Don’t want to rain on your parade, but while of course there are athletes who are excellent students, most studies show (that for males at least) athletics has a somewhat adverse effect on GPA. This is just one of many typical studies: [A</a> study of academically talented students’ participation in extracurricular activities. (22-MAR-05) Journal of Secondary Gifted Education](<a href=“http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13880364_ITM]A”>http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-13880364_ITM) I know I’ve read a study somewhere that showed htat music (even when many hours are spent doing it) tends to raise GPAs. There are lots an lots of articles on the subject on the internet.</p>
<p>I was a geek in high school, and assumed that all athletes were pretty dumb! Then DS #1 came along and blew my assumptions out of the water. He’s a distance runner and extremely bright. He also has a strong drive to succeed. He told me that after doing grueling 12-mile training runs and national two-mile races, staying up all night to study is a piece of cake! He works much harder than I did in school.</p>
<p>One of his teachers told me that she loves having distance runners in her classes, because they tend to work hard and do well academically.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, almost all of my friends here in grad school have run at least one marathon before, or is planning on doing one within a few months.</p>
<p>We have always assumed that what would attract football coaches to S2 are his SAT scores, not his athletic prowess. With that in mind, he has honed in on academically selective D-IIIs where he can get a great education and possibly play some football.</p>
<p>This is what I think:
A smart kid can take average or somewhat-above-average athletic abilities and, by understanding the game, anticipating where he/she needs to be, what needs to be done, and disciplined work, succeed in the athletic arena. These are all skills that are useful in other areas of life.</p>
<p>I think that a lot of people have completely misinterpreted my comments. I made no assumptions about athletes being stupid. In fact, in the example I gave, BOTH kids were athletes. (If anything, the more introverted kid who was spurned for junior yr NHS was actually the more successful athlete.) The point is that one of them was more outgoing, more of a pleaser, the other reserved. The outgoing one was more likely to form relationships with teachers and administrators: those who hand out most of the prizes in HS. The Goth and the introvert non-joiner and other non-conformists are similarly less likely to please the teachers and the administration than successful athletes and other relatively conformist kids.</p>
<p>FWIW, my kid was a 3-season athlete, as well as a musician. Despite being an introvert and more independent-minded than some know how to deal with, he did get into the NHS as a junior and was one of the three boys–the other 10 or so were girls, of course --to receive a book award.</p>
<p>I (a three sport varsity athlete + some outside teams) have noticed that my grades tend to go down when I’m not in season. There’s just so much time when not in season, that I’m not able to manage time as well. I’ve also noticed that in my AP and honors classes there are a lot of athletes represented (though not usually the very top athletes), however for the junior book awards, athletes were not quite as well represented.</p>
<p>Several years ago, the New York Yankees did not have a stellar farm system – at least in terms of athletic talent. But academically, that’s another story. I can remember when my husband, who served as minor-league broadcaster to one of their farm teams, would sit and play Scrabble with young men who were educated at Penn, Stanford and Princeton. There was an Academic All-American from one of the California schools and another from a Midwestern college. The starting lineup included three engineers. Oh, and they had a third baseman who did not go to college but spoke five languages. </p>
<p>So much for the dumb jock myth. These young men, some who eventually played in the big leagues, went onto very successful careers off the field, as well. Those memories have served us well as we talk to our boys about academics and athletics.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that there are quite a few kids (not CC kids of course) who stayed in HS solely because of sports.
