I have 4 boys in my family that wanted to become professional athletes then they were in grade school. Three of them neglected academic. Two of them were anatomically not correct for football or basketball: too short and small with no history of sport achievement in the family. Two of the boys were adopted. Both of them had fathers that were Ohio State football players. They have the genetics but was something missing. They are now in their twenties and neither one of them became football players.
Both of my nephews squandered their public school opportunity. Chris wanted to be a Architect. He was expelled from the local community college. Josh became a mountain climber. When they were in public school there father was on the school board and their mother was a Math teacher.
I knew when the boys were obsessed with sports that the probability of them being able to be professional and prospering was a low. Josh, the mountain climber travels with his personals on his back and lives in a tent. Of the four boys, they is only one that took education seriously.
I saw it unfolding and had no influence in effectively stopping what was about to happen. When sports have a high priority, then the long term consequences can be devastating. Give sports a low priority.
