Playing Sports to Pay for College

On Saturday, April 25, 2009 ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft reached a new record of 36.7 million viewers. The coverage showed a number of elite athletes, their families and friends receive phone calls from coaches and agents welcoming them to their new teams (and their multi-million dollar deals). It was a dream come true for these men.

Setting goals and having dreams are essential to building confidence in young athletes. Parents and coaches should certainly encourage young athletes to pursue their dreams no matter how difficult it may seem. The story of Rudy Ruettiger, featured in the motion picture “Rudy,” is an excellent example of a young athlete who never lost track of his dream no matter what other people said. However, in the film Rudy acknowledged the hard work it would take to achieve his dream and persevered through endless amounts of adversity.

Unfortunately, parents often may have their own unrealistic hopes and dreams for their young athletes. The thought of a college scholarship to pay for college is enticing and can cause parents to expect their children to be able to pay for college through their athletic abilities. So what are the odds? According to some research posted by the NCAA, playing sports after high school is not easy. The NFL Draft represented about 0.08% of the high school athletes that go on to play professional football. Only 5.7% of the high school football players will go on to play NCAA football, which is significantly higher than any other sport. Of the men’s high school basketball players, only 3.0% will play in the NCAA and only 0.03% will play in the NBA. Women’s basketball had the lowest percentage at 0.02% in the WNBA. Even those that do go on to play NCAA are not guaranteed a full-ride. The average NCAA athletic scholarship is $10,409 ($8,707 excluding football and basketball) according to a recent New York Times article. According to the article, in 2003-2004 NCAA institutions gave athletic scholarships to about 2% of the 6.4 million high school students playing sports. The reality is that the revenue-producing sports like football and basketball receive more scholarship than other NCAA sports (average of 85 football scholarships vs. 10 soccer scholarships for teams of 25-30 players). So even if an athlete is able to earn an athletic scholarship, it is not always likely to pay for their entire tuition.

The value of playing sports, particularly at a young age, extends well beyond any monetary reward. Children consistently say that they play sports to have fun not earn a reward. One of the most important impressions parents and coaches can make on young athletes, is to encourage intrinsic motivation. Rudy persevered because he was motivated “from within” rather than by external reward. In the same way, parents should help their children develop the confidence to reach personal goals rather than comparing themselves to others or providing some external reward (money, popularity, fame, etc.). Intrinsic motivation is what PLC calls “Champion-centered” motivation.