<p>You all who are lucky enough to have multi-talented kids are oversimplifying this decision. In most cases, a student cannot simply achieve academic scholarship credentials, such as a GPA above 4.0 and near perfect SAT scores, by selecting the academic path rather than the athletic one. Not focusing on sports does not a top student make. I would like to point out that both types of achievement–athletic and academic–require hard work AND some God-given ability. If you don’t have the latter, you can study your heart out and not be academic scholarship material, just like you can spend your life practicing sports and still not be recruitable.</p>