Sports do take a lot of time, but does that mean that if the athletes were not playing they will do better academically?</p>
<p>I agree with you ontheedge. I have seen at our highschool a number of “at risk” kids who, because of athletics, stuck it out in school. These were kids whose parents, for whatever reason, had either lost control of them or were just uninvolved to the point that the kid was basically on his own.</p>
<p>In numerous cases, I have seen the coaches take on a “parenting” role with these kids that has led to “academic success” - not measured by a grade, but by the sheer fact that they graduated!!</p>
<p>These kids won’t ever be on CC or have a parent crowing their successes on CC, but they deserve to be praised and encouraged for whatever academic achievements they attain. sometimes, the largest applause at graduation is for one of these kids who barely made it through, but the kids and the community so appreciate their efforts and stubborn refusal to give up, despite overwhelming odds stacked against them…</p>
<p>That is exactly what we assumed (and hoped). Son applied ED to one school with no expectation of playing any sport, but really liked the school. So he essentially missed the boat on DIII recruiting on a broader scale. However, while he didn’t get a tip or a slot from any schools (as they were all taken or they said his stats were good enough without it), every coach told him that if he got in they’d love to have him play for him. Of the five selective DIII schools he applied to he got into four and was waitlisted at one. In the end he choose the school that fit him best, but the point is, he had choice. Sometimes I think recruited athletes loose choice because they often end up at the school that wants them instead of the school they want. Of course, those could be one and the same, but a lot of times athletes are told to apply ED or EDII (and we learned that is where most tips and bumps go) if they want that extra consideration. In fact, son got some pressure from a school to do just that EDII but decided (especially after the ED rejection from an Ivy) that he didnt want to box himself in like that for DIII. </p>
<p>Son was not a “natural” athlete. He worked hard. School, on the other hand, came easily. We felt he really needed the balance and so we did push the sports in elementary school. Then he learned to walk and chew gum at the same time and the rest was history. :)</p>
<p>You have a really good point about athletics and the marginal student. Over the years, I have certainly seen many students who worked very hard, to the best of their abilities, to get passing grades so that they can continue to play sports. I have also seen coaches spending hours after practice helping kids with their schoolwork - this after a long day of teaching, then coaching - certainly above and beyond what is expected of a teacher. I don’t think that many of these students would have graduated without the extra effort that they and their coaches put in - and they too deserve to be commended.</p>
<p>Modadunn, I love your post. Too funny. We had a similar experience. Anyway, ironically we were touring a school alittle while back with S2 who enjoys a particular sport best, but didn’t even consider continuing on a team at the Div III school. The tour guide knew about his interest/skill and the athletic group really asked him to consider participating if he came to the school. I don’t think it had crossed S2’s mind, but he was intrigued afterward as I think he like his older brother had just considered intramural. S2 would not want his participating used as a “chip or a tip” but he’s now thinking about college choices in a slightly different vein - more interested now in schools that have teams in his sport.</p>
<p>I agree with mafool’s post #45, and think it supports a correlation between athletics and academics. A smart kid will scope out the situation on a team and figure out which kids to hang with/do drills with at tryouts so s/he will show better, at what position or event s/he will have the best chance of earning a spot, what weaknesses s/he has to remedy and how to do so, who the power brokers are who need to be stroked so they won’t stand in the way of his/her success, what sometimes silly behaviors the coach likes to see in an athlete (female coaches are notorious for liking needy girls or touchy feely, rah-rah stuff like cute posters or T-shirts; some male coaches like to see kids volunteer to carry equipment, while on other teams if you “lower” yourself to do that it’s the kiss of death). My kids, though bright, were usually too self-respecting to play the coach’s “game”, but they at least had the option to do so because they understood what it was. My s’s first year of baseball he wasn’t very good at all. But he was self-disciplined and smart enough not to swing at bad pitches, so he landed on base a heck of a lot more than kids who were better hitters. He also understood where the play was. He ended up on the all-star team. It was hysterical!</p>
<p>However, at large high schools with competitive sports teams that have aggressive practice and game/meet schedules, it is not at all easy to be a top athlete, esp. a multi-season athlete, and top student. Very few kids can pull it off, and the ones that can are those who don’t need as much sleep.</p>
<p>That rings true to me, though our experience was with a different sport! Son started out as an “adequate” player, skill-wise, but had great “field sense” and could anticipate the plays, which put him in the right place at the right time. Eventually, through discipline and hard work, his skills developed considerably. Most important though, was his accuracy. He never became the fastest or most powerful, but his aim was deadly. That coupled with playing smart made him a valuable starter and field general.</p>
I was blessed to watch the female version of your boys. It was a joyous time in my life. I loved to watch her work with what she had been given to compete and most times succeed against taller, stronger, heavier, faster players with more “ups”. Pure heart and “want to” with a healthy dose of “never quit” topped with an awe-inspiring will to win. I believe it will serve her well, as no doubt other activities would have, too. Just not as much fun for me, and as we know…that’s what’s truly important. ;)Remember… if it ain’t vicarious , it ain’t really living.</p>
<p>You have no idea what it’s like to watch your kid from the sidelines when you’re a trained referee for the sport in question. I’d try to take pains not to react, since many of the parents knew I was a ref, having seen me on the pitch before. Plus, quite frankly, when I’m watching my kid play, I’m relaxing and just not looking at the same flow as when I’m on the field. The parent on our team could never quite get that one.</p>
<p>I think my S just out thought the opposing players when he played at a younger age, which made him into a potent defender even though the other players might have more raw talent. He also showed no fear, even though being one of the smaller players. To this day, the only thing he’s ever admitted that frightened him was some series of dreams he had about falling into a canyon, which was rectified after our visit to Grand Canyon.</p>
With that in mind, he has honed in on academically selective D-IIIs where he can get a great education and possibly play some football.</p>