What’s In Ranking A Youth Athlete? The Loss of Self, That’s What.

By: Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog
Follow Me on Twitter: @GridironStuds

I have three children and anyone who knows me knows I love them with all my heart.  When they were young and all at home,  I wonder if ranking them on a daily or monthly basis would have helped get more things done, earn better grades or achieve more in their chosen sports.  Could you imagine?  One big grease board in the kitchen with the current rankings of the Top 3 kids as of so and so date.

I think we all know how that would’ve gone.  Surely there would have been arguments with the wife over who should be ranked where and what married couple is striving for more arguments?  I can also imagine the back stabbing and sabotage that may have gone on to grab that #1 spot.  We may have well raised three full on Donnie Brasco’s if that grease board would have been the play in our household.  This is not even to mention the destruction of psyche,  future adulthood problems and social ineptitude that would have developed from such a system imposed on impressionable minors.  You can also forget about the whole family / team dynamic being built,  that’s out the window.  Yea, the top ranked kids idea would not have been an idea that benefitted from escape out of the deep corners of the mind.

While ranking your offspring does not appear to be a good idea,  at some point,  ranking youth football players appeared to be an interesting thing to do.  Seems like fun right?  The high schools do it. The colleges do it.  The pros do it so why not do it with the youth players?  Why not recognize those who are really getting it done on the field?  See the first two paragraphs of this story.  Not everything done at the adolescent and adult levels need to be passed down to the youngsters.  They may look like titans and little men in their uniforms running around impersonating their favorite Sunday afternoon stars but the truth of the matter is they are soft pieces of Play Doh still being formed into their eventual shapes.   Have you ever seen what happens to Play Doh when it ends up in the wrong hands?  The Good Lord knows I have.

Young football players may know where the 4 hole is, they may understand what it is to buzz to the flats or even kick out on the end man on the line of scrimmage.  However,  the real nuts and bolt of the game of football are not adequately installed in youth football players nor are they properly uploaded to the servers of many high schoolers.  Rankings distort the team dynamic,  which in my opinion,  is the single best lesson football teaches our youngsters.  This game is about playing for the guy next to you,  sacrificing for the greater good and working towards a common goal.  Once individual awards become the focus,  those principals begin their rapid decline.  For the young individual achieving them,  the burden is now placed upon them.  What happens when you are ranked first this year but fourth next year because you had less carries?  When does junior or rather dad flip out on the coach?

I am never one to stop the enterprise of an entrepreneur.  It seems ranking youth football players is a worthy financial endeavor.  So the preverbal toothpaste is out of the tube.  Whit that being the case,  what do the parents and adults in the lives of youth football players need to do to avoid mental disaster for our new generation of gridiron studs?  Business will be business and ideas move at the speed of light.  As parents you must now adjust at the speed of light.  You can’t be that parent telling your child you don’t want him looking at dirty magazines in the store when Porn Hub has a cookie stored on millions of teen phones worldwide.

Parents must keep their kids grounded.  Your #1 ranked class of 2022 running back must still take out the trash, do his homework and get to practice on time.  He still should dress like his teammates, warm up with his teammates and not seek special treatment.  Your top 100 class of 2042 defensive end needs to double down on his studies and face harsher penalties for any retreat in his academic status.  If you are doing this right,  your child achieving that ranking should impose greater pressures but not on the field,  off the field.  If you want this ranking to be a positive mental tool,  then use it to ask junior to achieve more away from the gridiron.  Along with improving academically,  be at church every Sunday and if that is given,  be on time more often and be harsher on him than before for being late.  Use his new ranking status as reason for him to do more community service.  The message should be well,  you are ranked now so more eyes are on you.  Build yourself up into the little man you need to be and that has nothing to do with making a run stuffing tackle on 4th and 1.  Ultimately,  the ranked young man’s identity can not be wrapped up in his football status.  This sounds obvious but it can easily happen.

There’s a swell of pride in parents when their child is recognized for being exceptional.  Kids hear their parents speaking to others about them.  If being highly ranked becomes the lone topic for discussion when parents are around friends and family members then youngsters start to equate their entire worth around their football abilities.   As much as parents don’t want to realize this,  the superior football abilities of a youth football player can quickly erode as they travel into adolescence.  If all the top ranked youngster has been was a recognized football star then what’s his mental state when he’s not the #1 ranked high school player or dominant prep player?  As parents and adults we must guard against this with our entire being because the repercussions can be tragic.

Young minds are still forming and we’ve all seen what has happened to the youth and teenaged Hollywood stars.  Before youngsters have figured out how life works and how they operate they are being told they are the best at something and everyone else is beneath them.  That’s a lot of pressure for an adult,  let alone an individual missing a pair of front teeth.  Rankings aren’t going away so the parents of Top 10 kids better display #1 type management skills.  Can I get a Amen?

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