Conversations...

Well...those of you who follow me on Facebook know the past few months have been definitely interesting. Retiring from one job, starting a new career at SDSU, coaching at Olympian, trying to get my daughters to all of their activities...etc. Its been a crazy couple of months and I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and write. Its kind of quiet at work today so I thought I'd take a moment to share a conversation I had recently with a College coach.

I asked the coach what does he look for when he scouts a player for a scholarship. Besides the obvious factor (grades) he looks for a "25% er". I asked what that meant. He said that almost all the kids he looks at have the 75%. Basic skills, good attitude, good teammate, hard worker...what he looks for is that kid who gives that extra 25%. Goes over and beyond what the other kids are doing...fights for every second of playing time, hates coming out of games, practices harder, practices longer, is a team leader, simply put..wants it more.

Another thing he mentioned that with the proliferation of club/travel teams, he sees too many kids that don't have to compete for a spot/playing time. They just move from team to team...looking to be given a spot. By the time they're at the age where he is looking at them..they've forgotten how to compete for playing time. And the one thing he tries to remind parents/kids is that when they get to the age where he's looking at them...they are now competing against hundreds of other kids for that 1 spot on his team...so they better be ready for that!!

An item I found interesting that he spoke about was how he was always disappointed when parents spoke to him about their kids (he coaches at the club level also) and the kid wasn't there. Whether the conversation was a positive one or a negative one, when the child wasn't part of the conversation, he always wonders why?? (Caveat...he was speaking about kids at 13 and above...he agreed that bringing a 7 year old into a conversation wasn't what he was referring to). Were the parents afraid of the child hearing the truth? What was going to happen if he has to have a tough conversation with the child later on and the parents aren't there to shield them?? I asked him why he thinks this happens...he said too many parents want to shield their kids from the truth, and the truth is that not all kids have the skills, mindset, passion to play a particular sport at the college level. And too many parents are simply pushing kids toward a scholarship that they may never materialize.

He said he didn't mean that to be a negative, but to remember that sports is just one piece of the life puzzle. He reminded me that at his school (BTW its not SDSU), less than 5% of the student body are on athletic scholarship, and the other 95% are doing just fine.

I guess the moral of this conversation is if you want to be a "25%'er" in sports...keep working hard, keep pushing yourself to be better, keep competing. But if you find a passion that isn't sports related...be a "25%'er" in that pursuit. Like I've told the kids I've coached over and over again...I'll take a dozen talented kids who give me that 25% more effort over that "all-star" who doesn't.

Thanks for taking the time to read this...my greatest hope that there is one nugget here that you read and say "that makes sense". And if there isn't..well, thanks for reading anyway.

Have a happy new year and I'll be back to this blog soon

Peace

Mike