Student athletes should play for love of the game

In today’s high school sports, certain athletes stand out as a cut above the rest. These individuals can be characterized as the ones who spend countless hours every week striving to become better at their sport. While some call them crazy, others call them dedicated.

What some people may not realize is that young athletes face a tremendous amount of pressure to progress in the athletic world. From peewee leagues to high school activities, at the college level and beyond, the burden to execute at the highest standard never ceases.

Each generation pinpoints players considered its can’t miss prospects. These players are glorified, positioned on a national stage and told they are guaranteed a spot in the pros. Some players like Lebron James, Peyton Manning and Bryce Harper manage to live up to the hype, however, plenty of others yield under the relentless demands.

Out of 100,000 high school athletes, only 0.2% make it to the NFL, 0.5% make it to the MLB and 0.03% make it to the NBA, according to reference.com.

Impossible?

Not at all.

Slim pickings?

Very much so.

Like it or not, many unforeseen circumstances can derail a young athlete’s dream of making it to the pros. Situations such as bad grades, injuries, family issues, medical conditions or one foolish mistake can end a career before it starts.

A familiar example is the story of Aledo High School’s Johnathan Gray. In 2012, Gray, a five-star running back and the second ranked player in the entire country could be sighted on any sports-related website.

At Aledo High School, Gray finished his career with 10,889 rushing yards (6th all-time in high school football history) and set a national record with 205 touchdowns. He also acquired 1,232 points which ranks 2nd all-time. This earned Gray the National Gatorade Player of the Year Award. He committed to play with the Texas Longhorns.

After a productive freshman season, Gray tore both of his Achilles tendons and that forever changed his athletic dreams. He went undrafted in 2016 and his football career is most likely over.

“Of course, I thought I would be on an NFL team. I wanted that,” Gray told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I thought I was going to be in the NFL playing running back and I would win a Super Bowl.”

Gray’s story is just one example of a decorated high school player being dealt an unfortunate card. Injuries robbed him of his talent and now leave him with a whatif story. Another example can be

Another example can be drawn from the narrative of former Netflix series “Last Chance U” star Malik Henry.

Henry ranked as one of the top high school quarterbacks in the country in 2016 and committed to playing at Florida State University. Henry left Florida State after one year and transferred to Independence Community College (ICC) in Kansas where production took place.

The series showed that Malik’s father forced him to play football in high school when his true love was playing baseball. This caused Henry to become depressed and manifested through negative behavior like lashing out at coaches and teammates. As a result, ICC later dismissed Henry and he now struggles to find his way at the University of Nevada.

While I hope every local athlete who dreams of playing professional sports achieves that goal, I want them to know that playing sports may be what they do, but it is not who they are.

If an athlete wants to play sports, don’t play them because of pressure or distress. Play sports for the love of the game.

My participation in sports during high school represented some of my purest and most fun times, so please enjoy it while it lasts. The past few months shed light on how fast things can be taken away from us, so we must avoid taking anything for granted.

To the students fortunate enough to receive scholarships to play college sports, please take your education seriously. You never know what can happen in the sports world. Education is something that never leaves you.