Youth Sports: Tips for Athletes to Get Good Grades

My daughter, CC, will school you with a cross over dribble move.

My daughter will teach you a lesson if you attack her goal on a 1v1,

My daughter will give you an education on physics (ballistics) with her volleyball serve.

I am very proud of her, but I am more proud when I see her report cards. In 2011, CC played in 156 games (Elite Level Soccer, CYO and AAU Basketball and CYO Volleyball.) He compiled a 90-60-6 record across all sports. She attended exactly 100 practices. She also earned almost all A's on her report cards.

I watched her study last night and I thought that her approach to school could help others. Here are my observations.

1. She stays focused. She does her homework and does not get distracted by everything around her. She does not quit until she is done with the assignment. It's like playing until the final whistle.
2. She prides herself on doing work herself, but she is not afraid to ask for help. She doesn't waste time spinning her wheels. She's open to coaching.
3. She has mastered Google. If she cannot find an answer in the school book, she'll Googles it. She goes to Wikipedia a lot too. There are so many age appropriate resources to find answers. Again, efficient use of time is crucial for the busy athlete.
4. She stays incredibly organized. She takes the time to put things away in their proper place so she can find it when she needs it. Again, managing time.
5. She sets goals for herself. She asked if she could get a cell phone if she got straight A's, she missed it by one B+. (We gave her a phone for the effort.)
6. She typically starts her homework before she goes off to her sporting event. If she does not complete the HW before practice, she gets right to it when she returns. 
7. She does not get discouraged if she a test or HW assignment does not go her way. She has the confidence to make up for the set-back. She learned from sports that you can come back from a deficit.
8. She has the confidence to go to the teacher as ask for help or extra-credit.
9. Good is not good enough for her. She treats school / learning like a competitive sport. She puts in the effort to succeed.
10. She practices and practices for tests. 

The Main Point

I recently wrote a post on the slim chances of going Pro. Within that post, I put this personal note to my kids.

Please study in school because the chances of going pro in your chosen sport are slim. Go after it if that is your passion, but study, study, study so you have something else to fall back on.

Be proud of your kid's accomplishments on the field and court and help them succeed in sports, but you need to stress success in school too.

Youth Baseball: The Politics of All Star Team Selections

I recently received the comment below (truncated for this post) that intrigued me regarding the selection of all star teams in youth league baseball. (Follow this link to the full comment). This comment piqued my interest because I have not been exposed to the politics of the all-star team selection process in youth baseball since I was a kid. My son plays AABC baseball in Southern Ohio and they do not have an all-star game or all star-post season. I guess since he plays at the highest level of select each team is considered an all-star team.

But I do remember playing in an All-Star game when I was a kid. I was one of the better players in the league, but my dad was the coach and on the selection committee. Did I make the team because of my dad or because of my ability? 


The coach who posted the comment below shared how the Dixie Youth Ozone League picks their all-stars. The league put rules in place to mitigate the politics or so they thought. I think that the process they they follow seems fair but not full proof. How does your league determine the all-star team?


My reader shared this story

I am a coach of 11-12 year old Dixie Youth Ozone league. I am about to embark on coaching Allstars because my team won the league. My league has tried to put bylaws that would prevent politics from taking place. For example, the first round of all star slection each coach will submit 15 players from teams in the league NOT on his team. The kids who receive the most votes move on to the top 15 in the 2nd round. in the 2nd round you can then vote on your kids, and then the top 9 from the 2nd round automatically are on the all star team. The third round was my decision on who the next three pics would be, however if you did not receive a single vote during the first round you are unable to be selected for all stars. This year we went 18-2 and won the league by 5 games.