opportunities to try their skill at playing professionally.  The latest example was Bryce Harper pursuing a GED to enter the MLB Draft one year earlier. His father defended the move against critics by saying this will prepare him for life.

“There are going to be critics. I can’t worry about what people think,” Ron Harper said. “People are going to see what they want to see and say what they want to say. I think this prepares him for life, playing the game of baseball.

“People question your parenting and what you’re doing. Honestly, we don’t think it’s that big a deal. He’s not leaving school to go work in a fast-food restaurant. Bryce is a good kid. He’s smart, and he’s going to get his education.”

I’m not going to pass judgment if his decision makes sense or not.  However, I would like to point out that he made the decision to take his sport extremely seriously at a young age to set himself up for life.

Student-athletes need to realize that they need to make that exact decision in order to get recruited.  Many collegiate athletes refer to their sport as the equivalent to a job.  In order to get that job, athletes need to apply.

Applying to play in college means two things:

1) Working extremely hard at your sport.

2) Working extremely hard at recruting.

Most student-athletes assume the first, but look beyond the second.  If  you want to take things seriously I highly recommend learning the 5 things Every Recruit Needs to Do.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 6:10 pm and is filed under College Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.