My son is currently a runner in HS and believes he would like to run during college. He will definitely not receive any money for this. He is a DII candidate and possibly a small D1 school candidate based on the school although I do not think he would like being towards the back of the pack each race if he went DI.
My son had a 3.7 GPA after his freshman year in HS and has struggled bringing it up to the current 4.0 his senior year. It is amazing how little the effect of A’s during his sophomore and junior year pushed the needle. I felt the 3.7 was good and did not freak out at all. But college is more competitive and he will have to maintain a stellar GPA if he has hopes of landing a job of his choice. So my question is at what point would you say your child can no longer participate in sports. Kids love to make excuses for things they want and think are important. They can loose sight of the long term goal. They think they can do it all but I am concerned he may dig himself a hole and not get out of.
I am sure I am like most parents who told our children to never quit and if you join the team, you must see it thru to the end of the season. Do people still subscribe to this theory in college? If your child bombs the midterms, do you pull him or have him ride the ship down and see it thru to the end of the season because it is a good lesson to not give up on things you start? It seems to me that allowing your child to fall into a hole he cannot get out of would not be good. I think if his academic scholarship is in jeopardy then it is easy because he would be forced to leave for monetary reasons so you might as well kick the sports and try to remain at the school.
Another concern is the time usage that sports requires and his missing out of campus networking opportunities. As many are aware, schools have recruiters that visit often to woo the students. It is often a table in the student center where they will be handing out promotional materials and talking with the students. Many of these might not apply to my son’s major but it does expose him to other career possibilities. Some recruiters take it to another level by sponsoring more intimate affairs like a meet and greet with free pizza. These are great opportunities to sell yourself to potential employers. This stuff might seem silly to others but it can pay huge dividends for internship and job opportunities. And this is just one small aspect of all the various things that happen on campus. Would he gloss over these events if he was in college athletics? Forced to miss them because he is traveling for a track meet?
Bottom line is one only has so much time in a day and if it is filled up with practice and traveling to games, when do these soft items come in? Where does the time to study come in?
I would be interested to hear from other parents who have had to confront these types of issues.
Having two sons who are/were involved in college athletics I can feel your concern. However, if you look at many athletes while in college some of their best grades are during season. Structure and small windows to do work are good motivational tools. Having more time does not equate to more study time.
As far as internships and jobs, many companies are impressed by a student athlete as they know that they are often very structured and have the ability to work on deadlines. Have you/son looked at any D3 schools. Many of these schools have both high end academics and top notch athletics. Look at the NESCAC Schools. They have a more academics come first attitude. Your son can do both effectively if that is what he wants to do
good luck
I don’t think anyone would dispute Fleishmo6’s comments. People are more efficient and tend to do better the more work (and thus the less time) they have to do it in. Also, I am not sure how or how much college athletics interferes with networking. If you are asking whether your son can both do college athletics and show up for employer recruiting events, I am pretty sure the answer is yes.
But I think it might be wise to take a close look at your questions. You suggest that “college is more competitive and [your son] will have to maintain a stellar GPA if he has hopes of landing a job of his choice.” I am not sure this is true. Not saying that GPA is unimportant, but I don’t think he is headed for the dole if he has a 2.9 GPA. As I recall, George Bush once made a self-deprecating remark at a Yale commencement about where “C” students could end up.
You also suggest that “Kids . . . can loose sight of the long term goal.” My question is – whose goal is it? Ultimately, a time will come when you retire and the kids will have whatever career they have. Hopefully, they will be reasonably happy with their choices, but it is their choice.
My view would be leave participation in athletics up to your son. If he is flunking out and you are paying the bill, you have the right to have a discussion. Isn’t it more instructive to let your son set his own goals, work toward them and see how close he gets to attaining them? Wouldn’t it be better for him to choose, especially because he will be an adult by the time he is at college?
^ Also, depending on where he goes to school, you may find that your son’s junior and senior year of high school are more rigorous than his first 2 years of college will be. Therefore, I would just not sweat this one too much and let him run in college if he wants. He can always quit the track team in college if he finds the time pressure too much later as he won’t receive much (if any) athletic scholarship money anyway.
Lastly, some US companies (P&G, GE, etc) LOVE to hire college athletes for their corporate training programs as these kids have discipline and stamina. Therefore his continued running in college may help him get a better job later!
Our son plays a D2 sport which requires a huge amount of time. They went to the final 4 this year, so it was even more demanding and included a lot of travel and time away from school. I would agree with the above posters that it seems as if the more demanding the sport is on his time, the better he seems to do. I think the time commitment has had the effect of making him become extremely organized and efficient with his school work.I see the same thing from most of his teammates. They use spare moments on planes and in airports and hotels to get their studying done.
As far as networking goes, I think the sport acts as one of the best networking tools around. Many potential employers are very happy to take on a student athlete as they know it requires good time management and dedication. I have not observed that this son has had less opportunities than his 3 older siblings who were not involved in a sport; in fact, I would say he has had more opportunities.
