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On the TUNNEYSIDE of SPORTS
July 8, 2013 #444 Up next...What can be done?
After further review...The
despicable plight of Aaron Hernandez, erstwhile tight end of the New
England Patriots, has overtaken sports headlines around the country. Too
bad that negative news on athletes supplants the good things so many of
our professional athletes do.
Hernandez, a talented football
star (famously paired with Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots' other Pro Bowl
end), is being held without bail on murder charges. Hernandez allegedly
shot a friend (Odin Lloyd) and disposed of his body in an industrial
park. He is also under investigation for other gun-related crimes in
Massachusetts and Florida. He is said to have expressed a desire to get
married while in solitary confinement. It may be less true love than a
means by which his fiancé wouldn't be compelled to testify.
My intent here is not so much
to focus on Hernandez, but to point out that 3,000 other professional
football players will be starting training camp this month, preparing for
the 2013 season. Each of the 32 NFL teams will bring some 100 elite
athletes to camp, and then carefully select the 53 that will compose the
game roster of each T*E*A*M.
How special is that?
Statistics suggest that there are some 30 felons among those 3,000
prospects, or .01%. Those same 30 distributed among 1,700 who make up the
final rosters pushes the rate to 1.1111%, a more troubling figure. The
NFL has had in place for many years programs to help guide incoming and
present players who are confronted with money and status issues. Further,
athletes have representation committed to their best interests. Yet, that
guidance doesn't always "take".
With the dropout rate in the
American educational system hovering in the 40-50% range, we can't expect
its performance and behavior standards to be universally absorbed. But ethical
and practical guidance does exist for those who can see beyond instant
gratification. Is that what leered Hernandez into dysfunction? Or was it
the seduction of DYKWIAM (Don't You Know Who I am?).
What is most important here is
how to enable our athletes to avoid these potholes. Perhaps a program
called Transformational Coaching, now springing up here on the California
Central Coast, could be of service. TCCC is a program designed to coach
young people from the "inside-out" creating the person from within
in conjunction with improving their God-given athletic skills. If only
this program could have captured Hernandez early on.
Will you teach/coach/parent
your youngster from the inside-out?
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