Don’t forget how blessed you are as a potential scholarship athlete

If you are of the small percentage of high school athletes who has received a scholarship offer or is even hearing from a lot of schools in the recruiting process, you need to realize how lucky that you really are. The percentage of high school athletes receiving scholarships, at any level, has been estimated at somewhere around 2%.

The reason that I feel this topic needed to be posted is because there are always a lot of high profile athletes getting in trouble. There is a difference between a little prank that may be done in fun and doing something that may lead to you doing a lot of time in jail. So before you do something, think about the consequences first.

If you head to the search engine site of your choice and look up “college athlete arrested” on their news portion of the site, you would be amazed at how many different news stories there are. This is not just looking up those words on the Internet to see what random web pages have stories, this is articles that have been posted by major news outlets. Here is a quick look at one that was on the first page that I found after searching:

Penn State starting defensive tackle Chris Baker and teammate Navorro Bowman were charged Thursday with felony aggravated assault after police said they “brutally attacked” a person at the HUB-Robeson Center last month. Police, in court filings, said they arrived at the HUB at 1:46 a.m. Oct. 7 to find a large group of people huddled around a group of men and what sounded like fighting. When they reached the center of the huddle they found the alleged victim, his shirt covered in blood, his nose broken, his face swollen. He told police he’d been jumped by 15 football players (Click here for the link to the full article).

As a former Division III athlete myself, even at that level I had some cockiness in me that allowed me to feel like I was somewhat untouchable. Now I never did anything stupid enough that would land me time in jail, but I did have an arrogance from being successful in sports. Compared to a Division I athlete who gets everything paid for, is treated like royalty, and is loved by fans, imagine the confidence level in these players? I was a Division III athlete who had no scholarship money, large student loans, and no one really cared about the basketball program at the school I went to.

That is why I feel it is vital to post this for those lucky enough to have a scholarship offer or even recruiting attention. You need to realize that anyone other prep athlete would trade their left leg to be in your shoes. There are many athletes who are just too small, too slow, or not strong enough. So don’t take what you have for granted. I assume that you worked hard at being successful but a lot of it still depends on what abilities and skills you are born with. And realize that no matter how good you are, you are not untouchable. You are in a position that may make you a target so try to keep your nose clean, focus on your sport, and do well in school. You are one of the chosen few who will get at least some of their college paid for with an athletic scholarship.

And as a parting note, here are a few more stories to consider:

A Nevada basketball player was hurt in a fight at a Halloween party, where three people were shot to death. Tyrone Hanson, a sophomore forward, was at the party early yesterday and was treated and released from a Reno hospital, said Rhonda Lundin, director of media services for the Nevada athletic department. (Click Here for the Entire Article)

At least two gunshots were fired into the apartment of a Virginia Tech student that football coach Frank Beamer identified Tuesday as cornerback Victor Harris. Three Tech students were in the off-campus apartment where Harris lives, but police said no one was injured in the shootings early Sunday morning. No one has been arrested, and Capt. Bruce Bradbery said Tuesday that police were looking for a small black car. (Click Here for the Entire Article)

This week three University of Montana football players were arrested for allegedly being part of a brutal drug-related home invasion involving the pistol whipping of a victim. They are charged with felony burglary, robbery and kidnapping. That came on the heels of numerous other incidents, including a Grizzlies player accused of murder in California and several others accused of hitting women and in one case pointing a weapon at his victim’s head. (Click Here for the Entire Article)