Krewe de Bonne Terre moves parade to Sunday
February 5, 2016
Mardi Gras morning hit and run proves fatal
February 10, 2016
Ask just about any high school student-athlete and they’ll be quick to tell you that one of their dreams is to continue their playing careers at the collegiate level.
But, of course, we know that this blessing is one that’s only bestowed onto a chosen few, and the vast majority of young athletes see their playing careers end during their senior seasons of high school. Statistics show that only 1.4 percent of prep athletes go on to college – a ratio that equates to just more than 1 out of every 100 young athletes.
For most, the problem is simply a lack of talent. Forget all of the nonsense you hear in school about how you can “be anything that you want to be.” That’s all well and good, and makes for nice fairy tale propaganda, but when it comes to sports, that quote is a lie. It’s not quite that easy.
The reality is that being an elite athlete requires hard work, yes. But it also requires a God-given skill set and/or body type – two things that some people just don’t have. A person can have all of the want in the world. But if they don’t have that extra special inner gift athletically, they have no shot to play at enhanced levels. I fell into that mold. I could have played sports for 20 hours out of every day. I would have still been lead-footed, slow, clumsy and unable to play anything at an advanced level. And that’s because I just don’t have it. Nothing I could have done short of trading my DNA for someone else’s could have changed that. I just don’t have it, and millions of other people are in the same boat.
But what about those who do have what it takes physically, but still don’t make it because of other reasons?
These are the young men and women who I’d like to speak directly to this week in my Casey’s Corner column.
This past week was National Signing Day – a day that truly is one of my favorites of the year. It warms my heart with complete joy to see local student-athletes surrounded by friends and family as they sign a National Letter of Intent to continue their playing careers at the next level.
The mood is always so happy. The young men and women signing their names on that special paper are always filled with excitement.
It’s one of the best days of the year to be the Sports Editor at a local newspaper. There’s nothing in this world that rivals seeing young people make their dreams come true – it’s a feeling you just don’t see at any other time of the year.
And this year was no different. Nicholls State University welcomed a large group of people into its family, and several other locals gave their pledges to various universities around the area and even across the country.
But as I sat down in my room on the night of Signing Day this year, I had a bit of an empty feeling. And that’s not because of the fantastic men and women who signed, but more because of the amazingly talented locals who did not.
The Houma-Thibodaux area has a very bad problem, and it’s a problem that needs to be addressed both in our schools and in our community amongst local leaders.
And that problem is academics – or a lack thereof in some of our most gifted children.
Our area produces incredibly gifted young men and women each year – prospects who ooze with talent and could easily play collegiately.
I know it better than anyone. I’ve covered sports in this community since 2010, but before that, I was an avid fan – dating back to my childhood in the 1990s and 2000s.
But far too often in these woods do things pan out like they should, and grades are almost universally the thing that holds the young athlete back.
In the seven National Signing Days that I’ve covered for the Houma Times, I’ve seen several incredibly gifted athletes be left behind because they either weren’t able to or simply weren’t willing to fulfill their roles as a student.
And that’s a dog-gone shame.
It’s time that we, as a society, value education more – especially with our children. Everyone puts such a huge emphasis on making a game-winning basket and/or scoring a last-second touchdown, but rarely does anyone give that same level of enthusiasm for a young man who makes an A+ on his science exam or Social Studies Fair project.
Because we don’t have a craze toward academics like we do athletics, young athletes take their books for granted – they don’t feel like they’re as important as they should. It’s the job of parents, teachers and community leaders to stop that trend right now and make sure that our student-athletes fulfill both roles – athlete AND student.
What these young men don’t realize that if they don’t make it to the pros in their respective games, then they have to use their educational backing to earn a living at a normal day-to-day job just like you or I.
That’s where a degree in banking, education or whatever else comes in handy and is vital.
I’m tired of seeing some of our best be left behind because they don’t make the grades they need to play.
I’m even more tired of folks accepting that this happens – shrugging it off like it’s OK.
It’s not OK. It has to stop.
And it will happen when we start to care about math tests as much as we do about winning varsity games.
I love Signing Day. I always will. But I’d love it more if we could include even more young men and women in the process. •