It sounds as if your son is a very good student and willing to work hard. I don’t think it is necessarily true that “…college is more competitive and he will have to maintain a stellar GPA if he has hopes of landing a job of his choice.” Of course it is important to maintain a good GPA, but I think employers are often more forgiving of GPA’s than are college admissions. I also agree with @gointhruaphase and @londondad that college is not necessarily going to be more competitive than high school. A lot of kids manage their time better once they are in college and more mature.
If your son has shown that he can handle the workload in high school in a mature way and with good grades, then you might give him the chance to see what he can do in college. It doesn’t sound like he has given you any reason to doubt his abilities. EC’s in college-whether in sports or another area- can help him become a very well-rounded individual.
^^^^ What they said.
If your son wants to run, he should. A sports team is an even tighter alumni network in many cases.A 3.7 vs a 4.0 won’t matter much in business-it’s landing the internship and doing a good job , which your connections will help you get.
my daughter’s grades would be worse if she quit her sport, because her day would be unstructured and she’d physically feel bad. She sort of freaks out now if she doesn’t get a workout in (on a day of travel or when she’s sick).
When she was in high school, I’d often get up on a Sunday morning and find her doing homework because she had games in the afternoon. Where all her friends doing that? No, but they aren’t in college now either. They were the students they were, and she was the student she was/is. She knew that when she came home from a day of games she’d be tired, so did her homework in the morning.
I think sports are important. It may be that your son isn’t scheduling his time in the best way. Is he using travel time to study or is he chatting on the bus? Is he coming right home from practice and hitting the books or is he taking some ‘down time’ to play video games? Maybe the spot is too much for him, but ask him if he wants to restructure or give up running. I wouldn’t expect his grades to go from 3.7 to 4.0 just because he suddenly has 3 extra hours per day to study.
Too soon to be worrying about grades in college, and for what its worth, most track athletes receive little to no money.
My track athlete son has said many times that being on the team gives him structure. He has been on again off again injured and when he wasn’t competing he didn’t study more, he spent more time on line gaming. I’d be more worried about him joining the wrong group in college, without a sport/coach to keep him in check. He is not allowed to join a fraternity and there is academic advisor that checks grades during the semester. Kids that are failing have to work with professors to define a recovery plan. Sure there are still kids that fail out, you will see that regardless of the school but that happens without sports too for a variety of reasons.
Also my experience has been that employers (including my current one) have a minimum GPA for interviewing graduates for entry level positions and for certain degrees (engineering, computer science, etc.) they like to see a 3.0 in the major courses (not a 4.0) but there are exceptions all the time for the right candidate. They do lots of recruiting on campuses and actually like people who have been athletes since they know how to function in a team and competitive environment.
If he needs an ultra-high GPA for med school or something similar, then the way to do it is to spread out tough classes, take summer school and go to a less competitive school, but eliminating his running will likely just make him unhappy without an increase in grades
When it comes to team travel, track meets are on weekends. Most times the team leaves late Thurs or early Friday. It is only for conference meets (once each season ) that my son’s team leaves on a Tues. since they have the decathlon on Wed./Thurs. Track is a much easier schedule in that regard than golf, basketball, baseball, soccer, etc. where there are games any and every day of the week. My son can’t read while in a bus/plane but has never complained about travel time impacting his grades. They are asked to tell the coach if they have a big assignment due Sunday evening or a test they will miss and are expended to manage commitments with professors. Once my son had a big assignment due the same weekend as a travel meet and the coach made him stay in his hotel room with his laptop working on it, and had his hotel roommate bring him takeout food. I guarantee that if he was not away with the team he would not have spent all his time doing the work.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. You all make good points and yes I think I am jumping the gun a bit. I just can’t shake the feeling that they need to get a good start to set the stage for the next four years instead of playing catch up or trying to get back on track (no pun intended).
@OnTrack2013 So nice to hear stories about actual experiences in the same sport. Recruiters do set up GPA floors for interviewing candidates on campus and it is important to get over that threshold so you are in the game. My understanding is that finance/accounting can be 3.5 or 3.7 GPA and higher. Very important to do well.
MassDaD68, I do career counseling at an ivy league grad school. When I meet a recruited athlete, sports are often a proxy for desirable values such as dedication, talent, team work and leadership. The athletes are often team captains senior year, as well being as nice people, and the runners in particular seem to be very sharp. Their drive helps them lead a successful job hunt. So please trust your son to take care of business as he clearly has done so far. To maintain his GPA with a running regiment that is so rigorous that his times have made him recruitable is truly impressive.
@stw2sg Thank you for your kind words. “Recruitable” might imply too much talent. Haha. He has the stats to make the team but not to such an extend to have colleges want to pay for him. Your point in well taken.
The qualities you mention are honorable and they do apply as long as one can maintain a competitive GPA.
Read the little book by Malcolm Gauld, “College Success Guaranteed” (or watch him on You Tube) and you will read his emphasis on being involved in something like a sport as one of the rules for success.