What are the odds your child one day becomes a “full-ride” college student athlete? What about the chances that your child plays beyond college, making it all the way to the pros? Most parents do not have these statistics readily available to them, leaving them without key sport psychology information that can be used when deciding on things like sport specialization, playing on a travel team, holding their kid back in school for athletic growth, or playing a sport(s) year-round.
Making it to the college level (much less the pro ranks) takes a lot of things, including genetic gifts, an outstanding work ethic, opportunity, and luck. In fact, many outstanding student athletes fail to make it past the high school ranks, further illustrating the challenges of “making it” in sports. Studies show that roughly 5-7% of all high school student athletes will go on to play at the college level (this figure includes walk-ons, partial, and full-ride scholarships), with less than 2% of all college student athletes being able to move on to professional sports. More simply, about 95% of all high school students will see their sports careers end, while 98% of all college student athletes will face sport retirement.
“Set for life”
Lets say your child is one of the lucky ones to play in college and then on to the professional ranks, the next erroneous assumption many parents make is that their child will then be “set for life” financially. Interestingly, the average length of a pro athlete career is just 3.5 years, and the vast majority of former pro athletes end up quite the opposite from being “set for life.” Just think for every Tom Brady or Kobe Bryant (players who have earned tens of millions of dollars), there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of pro athletes who will earn a fraction of that salary making league minimum pay (still good money, but not enough to never work again).
Understand the facts
None of this news is designed to be negative or pessimistic, but it is instead intended to provide some reality to the question of making it in sports. When a family understands this data, only then can they make responsible sport-related decisions for their child that are based in reality. There’s no problem with helping your child try and make it to the college and professional levels of sports, but banking on these things happening may be setting most families up for unmet dreams.
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