What’s Really Important??????

I’ve spent a lot of time the last few months speaking to kids in several area middle schools.

It’s been pretty cool meeting some incredible children. At the same time, it’s definitely been a ye-opening experience.

You have to realize that I have been speaking to students for many years. I always try to relate my personal experiences along with tying it back to their always going after their dreams but at the same time having a back up plan.

Every time I speak to a class, there always seems to be a few kids who’s only plan is becoming a pro athlete. While that is ad admirable dream it also is a dream with very long odds.

Statistics show that in 2004 only 1 our of every 1200 kids who played a varsity sport in high school would ever go to college on an athletic scholarship.

OF those, statistics showed that only 1 of 662 regardless of sport would sign a professional contract.

There was new information just received from the NCAA on football players.

3,000 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision players eligible for pro football in
2004. Of those, 252 were drafted into the NFL. Of those drafted, about 60
made NFL rosters. Beyond that, only a quarter of the first-year players played3.3 seasons, the average length of an NFL career.

Let’s put that in perspective, only ½ of a percent of players at the 1A level (Clemson and South Carolina) made an NFL roster. Of those only 1 in 4 will survive to play 3.3 seasons.

Now, take the story of Myron Rolle. The Florida State safety will study at Oxford instead of entering this year's NFL draft.

Rolle won a Rhodes scholarship in November and plans to seek a one-year master's degree in medical anthropology, The New York Times reported Monday in an entry on its college football blog.

Rolle, projected to be an early round pick, said he plans to enter the 2010 NFL draft.

A native of Galloway, N.J., Rolle got his undergraduate degree in pre-med after two and a half years, and has been taking graduate courses at Florida State this year.

After his NFL career, Rolle has said he plans to attend medical school and then open a clinic for the needy in the Bahamas.

Rolle made waves this season when he risked missing one of Florida State's conference games to have his final interview for the Rhodes Scholarship. Rolle had the interview in Birmingham, Ala., then found out he got the scholarship. The safety then received a police escort and took a private plane back to the stadium for the Seminoles' game against Maryland. He entered the game in the second quarter, as Florida State rolled to a 37-3 win.

My point to every parent, grand parent, aunt and uncle as well as student is that while it is perfectly fine to aspire to be a professional athlete, just like the NCAA commercials say…just about all of them go on to the pros in something OTHER than sports!

The one thing a kid should never do is get to a point in their lives that they say, “if only I had…” and regret their choices.

It’s a brand new year, and the last thing I always tell kids is you have absolutely no control over what happened in the past but you have ABSOLUTE control over this moment forward.

Don’t let the opportunity at bettering yourself slip away.