Athlete's Aha! "I know how to win at college!"

Parents, learn from the insight this student came up with. Use it with your student.

I recently coached a student who was a top-notch ball player in high school. He was so good he got a scholarship to play ball in college.

He went off to school, got injured playing ball, and flunked his first-year courses. Then he went back home.

When a student has this kind of experience, he comes home thinking of himself as a failure. His self-esteem is non-existent. He’s lost and doesn’t know what he wants to do. This former high school all-star had lost his identity as a winner and a standout.

I know what it’s like when your student drops out of college. Our son went that route. That’s one reason I do what I do.

As I was working with this athlete, he was bemoaning core classes. “They’re boring. I don’t care about ________ (history, science, whatever). Core classes suck.”

“That may be,” I said. “But you have to take them and pass them. That’s your ticket to studying what you’re really interested in. And to getting a degree.”

The young man, now 20, thought a moment and had this blessed Aha. 

“I had to learn a lot of basics to play ball. I had hours of practice throwing, catching, and running before I really got to play ball. Those basics were like core classes. If I can do that, I can win at college!”

Amen! He realized that he could endure the boring, routine stuff in order to play the fun stuff.

What a great lesson he learned that day.

If your student is struggling with core courses, talk to him about his successes and how he got to them. I’m willing to bet there was a lot of practice somewhere.

For more on dropping out, read this. #coreclasses