By E.R. Wallace
With the growing discipline problems plaguing the NFL, the focus on high school football players must change from on field exploits to character building.
Integrity, discipline and responsibility must be the main focus across the board for the 2007 high school football season.
The training for a successful future starts at the recreation level of athletics. It must continue throughout an athlete's high school career. It’s especially significant once a kid gets to the high school level.
High school coaches are in an awesome position having the opportunity to instruct, mold and motivate young energetic pupils to strive for perfection, not only on the playing field, but also in life.
Today’s athletes seem to have problems trying to live as productive human beings when they have to deal with every day life.
It’s very evident at the professional level. Some of the most talented athletes are struggling with every day life. They find it hard to cope with their success. Many of them have no inkling of responsibility or how to discern right from wrong getting caught up in the hype which eventually leads them into a chamber of bad choices that they can’t escape.
We as fans, parents, coaches, teachers and the media must relegate ourselves to the task of preparing our future stars for the ultimate level of life.
Coaches must dedicate as much time to life skills training as they do to bodybuilding, speed enhancement and X’s and O’s.
Most coaches are overworked and underpaid for the job they signed on to perform aside from the everyday class room and hall monitoring duties they are responsible for. That means that the whole school plus the community must kick in to help.
Classroom teachers must be willing to see to it that the student-athlete comes and participates in classroom activities.
Parents must keep a vigil on their child’s progression or digression in the classroom.
If you are a fan and supporter of your community high school and live in the athlete’s community. When you see him or her heading down a possible path of destruction, steps in and offer some guidance to that young person. It does take a village.
The athlete must be willing to want to do the right thing. If he or she isn’t, implement firm discipline applications without hesitation. Suspension from games and practices is the most common, until he or she show signs of rehabilitation.
Something has got to be done to stop the deluge of a failing society.
It’s got to start at the little league level; it’s got to start now.
The media must get back to divulging the facts, not assumptions and aspersions as in the case of the Michael Vick fog-fighting case, who has been deemed guilty through the press without even being arrested.
He is being ridiculed because of his lack of discernment in choosing his acquaintances.
