game on
recruitment
If you’re spending
more money on
their sports than
you are putting in
their college fund,
then your priorities
are out of whack.
—Dave Ramsey
Are Kids’ Sports an
Investment for College?
By Dave Ramsey
Any good parent will tell you
he or she wants the best for
their kids. It’s just a normal
emotion that comes with being a parent.
When it comes to sports, though, sometimes our parenting instincts get a little
carried away. What starts as “wanting
the best for our kids” turns into placing
a high amount of pressure on our kids to
be better than all the other kids.
We do everything we can to make sure
our kids are the absolute best. We’ll
spend thousands of dollars on equipment, travel team fees and personal
coaches.
Why? Sure, we want our kids to be the
best they can be. But, if we’re honest,
we’re also thinking of all the future possibilities—a full athletic scholarship in
college and (dare we dream?) a professional sports career making millions of
dollars.
TRUTH IN THE NUMBERS
We think, just maybe, if we spend
enough money and push our son hard
enough, he just might become the next
LeBron James. But let’s step back a second and look at college and professional
sports from a bigger picture.
• Only 2% of high school athletes are
awarded sports scholarships at NCAA
schools.
• Guaranteed “full-ride” scholarships are
the exception, not the rule. Plus, only
six sports offer them: football, men’s
and women’s basketball, volleyball,
tennis and women’s gymnastics. (Other
sports offer “equivalency scholarships,”
in which coaches have the option to
divide up all scholarship money however they see fit. Most result in partial
scholarships, but there are exceptions.)
• Most athletes have “partial scholarships”
that only cover a portion of tuition.
• Of the athletes skilled enough to play in
college, anywhere from 1% (basketball)
to 9% (baseball) will have enough game
to play professionally.
• CNBC says you have a better chance
of being admitted to Harvard, Yale,
Princeton or Stanford than receiving an
athletic scholarship in a major sport.
42 |
Winter 2016
www.potentialmagazine.com
YOU MAY BE SAYING,
“THAT’S GREAT, BUT MY
CHILD IS THE EXCEPTION.”
Well, maybe. But odds are, your kid won’t
get an athletic scholarship. And the odds
are incredibly stacked against your kid—
in that Lloyd Christmas “you’re telling
me there’s a chance?” kind of way—when
it comes to playing professional sports.
Now before you call us a Debbie Downer,
remember that there’s nothing wrong
with dreaming. Yes, it’s incredibly difficult to get a college scholarship. And, yes,
it’s insanely difficult to play professional
sports. But it does happen. All you need
to do is turn on your television to realize
that.
We just want you to be reasonable in how
you approach your kids playing sports.
If you’re spending more money on their
sports than you are putting in their
college fund, then your priorities are out
of whack.
What if half of the money you put toward
kids’ sports was going to a college fund
instead? That’s your “scholarship” right
there!