Posted by NCWayne on November 29, 2012 at 07:17:56 from (69.40.232.132):
In Reply to: OT: Sports vs. Job? posted by jhilyer on November 29, 2012 at 06:31:50:
I've never been trough it with a child, but I guess you could say I went through it myself growing up. I have to say I can see the point about kids playing sports and using them as a way to obtain a scholarship, and if that is their goal, then great. The problem is that often the sports side of things becomes the kids priority and takes away from the learning they ought to be doing. Even worse is when the school starts to view them more as an athelete rahter than a studnt and allows their grades to slip by making things 'easier' for them because they are the star player. I guess what I'm saying is that like anything sports can be a usefull tool to get ahead but, like anything else, it can be perverted and become something that's not so good as well.
On the other side of things, I never played any sports in high school. I did play baseball around 12 yrs old, and run hurdles for the JV track team for one season. In both cases the coaches sucked. The baseball guy really didn't have a clue and was more worried about winning than he was about us having fun and learning the game. In the end we got punished and had to run laps if we lost, etc, Funny thing we never got told where we erred, and/or how to do things 'right'. Basically play the game and win, or else, but you've got to figure it all out on your own. Now the track guy was one that catered to his couple of 'stars' and left the rest of the team to fend for ourselves instead of training us. He'd give us all drills to do at practice, and then off he'd go to work with his pets. The problem was that for technical things like running hurddles there were things that you needed to do to develop the correct form, stride, etc to do them right and get fast enough to win. He'd say do this and then disappear instead of hanging around to watch and see what you did right or wrong and help you develop.
By the time I had finished with my 'sports experince' I really didn't have much use for sports in general. Then there was always the deal of seeing the jocks in high schol that were treated like, and thought they were 'gods' because they could run fast and catch a ball. All the while guys like me that could actually do something useful like repairing your truck, wire your house, etc were treated like second class citizens because we didn't play sports. Basically many people are much more interested in being entertained than they are anything else, and since they consider sports as entertainment anybody not participating doesn't seem to matter as much.
I really didn't care at the time, and still don't, but it all gave me an insight early on as to how screwed up this worlds views are on things. Personally I actually enjoyed working on machines, and was good at it. I saw how my successful my dad had become doing it, even with just a 10th grade education, and knew I could do just as good myself. So, after 6 years of the Navy and all the schooling there, a few years welding and fabricating, a few more doing industrial maintance, and all the learning of different trades involved with all of that I finally started to work with my dad. Now I'm self employeed, and even though times have been tight, I've got customers standing in line wanting my services because I spent my time learning and pracxticing to do a job that I love instead of standing out in the middle of a field throwing a ball around thinking it was going to get me somewhere later in life. True there are guys that make a living playing ball, etc, but if baseball, football, basketball all ceased to exist tomorrow we'd be none the worse off, but if every mechanic disappeared tomorrow we'd be screwed. In the end what's more important, working to learn a true profession or learning to play ball and being an entertainer?
Ok, I'm rambling, but ultimately let me say this. Sports, when viewed properly can be a fun and learning experience for anyone. Unfortunately you, as a parent, have to teach your kids that sports isn't everything, that winning isn't everything, that there is more to life than playing sports, etc, etc, etc, because all it takes is one bad coach or school to really screw things up and fill your kids head full of the wrong ideas. I hope this makes sense because I really don't know of any other way to explain it..........
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