"Katy," one of the best students I have ever taught, just did not want to participate in our discussion on the Election of 1828, today. Even when she's not "into" the discussion, she usually has something witty or constructive to add to the discussion, but today she pretty much fell asleep on her desk.
I stopped her after class and asked her what was wrong. She was exhausted. They had played in a softball tournament this past weekend, and her team was knocked out at midnight, but her sister's team made it to the championship game which started at 3am.
This was yet another story I've had in the last year of students who have been pushed so hard in sports that they are losing out on their education.
I have to wonder.....are we pushing our kids too hard? And for what purpose?
"Abe" is an amazing student who did a documentary on a Civil Rights Icon that won a National History Day competition a while back. I remember when we started on the projects, he was out for a while and had to catch up. He had been out with a concussion from football. He was a big, burly 8th Grader, and the coaches had him working out with the High Schools and are looking at trying to get him starting varsity next year. Abe told me that he wasn't sure if he'd be able to go to Maryland for the National Competition because they are starting workouts for the fall. Of course, the workouts are "voluntary," and they last 3 hours every night after school, 5 - 8 pm.
A parent told me about her 18 year old son who, during baseball season, goes in to school at 6am to stretch and work out, and she doesn't see him again until 9 at night. Every day. For three months. It gets better after the season is over, though, then he only works out until 9 three days a week.
There is a 2 hour limit on practice every night for Middle School students in my district. Yet, these students are practicing every night for 4+ hours. How? Well, the first hour, the coach isn't there, so it's not "practice," it's just "warm-ups." Then, the coach leaves after two hours and the oldest students finish "cool downs."
Before I'm accused of being a stick-in-the-mud, I played sports in Middle School, High School, AND College. I worked my butt off to be starting varsity in High School in three sports, and I was a champion Fencer in college. There were some sacrifices, but in school, I was never home later than 6, except game nights, and only one night through the week was a game night. (The other on Friday nights) You were not only expected to practice in the exact parameters set out, but you were expected to have a "C" or higher in every class.
Every year, in 8th Grade, we start discussing with students ideas for what they could do when they grow up. Every year, on the list of career fields, I have about 5 or 6 students who want to know why "NFL Player" or "NBA Player" isn't on the list. Of course, we don't want to shoot them down, but we want them to have a "back-up plan" and 1 or 2 insist, "Nope...I'm going to play in the NFL." (Keep in mind that our city has produced exactly 1 home-grown child that went to play professional sports in the last 40 years.)
I've written to my school board member to try to start a discussion about over-loading our students on sports, but I'm not sure how it will work out. I would love to hear your ideas below.