By Chad Wilson – Editor – Gridiron Studs Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds
A Facebook friend of mine, known for bringing up interesting topics of discussion posed a really great one this past Saturday. For a parent who’s child is involved in high school athletics, what do you chase offers or rings? An interesting question indeed but not nearly as interesting as the answers I read. The general consensus from the largely parental participants were to chase the offers. Few of those who answered seemed to give much value to the rings which, for those of you who are not aware, means a championship.
What caught me by surprise in reading the responses was the perception most who answered had of a ring. Some said, rings can be bought at a pawn shop. While I am not so green as to see the humor intended by that statement, I am not naive enough to miss the lack of value held in the mind of the responder. To most parents the ring is a physical possession given to someone who won a game at the end of a tournament. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For a team in any sport to end their season as the best of the best, aka champion, a lot of things need to happen. To chase a ring, an athlete has to learn something about sacrifice, discipline, team work, dedication, leadership, bonding, serving, friendship, adversity, respect, honor and a host of other life critical elements. If the athlete is paying attention and is engaged, everything they need to be successful in life will be found in their journey to the championship. Math teaches you numbers, English teaches you communication (or at least it’s supposed to), Science teaches you about the Earth but no subject nor collection of subjects in school will provide you with all the critical elements needed to truly lead a successful life the way athletics does. I would dare say that our educational system in this country is set up to teach you what someone out there wants you to learn so you can work for them. Athletics teaches you what you NEED to learn so you can lead in life.
The problem is so many people do not see athletics for what it really is. Often times the participants and their parents seek out athletics only to get that one thing they want to get out of it and these days that’s a college scholarship. Lost in all of that are the long list of lessons and critical skills I mentioned earlier in this article. Your college scholarship and your subsequent degree will not be worth more than the paper it’s printed on if you fail to acquire and master those critical elements I indicated. Your degree does not mean you will be a good worker, business owner or professional. However, acquiring the skills taught in athletics will most certainly do so.
I had several job interviews at the end of my playing career which came very early for me. I went into those job interviews without my degree (I later earned it when I went back to school). Never once did I walk into those job interviews feeling anything less than the best candidate. I knew that I had a leg up on the other applicants because my life in athletics provided me with all the skills I needed to be a successful asset to the company I was seeking to join. I felt this even without degree in hand. By no means am I advocating for a young man or woman to avoid obtaining their college degree. Quite the contrary. However, I am saying that a degree without the acquired critical life skills is a failure in disguise. I played football for 12 years out of my life and only twice was I on a team that had no chance to win it all. I always found myself on a team with a coach and teammates that were chasing excellence. To obtain it we were taught to master sacrifice, discipline, team work, dedication, leadership, etc. to win it all. Several times, my teams did win it all and at the end they gave me my ring. Guess what that ring was? That ring was my degree. Guess what I wore on my finger in those job interviews? Guess how many times the interviewee asked me about that ring? Guess what that discussion allowed me to do? It allowed me to tell that decision maker why I would be a great hire. I don’t ever remember not getting the job. Dead serious. I wore the ring to go buy a car, buy a house, etc.
So what am I saying? I am saying in life you chase excellence. You teach your children to chase excellence. As much as you can, you want your children to be a part of something special. Life is about experiences and anytime you can provide them with that experience, you should do it. So my answer is chase the ring. But what does that mean? Does chase the ring mean transfer your kid to the team expected to win it all this year? No. Do so if that is the best opportunity for your child to obtain the experience while still being a participant. It could also mean to encourage your child to become a leader at his current school that is not a favorite to win it all. If the administration and the coach seem willing to make an effort to win, then there are important lessons to be learned in pursuing greatness where it does not seem readily apparent. Does chase the ring mean leave the championship team on which your son / daughter is an active participant or starter because you don’t feel they have enough scholarship offers? Absolutely not! There is more value in learning the ways to be a champion and attending a lesser prestigious school than developing a selfish attitude with a degree in hand from one of the schools everyone lauds over. Remember, I sat in a waiting room with other degree holders with a champion’s attitude / mindset and got the job. Those others didn’t.
You can’t put a price on some things in life but you can certainly realize it’s benefits. Many of the walk-ons that I played with on the University of Miami are extremely successful in what I call their “real lives”. That is the life that comes after the playing is over. Most of these walk-ons never stepped on the field for the Hurricanes. However, they entered their “real lives’ with the lessons learned in the pursuit of greatness and they are living it every day of their life. There’s something to be said for that.
You can chase offers. You can move junior from school to school hoping to line him up for that offer to the top college program in his sport. That’s great. If he’s a football player, he has a .001 chance of playing professionally. Hopefully he has a degree but do you really want him sitting in the waiting room of that corporation next to a guy like me who has the upper hand on him on everything that matters. That degree is a piece of paper, while the experience and the skills learned are the education that means something.
You want to chase something? Chase excellence. Excellence is undefeated. Excellence is attractive. I have rarely seen a college scholarship worthy kid not get one from a team that was a champion. Now parents may not have agreed with the level of schools offering their child and feel it would have been better elsewhere. However, too many times, parents and prospects force their way into a school above a prospect’s head only to endure a bad experience. What could have happened is learn the ways of a champion, sign with the school that wants you, have a good experience, take your shot at a professional athletic career, then go excel at whatever you choose in life after that. The true lessons of athletics and chasing greatness last a lifetime.
Someone forward this article to Lebron James please.
Chad Wilson is a college football recruiting expert and creator of the GridironStudsApp which allows high school football players to gain exposure to college football coaches and fans. Wilson is a former college football player for the University of Miami (92-94) and Long Beach St. (’90-’91) and played briefly for the Seattle Seahawks (’95). He is also a former youth and high school football coach for over 15 years most recently for 5-A State of Florida Champs American Heritage. He runs All Eyes DB Camp a defensive back training company located in South Florida IG: @alleyesdbcamp. Wilson’s oldest son Quincy plays in the NFL for the New York Giants and his younger son plays cornerback for the Arizona Cardinals.
