What does it worth?

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Playing sports for a college? Interesting read and I talked to a swimmer from Tennessee who just got a job on NE Ohio and she talked about how athletics opened doors for her.
Enjoy the Journey ladies.

Athletic Scholarships Carry More Benefits Besides A College Degree

take advantage of all opportunities.

 

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Great point, Mike! I actually do a lot of college recruiting for my company, and I have to concur. Perhaps because my DD was a student-athlete, I have always had a special appreciation for candidates who have successfully balanced academics and athletics. I know how hard they had to work to be successful at both. My love of sports in general usually results in an interview that gets off the ground easily, and gets their foot half in the door. A couple of my best recruits ever have been college athletes who didn't have quite as high of GPA's as some of their counterparts, but who still did well enough while working hard to overachieve as athletes and/or leaders of their teams. My only problem has been that if their sport happened to be softball that we ran out of time talking about that before we got to the rest of the interview ... but they almost always made it to the next round of interviews at least!

 

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DD has made friends/contacts all over the state because of softball and she hasn't even started college ball yet. She is confident enough to talk to anyone about just about anything and it all started in a parent-free dugout. Being able to manage time, long-term committment to team, and throw in the other demands of life (family, work, study, fun) are skills that many kids never learn. It stands to reason that employers would want these young people who have learned leadership from a different perspective.
Thanks to their coaches for the sports education and the parents who cut the kids loose to experience the challenges.

 

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I've had this discussion many times with many different people. There's also this side of it:

FTA:

"My scholarship was not worth the amount of hours," said Morris, now the principal at his own commercial real estate firm in Atlanta. "We were probably working for somewhere between $3 and $5 when you work it out.
"I could have worked at McDonald's and paid my tuition with the money I got."

Even those who think the tradeoff is fair believe players should be getting more than they do. When clothing, transportation and other "miscellaneous" expenses are tallied, the difference between the value of a scholarship and the total cost of an education can be as much as $6,000. Athletes already miss out on part of the college experience because of the time commitments their sports demand.

That doesn't take into account the money that is spent to get them to the level that it takes to get some money for schooling. I had a guy tell me that he spent something like $25.00 for his son to go to tOSU. It was what it cost him to file some form and it may have been more than that. I honestly don't remember. I explained that over the 12 years leading up to it he had spent quite a bit more than that, he insisted though and it's just not worth arguing over so I dropped it. Think about it though. You also bought them all of the equipment, all of your equipment, paid for a Dr. visit, a physical, a uniform, a tournament entry fee, $5.00 to get in and watch, a bottle of water and a walking taco, a tournament t-shirt, a camp, a clinic, a trip through a batting cage, gas in your car, an oil change for your car, new tires on your car. All of that adds up. Quick. Everyone here knows it. What else would we be doing though?

Not long ago my kids decided it would be fun to swap rooms so I helped them switch them up. I remembered something about every award that I picked up and moved. One of them was a 2nd place trophy from an open tournament in Bowling Green back in 2004. On the way home I looked over in the passenger seat and he was staring at it, I turned down the radio and said "what's up, man?" He said "They gave me this thing for winning some wrestling matches, this guy on it is in a bad stance though. Looks like a donkey. I don't think he would win very often." :lmao:

That's good stuff. I knew all along and I still know that is what I was and what I am paying for. I'm glad we did it and I'm glad we are still doing it. I hope I'm able to remember all of that stuff for as long as I'm alive. It doesn't matter to me if they get a couple of bucks for college down the road.

 

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"... That's good stuff. I knew all along and I still know that is what I was and what I am paying for. I'm glad we did it and I'm glad we are still doing it. I hope I'm able to remember all of that stuff for as long as I'm alive. It doesn't matter to me if they get a couple of bucks for college down the road."

I could not agree with you more! Last year oldest DD was given opportunity to play with a team out of Chicago that had a pretty demanding travel schedule. I cannot tell you how many people told me from a "cost standpoint" (i.e. weekly off-season travel between OH and IL for practice/hotel, in-season airfare/hotel and other travel costs, etc...) it would be foolish and a mistake to accept the offer. We went ahead and did it anyway. Now looking back on it all, the things I remember most about that incredible year was the time I spent with my daughter and the things we got to experience together -- seems like it went by at the speed of light! Although it was pretty costly, I would probably pay double just to have one more year like that with her. College athletic scholarships were certainly an important part of why we did what we did. But, if the first thing you are doing is figuring out if you are going to get your money back from your daughter's softball, you are clearly missing the point! You might get some of it back ... less likely you might break even or hit it big with big athletic money!!! But in the end, you will never get that time with your child back. That is guaranteed. Glad to see you are making the most of it shortgame!