{"id":2786,"date":"2014-11-24T13:46:02","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T18:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=2786"},"modified":"2014-11-27T08:06:13","modified_gmt":"2014-11-27T13:06:13","slug":"chase-the-offers-or-the-ring-which-is-the-better-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/chase-the-offers-or-the-ring-which-is-the-better-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Chase the Offers or the Ring. Which is the Better Thing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Chad Wilson – Editor – Gridiron Studs Blog<\/strong>
\nTwitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Facebook friend of mine, \u00a0known for bringing up interesting topics of discussion posed a really great one this past Saturday. \u00a0For a parent who’s child is involved in high school athletics, what do you chase offers or rings? \u00a0An interesting question indeed but not nearly as interesting as the answers I read. \u00a0The general consensus from the largely parental participants were to chase the offers. \u00a0Few of those who answered seemed to give much value to the rings which, for those of you who are not aware, \u00a0means a championship.<\/p>\n

What caught me by surprise in reading the responses was the perception most who answered had of a ring. \u00a0Some said, \u00a0rings can be bought at a pawn shop. \u00a0While I am not so green as to see the humor intended by that statement, \u00a0I am not naive enough to miss the lack of value held in the mind of the responder. \u00a0To most parents the ring is a physical possession given to someone who won a game at the end of a tournament. \u00a0Nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

For a team in any sport to end their season as the best of the best, aka champion, \u00a0a lot of things need to happen. \u00a0To chase a ring, \u00a0an athlete has to learn something about sacrifice, discipline, team work, dedication, leadership, bonding, serving, friendship, adversity, respect, honor and a host of other life critical elements. \u00a0If the athlete is paying attention and is engaged, \u00a0everything they need to be successful in life will be found in their journey to the championship. \u00a0Math teaches you numbers, English teaches you communication (or at least it’s supposed to), Science teaches you about the Earth but no subject nor collection of subjects in school will provide you with all the critical elements needed to truly lead a successful life the way athletics does. \u00a0I would dare say that our educational system in this country is set up to teach you what someone out there wants you to learn so you can work for them. \u00a0Athletics teaches you what you NEED to learn so you can lead in life.<\/p>\n

The problem is so many people do not see athletics for what it really is. \u00a0Often times the participants and their parents seek out athletics only to get that one thing they want to get out of it and these days that’s a college scholarship. \u00a0Lost in all of that are the long list of lessons and critical skills I mentioned earlier in this article. \u00a0Your college scholarship and your subsequent degree will not be worth more than the paper it’s printed on if you fail to acquire and master those critical elements I indicated. \u00a0Your degree does not mean you will be a good worker, business owner or professional. \u00a0However, acquiring the skills taught in athletics will most certainly do so.<\/p>\n

I had several job interviews at the end of my playing career which came very early for me. \u00a0I went into those job interviews without my degree (I later earned it when I went back to school). \u00a0Never once did I walk into those job interviews feeling anything less than the best candidate. \u00a0I knew that I had a leg up on the other applicants because my life in athletics\u00a0provided me with all the skills I needed to be a successful asset to the company I was seeking to join. \u00a0I felt this even without degree in hand. \u00a0By no means am I advocating for a young man or woman to avoid obtaining their college degree. \u00a0Quite the contrary. \u00a0However, \u00a0I am saying that a degree without the acquired critical life skills is a failure in disguise. \u00a0I played football for 12 years out of my life and only twice was I on a team that had no chance to win it all. \u00a0I always found myself on a team with a coach and teammates that were chasing excellence. \u00a0To obtain it we were taught to master sacrifice, discipline, team work, dedication, leadership, etc. to win it all. \u00a0 Several times, my teams did win it all and at the end they gave me my ring. \u00a0Guess what that ring was? \u00a0That ring was my degree. \u00a0Guess what I wore on my finger in those job interviews? \u00a0Guess how many times the interviewee asked me about that ring? \u00a0Guess what that discussion allowed me to do? \u00a0It allowed me to tell that decision maker why I would be a great hire. \u00a0I don’t ever remember not getting the job. \u00a0Dead serious. \u00a0I wore the ring to go buy a car, \u00a0buy a house, etc.<\/p>\n

So what am I saying? \u00a0I am saying in life you chase excellence. \u00a0You teach your children to chase excellence. \u00a0As much as you can, \u00a0you want your children to be a part of something special. \u00a0Life is about experiences and anytime you can provide them with that experience, \u00a0you should do it. \u00a0So my answer is chase the ring. \u00a0But what does that mean? \u00a0Does chase the ring mean transfer your kid to the team expected to win it all this year? \u00a0No. Do so if that is the best opportunity for your child to obtain the experience while still being a participant. \u00a0It could also mean to encourage your child to become a leader at his current school that is not a favorite to win it all. \u00a0If the administration and the coach seem willing to make an effort to win, \u00a0then there are important lessons to be learned in pursuing greatness where it does not seem readily apparent. \u00a0Does chase the ring mean leave the championship team on which your son \/ daughter is an active participant or starter because you don’t feel they have enough scholarship offers? \u00a0Absolutely not! \u00a0There is more value in learning the ways to be a champion and attending a lesser prestigious school than developing a selfish attitude with a degree in hand from one of the schools everyone lauds over. \u00a0Remember, \u00a0I sat in a waiting room with other degree holders with a champion’s attitude \/ mindset and got the job. \u00a0Those others didn’t.<\/p>\n

You can’t put a price on some things in life but you can certainly realize it’s benefits. \u00a0Many of the walk-ons that I played with on the University of Miami are extremely successful in what I call their “real lives”. \u00a0 That is the life that comes after the playing is over. \u00a0Most of these walk-ons never stepped on the field for the Hurricanes. \u00a0However, they entered their “real lives’ with the lessons learned in the pursuit of greatness and they are living it every day of their life. \u00a0There’s something to be said for that.<\/p>\n

You can chase offers. \u00a0You can move junior from school to school hoping to line him up for that offer to the top college program in his sport. \u00a0That’s great. \u00a0If he’s a football player, \u00a0he has a .001 chance of playing professionally. \u00a0Hopefully he has a degree but do you really want him sitting in the waiting room of that corporation next to a guy like me who has the upper hand on him on everything that matters. \u00a0That degree is a piece of paper, \u00a0while\u00a0the experience and the skills learned are\u00a0the education that means something.<\/p>\n

You want to chase something? \u00a0Chase excellence. \u00a0Excellence is undefeated. \u00a0Excellence is attractive. \u00a0I have rarely seen a college scholarship worthy kid not get one from a team that was a champion. Now parents may not have agreed with the level of schools offering their child and feel it would have been better elsewhere. \u00a0However, \u00a0too many times, parents and prospects force their way into a school above a prospect’s head only to endure a bad experience. \u00a0What could have happened is learn the ways of a champion, \u00a0sign with the school that wants you, have a good experience, take your shot at a professional athletic career, \u00a0then go excel at whatever you choose in life after that. \u00a0The true lessons of athletics and chasing greatness last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

Someone forward this article to Lebron James please.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chad Wilson – Editor – Gridiron Studs Blog Twitter: @GridironStuds A Facebook friend of mine, \u00a0known for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}