"There is no ability without eligibility."
Nobel Laureate Danny Kahneman and deceased colleague Amos Tversky pioneered the concept of loss aversion. Losing feels twice as bad as winning feels good. Coaches easily embrace that.
Part of helping players succeed is connecting them with colleges that fit athletically and academically. It's sad when bad grades kill dreams.
Years ago, my daughters played AAU against the best high school player I had seen. She played like an NBA point guard, over six-feet tall, athletic, skilled...scored outside and inside, a female Iverson. Twenty points for her was child's play. She earned a slot on a major east coast college and never enrolled. I'm guessing she never played college basketball because she didn't have the grades. She was inducted into her school's athletic Hall of Fame. She dropped off the radar.
When I've written about players to coaches, one of the first questions they ask is whether the player will qualify academically. Some volunteer that a player may not qualify at their institution. And when my daughters played high school sports, multiple coaches volunteered they were sorry that their school's academics wouldn't attract my girls.
Recently, I stumbled across a letter that shared that the school would be delighted to have a player in their program, but their combined GPA and test scores made that impossible.
Players need to know early that a lack of focus and effort in the classroom may cost them a chance to fulfill their athletic dreams. I'm not saying that a talented athlete needs to know the definition of assiduous. But I'm concerned if they come upon a word they don't know and don't care. Curiosity is a quality of excellence. "How do I improve? Why did that (not) work?"
Don't let dreams die.
Lagniappe. Take away easy passes. "If you can't pass at a high level, you can't play." - Dave Smart
Don't suffer from parochial thinking about a global game.
