{"id":886,"date":"2010-08-05T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nsr-inc.com\/\/?p=886"},"modified":"2010-08-05T08:00:17","modified_gmt":"2010-08-05T14:00:17","slug":"the-athletic-academic-connection-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/the-athletic-academic-connection-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Athletic-Academic Connection: Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peer Pressure Can Erode Academic Focus, Unless You Are in a Supportive Group.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In this, the fourth and final installment of our Athletic-Academic series, we examine how student-athletes can overcome peer pressure to achieve stellar grades.<\/p>\n

High school student-athletes aspiring to play at the college level face a tough gauntlet of obstacles to overcome.\u00a0 With all the distractions available to them, being an accomplished athlete while maintaining good grades and remaining socially active can be pressure-packed.\u00a0 Priorities can get skewed along the way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Who you hang with now influences your future.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of all the distractions they encounter, however, peer pressure may be the hardest to safely maneuver around.\u00a0 Parental involvement is of course essential, but if the kid has the \u201cpower\u201d in the family, putting friendships on the table as a bargaining chip for academic gains will only happen if the kid sees and understands the potential benefits involved.<\/p>\n

So, let’s have some straight talk:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0 Unless your parents have enough money to pay\u00a0cash for your college education, the bill will most likely fall on you.\u00a0\u00a0It’s a lot of money.\u00a0 Maybe not today, but\u00a0sooner or later, you will be the one paying for your college education.\u00a0 Think about\u00a0it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2) The higher your grades and standardized test scores (SAT or ACT),\u00a0particularly in your core classes, the\u00a0more\u00a0free academic money you will earn to pay for your college.\u00a0 And good performance in the classroom is exactly like sports.\u00a0 The more your prepare, the better you will be when crunch time arrives.\u00a0 Putting in the work every day is the smart way to prepare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3) Your competitive athletic career will end\u00a0in a few years.\u00a0 You will be employed for\u00a0about forty years.\u00a0 With that in mind, which of the two areas, athletic or academic,\u00a0deserves\u00a0most of your attention now?\u00a0 When the crowd applause and the adrenalin rushes end, you will be left with one thing – your education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4) Allowing your friends to disturb or distract you\u00a0from studying is\u00a0the same as your parents walking\u00a0in during a practice session and talking to you about about taking out the garbage.\u00a0 It can wait.\u00a0 At that moment, you have more important things to do.\u00a0 Your friends will get the point.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

5) How much\u00a0time do you spend each week practicing your sport?\u00a0 If you put half that amount of time\u00a0into your studies, you could earn\u00a0twice as much\u00a0academic money as athletic scholarship dollars for college.\u00a0 That’s one heck of a return on your investment.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0Turn off your phone while studying.\u00a0\u00a0There is nothing your friends need to tell you which is more important than the money you will earn from getting A’s and B’s your core classes.\u00a0 They can wait.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

7) If your friends give you a hard time about studying instead of\u00a0returning their texts for two hours a night, tell them to:\u00a0 A)\u00a0get a life, B) agree in writing to pay for your college education and you’ll be happy to answer their texts.<\/p>\n

8) In a matter of a few\u00a0years,\u00a0the extent of your athletic career will be watching from the stands.\u00a0 If you\u00a0earn a good education, you\u00a0should be able \u00a0afford better seats.\u00a0 Simplistic?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 But it’s the truth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9) A good way to get your parents off you back about grades is to take full responsibility for your academics.\u00a0 Make a plan for studying at home every night.\u00a0 Work the plan.\u00a0 Produce the grades.\u00a0 If you do these things, the noise coming from your parents about grades will end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

10) Smart people aren’t nerds, geeks or stuffs.\u00a0 Smart people are just smart.\u00a0 They’ve figured out that in less than ten years, they will have to be earning a living in the real world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

All that said, there are very good peer groups as well.\u00a0 These groups are academically competitive and they set up<\/a> academic alliances to help one another get better grades.\u00a0 Good things\u00a0come of this type of association with others.\u00a0 They focus their attention, and time, on doing something productive which will pay huge dividends for themselves over time.\u00a0\u00a0Their careers will get off to faster starts.\u00a0 They will be asked to get involved in very interesting things with very interesting people.\u00a0 They will understand better how the world works as a whole instead of having a myopic view of things.\u00a0 And, they will be able to enjoy the better things which life has to\u00a0offer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peers can be helpful or harmful.\u00a0 It takes a mature person to see the difference and to make the right decision about which peers are the best life choices to make.\u00a0 Life choice?\u00a0 Yes, because your\u00a0life is in the balance.\u00a0 When you look back someday, you will either be\u00a0proud or embarrassed about the choices you made at this\u00a0stage of your life.\u00a0\u00a0They may not seem significant to you now, but they will have a definitive influence on the options\u00a0available to you in your future.\u00a0 Consider your choices carefully.\u00a0 Look ahead.\u00a0 See yourself five, ten, twenty years from\u00a0today.\u00a0 Where do you want to be?\u00a0 What\u00a0type of people do you want to be associated with then?\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0answers should be\u00a0 clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peer Pressure Can Erode Academic Focus, Unless You Are in a Supportive Group. In this, the fourth and final installment of our Athletic-Academic series, we examine how student-athletes can overcome peer pressure to achieve stellar grades. High school student-athletes aspiring to play at the college level face a tough gauntlet of obstacles to overcome.\u00a0 With … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}