Sonya Elliott – Page 49 – Back on the Court

Variety is the Spice of Life: Say NO to playing select sports year-round

Say NO to playing select sports year-round.

My daughter is doing her senior project on this subject. Her instructor wasn’t crazy about the idea, but my daughter was adamant that it was an important topic and stuck to her guns. I agree. Today’s young athletes start specializing way too early and often for all the wrong reasons.

When I was young we played select sports because we loved to play. We wanted to play more and try to be the best. Today young athletes (often with pressure from their parents) play because they believe it will give them the upper hand for an athletic scholarship. But what most don’t understand is that playing one sport year round not only costs more than college itself, it often puts young athletes in harm’s way emotionally and physically.

Fact: Less than 2% of high school athletes receive an athletic scholarship to help pay for college, of those very few are full-ride scholarships.

Fact: Playing year-round sports from a young age leads to overuse injuries and burnout.

Early and continual play of a specific sport does not come with a guarantee of a college athletic scholarship, but it does come with a big price tag. Select sports teams are big business these day. Playing on a top-level team can cost between $8000-$10,000 a year. Yes, I said one year. And many parents pay for private lessons for the athletes as well. The money spent on these programs could go to their college tuition and their high school programs, many of which struggle with funding. (When I took over a head coaching position the program had $4 and 4 uniforms. This is unacceptable and another blog all its own).

I’m not saying athletes that love a specific sport shouldn’t play […]

PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Life In Triple -Threat

I had the opportunity to speak to the seniors at my old high school. And when I talked to them about setting goals and making choices, I brought basketball into the mix. It may not seem like there is a connection but let me explain.

When I play basketball my goal is to win, and in order to do that, our team must get more points than the other team. So, I play tough defense and every time I catch the ball, I catch it in triple-threat position, facing the basket (my goal). Triple-threat means I am a threat to the opponent in three ways, I can shoot, pass or drive. I must read the defense, assess my options, and make a choice. Just like I do in life.

If I’m open and in my range, I might shoot the ball. If I see my teammate cutting to the basket, I might pass her the ball for a shot, or if the defense is in my face, I might drive to the hoop. Just like in life, you look at your options and then make a choice. It may not be the perfect choice, (you may miss your shot or make a bad pass) but if you have your goal in mind, it’s okay, keep moving, try again.

It’s when you let go of your goals and dribble away from the basket, that you get into trouble. I explained to the seniors, that to me, skipping class and partying when you want to get a college degree, is like dribbling away from the basket, with your goal out of sight.

Life is about setting goals and making good choices, or like I like to think of it, catching the ball in triple-threat, ready to help my team […]

PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Time To Soar

I don’t remember having National College Declaration Day when I headed off to school. Is all the attention on this choice a good thing? I’m not sure, because it’s already a stressful time for seniors. There’s a ton of pressure to make the perfect decision on a school to attend, during a time when they are smack in the middle of taking AP tests, finals and applying for scholarships.

I know, because my daughter has been going through this over the last few months and it has been stressful. Her original college choice ended up being WAY too expensive. It had been our understanding that with merit aid, etc, the cost would be close to the University of Washington, it was not. Even with scholarships she was looking at paying $51,000 a year. We couldn’t, and wouldn’t, pay $240,000 for four years of college. We explained to her that she could buy a house with the money. And so she had to change gears which made it a little difficult at first, because in her mind, everything seemed to pale in comparison.

Some might say, that you get what you pay for. But I knew that there were other schools where my daughter could get a great education and not be burdened with huge loans after she graduated, especially since she wants to travel when she is done. So she narrowed it down to three small colleges (one of her requirements), where she could study Creative Writing and Chinese and play basketball, and then made a final decision this week.

Breathe.

I know she’s nervous, it’s a huge change, heading off to college and stepping out into this great big world on her own. But I also know that even if she has doubts and fears about this new chapter […]

PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Take Pride

My full-time job is being a mom. Raising kids is such an honor and most of the time I love it, but sometimes I feel like I’m going CRAZY! It’s hard work (not to mention that you don’t get a lot of credit for being a mom). It’s morning until night, constant, from the first years when you’re nursing and changing diapers until the days when you’re getting ready to send kids off to college.

My kids are both in high school now and my duties today include; packing lunches (I know I don’t HAVE to do this, but I want to. They do get their own breakfasts), doing laundry, ironing my daughter’s dress to wear when she performs in a talent show tonight, walking the dogs (also mom duty), picking up my son’s computer and dropping money off for his summer basketball camp, getting the oil changed in the Jeep, going for a run (probably not gonna happen), picking up a boom stand for the talent show, doing dishes, taking out recycle and cleaning the house for company this weekend, working on my novel and my upcoming speech (definitely not gonna happen), mailing a scholarship application for my daughter, cheering my daughter on at her softball game, figuring out how to get her some dinner as she runs to talent show rehearsal and then figure out dinner for in-laws and my son (most likely gonna order Thai food) and then, go to sleep and start again tomorrow.

That’s being a mom and I wouldn’t change it for the world. But it’s also hard to keep it all together and not totally lose yourself. For me, my kids come first, but sometimes I just want to scream, “What about me?” […]