I believe many student athletes at BVNW do not take the student part seriously when they are in season for their sport. This is not because they struggle in school, or that it is not possible to make good grades, but because they are too wrapped up in their sport. I feel that this leads people to believe that athletics are more important, and that they have a right to put school on the back burner while they devote all their time and energy to their sport. 

There have been students at our school who have gone on to Power 4 conference schools like Xavier, K-State, and Michigan to play sports while maintaining above-average grades. These same students still competed on school days, weekends, and had to miss school for their sport; however, they maintained focus in school to perform well as a student athlete. 

In the term student athlete, student comes first for a reason. I feel like parents and coaches can pressure athletes to feel the need to prioritize their sport rather than encouraging them to balance them both.

 I understand that most coaches want the very best for their athletes and teams, but I think when they put this immense pressure on their athletes to show up for practice and not the same for school, it can cause an inability to manage concurrent events.

Not to mention, many sports only seem to only track attendance of practices and weights classes rather than school days and academic classes. This method of tracking attendance to determine consequences for the student athletes should include school to prove the importance of attending both.

 Coaches not caring about school attendance as much as the sports aspect of “showing up” directly affects students and their mindset on coming to school. It starts to show when their athletes leaving and only come to the last 15 minutes of their last class just to go to practice after skipping a whole day.

I understand the importance of high school sports and commitment to a team, but I firmly believe that school should always come first. The reality of this problem is that people don’t have realistic priorities. 

For perspective, the NCAA Recruiting Fact Sheet says about 2% of high school athletes are awarded some form of athletics scholarship for college, and out of those athletes, less than 2% go on to the professional leagues. Even then, not every professional athlete is making money like LeBron James with lucrative endorsements, an award-winning NBA career, and calculated investments. 

I’m not stating these facts to discourage people from chasing their dreams, but for a reality check that it is more important to devote your time and energy to school and your future, rather than winning your school a state title.

This problem comes from many different contributing factors; however, it starts with us as students. We need to take pride in representing BVNW sports teams and the athletic program. We need to uphold ourselves to not only acceptable GPA standards, but to the very best we can be. Even more so for the coaches and parents, please motivate your athletes for the betterment of their future.