High school and middle school athletics: now is the time!

The NCAA recently completed a study on the estimated probability of competing in athletics beyond high school.

The findings relate the sobering numbers of students who participate in high school athletics and the numbers who go on to make it in college and professional athletics.

Look at the numbers for football.

Last year (2003-2004), 983,000 young men played football in high school.

Only about 56,00 of them became NCAA student athletes, and just .09% was drafted by the professionals.

For argument's sake, let us look at the numbers for women's basketball. Last year there were 456,900 young ladies who played high school basketball, with 130,500 of them playing in their senior year.

Of those young ladies, 14,400 became NCAA student athletes, only 4,100 of them making the team rosters as freshmen, 3,200 playing as seniors, and just 32 making it to the professional level. That means that the percentage of women going from high school to the professional level was a miniscule 0.02%.

Each of the following sports also produced a surprisingly low percentage of professionals--men's basketball, .03%; baseball, 0.5%; men's soccer, 0.08%. I present these numbers not to burst bubbles or grandiose dreams, but to demonstrate the cold, hard realities of the sports world.

When you attend a high school athletic event you are watching 15,16, and 17-year-old kids--the vast majority of whom will never play again after their last senior game. I am not saying that we may never have one of those 0.02% athletes who will make it to the pros or receive a college scholarship at one of our schools, but, statistically speaking, the numbers present the facts.

Picture this scene, it is a Friday night (winter, spring, summer, or fall); you are sitting on some, hard, wooden bleachers at one of the five high schools that dot your county's landscape.

Your back is starting to feel the effect of the hours you have spent sitting and standing. You make your way to a concession stand where volunteer parents work hard to make your hot dog, prepare your nachos, and get your diet soft drink.

On top of all of this, you have paid $4.00 or more for the privilege of enjoying the spectacle of a high school athletic contest.

Unlike you, there are "others" who have paid the same amount of money and spent the same amount of time standing in line and sitting on uncomfortable bleachers, who do not see their money spent as a privilege.

These "others" believe that the money they pay to attend an event gives them the right to make fun of and ridicule the players, the cheerleaders, the coaches, the officials, the long lines, the school, the principal, ad nauseum. Some of these "others" do not even have a child playing in the game.

Then there are some "others" who are reliving athletic glory of days gone by, both real and imagined. And still "others" who, by sitting on the couch watching pro and college football, believe they know more about the high school game, the talent and skill level of the kids out on the field or court, and more about the emotional, physical and mental clock that is ticking at the center of the average high school student.

As a school system athletic director the past year, I have had the extreme pleasure of traveling to every high school in my county.

I have sat in the bleachers at each stadium and gym and watched players stretch out for that extra yard.

I have watched for kill shots and three-pointers in each of these gyms.

I have watched grounders being scooped up and thrown to first.

The overhead smash is a thing of beauty, and I have watched the speed of the 4 x 400 relay.

Through each of those experiences, I have overheard complaints about the team, coaching, play calling, officiating, or something else. I am convinced that we have to increase our emphasis on sportsmanship.

Hardly a week goes by without a headline about an incident involving athletics. I call upon you as coaches, teachers, adults, and fans, who attend and support high school athletics, to think about why you do it.

Do you attend the games so that you can yell at a child who is playing in the game and yet not doing what the coach wants him/her to do?

Do you attend the games so that you can constantly question the coaching game plan and belittle the hard work that goes into the preparation of each game by the coaches?

Or do you go to laugh at the play of an overwhelmed opponent and the cheerleaders, or get into verbal confrontations with the visiting players?

There are many factors that go into a team's win/loss record. As adults and fans we have to realize that every player on each team goes out and tries to do his/her best.

Sometimes, however, that desire and effort won't be enough and the team will lose the game. As a fan, you have to realize that the everyday emotional stress that a teenager experiences can have a tremendous impact on his/her performance in a game.

The break-up of a relationship, the peer pressure to fit in a certain group, the poor performance on a math exam, and a myriad of other daily issues can hinder a student athlete's performance in practice and games.

Now is the time to help your school to bring sportsmanship and civility back into focus at athletic events.

Now is the time to enjoy the game for what it is, a game.

Now is the time to realize that the student athlete is doing the best he/she can.

Now is the time to cheer for your team and show respect for the visiting team.

Now is the time for a change in the belief that "when I am shown respect, I will give respect."

As adults, you can change this false ideology and return to giving others respect even though they may not earn it.

This is the right thing to do. Somehow in our society, the Golden Rule has been distorted to, "As others do onto me, I shall do onto them."

Now is the time to set the example for your children and the children of others. It is much easier to criticize than it is to be constructive.

Now is the time to take the harder path and be constructive in your comments.

Now is the time to consider what will improve your school's sports programs.

Now is the time to stand tall and be proud of the school you represent.

Now is the time to wear the colors that the team wears in its contests.

Now is the time to bring back sportsmanship and civility to High School sports, to lead other counties by our example that there is victory with honor.

Let us believe that we can bring back sportsmanship to our schools and embed that idea into our children. Once we believe we can bring back sportsmanship and civility, we can then put those beliefs into action.

Now is the time to challenge our society's lack of sportsmanship and do what is right.

By Dr. Donald Knox

Rowan/Salisbury (NC) System Athletic Director