By KJ DELL’ANTONIA SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 5:45 AM
Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Parents investing large amounts of time and money in their athletic offspring with the belief that they’re nurturing a possible professional player should take note: Odds are, you’re wrong.
But you’re not alone. An astonishing 26 percent of parents with high-school-age children who play sports hope their child will become a professional athlete one day, according to a recent pollfrom NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The percentages are even greater among less-educated and lower-income parents: 44 percent of parents with a high school education or less and 39 percent of parents with a household income of less than $50,000 a year are dreaming of the bigs and the majors for their kids.
Those parents are deluding themselves, and possibly cheating their children out of other opportunities if they are demanding a single-minded approach to the game. The National Collegiate Athletic Association puts the real odds right up front on its website, and they’re nowhere near one in four. For baseball, only a little more than half of 1 percent of high school players who go on to play in college will be drafted by Major League Baseball (0.6 percent), and even of those, most will not ever play in the majors — only about 17 percent of draft picks play in even a single big league game. That means only about 1 in 1,000 baseball players who play in high school ever gets a chance in make it big — and the odds of becoming a real star are even smaller.
And that’s baseball. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the odds of going from high school play and then college to become a professional baseball player are higher than those in football, men’s or women’s basketball, or men’s soccer. (The percentages for men’s ice hockey are similar to those for baseball.) Of that 26 percent of hopeful baseball parents, to stick to that example, about 98 percent will be disappointed.
They can look at all their trophy ( some for just showing up ) and then when they grow up they can come to Ridgewood and join the RBA.
That’s why it is so important to expose all kids to sports other than baseball, basketball, football , lacrosse and soccer. You can participate in tennis, swimming and golf for a lot longer., generally speaking.
WHAT, my child will not be a pro,you must be kidding.
Yes, sports but also music, piano , guitar , you name it . It is more likely that your kid will take pride and joy in being able to hobble out his favorite melodies as an adult than he will looking for a team to play his old sport with.
How many former sports kids who only did sports as a kid are now blister bellies as adults.
Physical fitness as an adult is not hard to attain by a walk or jog and some resistance work.;
The real reason we are obese is because we are dissatisfied and use food , fats and sweets , to satisfy a hunger of the soul or a creative hunger.
Having art or music to unwind is truly satisfying and keeps your weight down.
The emphasis on so much team sports for kids supervised by adults will not necessarily prove to be satisfying when they become adults and find themselves empty.
Nothing is as satisfying as being able to actually play music, not just listen or watch it; or draw or paint,.
Parents are more concerned about athletics than academics. They spend precious time and money chasing college recruiting. Summers travelling up and down the east coast hoping to catch the eye os a college coach.
Chill. Let your kids grow and experience new things and meet new people. Real stars are recruited early. The rest of you are desperate.
I saw a professional video on youtube showing clips a freshman lax player. The rolling text gave his statistics and freshman year classes and gpa. They should save their money for college. It was shameless selling of a child.
Hey 6:35 stop preaching ignorance from your keyboard and look around. My kids played sports year round (club, rec and school) because they wanted to, enjoyed music in various forms, volunteered and were honor students every year. They were self motivated, and yes they are gainfully employed. Here’s a real shocker for you – they were more the rule than the exception. Are you even aware of the GPAs of those who participate or excel in extra curricular sports and activities?!?! You should stop the BS generalities, especially if “professional videos” on youtube are the only sources you can cite. Talk about desperate.
BS generalities are in your post. Yes, sports kids do other things. I do not know of any boys on the no cut football or no cut lacrosse teams who are musically inclined. In elementary school and middle school music is required, don’t count that. How many are actual musicians? Try talking to them.
Most are chasing the dream (and the parents dream) that colleges want them. At the big football schools these renaissance men are offered special classes. Many don’t graduate.
Parents need validation of all the time and money they spent. They need to believe that their kid is great even though the coach doesn’t play him and the team is mediocre. A couple will get to play in college but not for big scholarships. They become full time employees of the sports program.