{"id":3181,"date":"2015-12-23T16:02:51","date_gmt":"2015-12-23T21:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=3181"},"modified":"2015-12-23T16:02:51","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T21:02:51","slug":"whats-in-ranking-a-youth-athlete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/whats-in-ranking-a-youth-athlete\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s In Ranking A Youth Athlete? The Loss of Self, That’s What."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By: Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog<\/strong>
\n Follow Me on Twitter: @GridironStuds<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have three children and anyone who knows me knows I love them with all my heart. \u00a0When they were young and all at home, \u00a0I wonder if ranking them on a daily or monthly basis would have helped get more things done, earn better grades or achieve more in their chosen sports. \u00a0Could you imagine? \u00a0One big grease board in the kitchen with the current rankings of the Top 3 kids as of so and so date.<\/p>\n

I think we all know how that would’ve gone. \u00a0Surely there would have been arguments with the wife over who should be ranked where and what married couple is striving for more arguments? \u00a0I can also imagine the back stabbing and sabotage that may have gone on to grab that #1 spot. \u00a0We may have well raised three full on Donnie Brasco’s if that grease board would have been the play in our household. \u00a0This is not even to mention the destruction of psyche, \u00a0future adulthood problems and social ineptitude that would have developed from such a system imposed on impressionable minors. \u00a0You can also forget about the whole family \/ team dynamic being built, \u00a0that’s out the window. \u00a0Yea, the top ranked kids idea would not have been an idea that benefitted from escape out of\u00a0the deep corners of the mind.<\/p>\n

While ranking your offspring does not appear to be a good idea, \u00a0at some point, \u00a0ranking youth football players appeared to be an interesting thing to do. \u00a0Seems like fun right? \u00a0The high schools do it. The colleges do it. \u00a0The pros do it so why not do it with the youth players? \u00a0Why not recognize those who are really getting it done on the field? \u00a0See the first two paragraphs of this story. \u00a0Not everything done at the adolescent and adult levels need to be passed down to the youngsters. \u00a0They may look like titans and little men in their uniforms running around impersonating their favorite Sunday afternoon stars but the truth of the matter is they are soft pieces of Play Doh still being formed into their eventual shapes. \u00a0 Have you ever seen what happens to Play Doh when it ends up in the wrong hands? \u00a0The Good Lord knows I have.<\/p>\n

Young football players may know where the 4 hole is, they may understand what it is to buzz to the flats or even kick out on the end man on the line of scrimmage. \u00a0However, \u00a0the real nuts and bolt of the game of football are not adequately installed in youth football players nor are they properly uploaded to the servers of many high schoolers. \u00a0Rankings distort the team dynamic, \u00a0which in my opinion, \u00a0is the single best lesson football teaches our youngsters. \u00a0This game is about playing for the guy next to you, \u00a0sacrificing for the greater good and working towards a common goal. \u00a0Once individual awards become the focus, \u00a0those principals begin their rapid decline. \u00a0For the young individual achieving them, \u00a0the burden is now placed upon them. \u00a0What happens when you are ranked first this year but fourth next year because you had less carries? \u00a0When does junior or rather dad flip out on the coach?<\/p>\n

I am never one to stop the enterprise of an entrepreneur. \u00a0It seems ranking youth football players is a worthy financial endeavor. \u00a0So the preverbal toothpaste is out of the tube. \u00a0Whit that being the case, \u00a0what do the parents and adults in the lives of youth football players need to do to avoid mental disaster for our new generation of gridiron studs<\/a>? \u00a0Business will be business and ideas move at the speed of light. \u00a0As parents you must now adjust at the speed of light. \u00a0You can’t be that parent telling your child you don’t want him looking at dirty magazines in the store when Porn Hub has a\u00a0cookie stored on millions of teen phones worldwide.<\/p>\n

Parents must keep their kids grounded. \u00a0Your #1 ranked class of 2022 running back must still take out the trash, do his homework and get to practice on time. \u00a0He still should dress like his teammates, warm up with his teammates and not seek special treatment. \u00a0Your top 100 class of 2042 defensive end needs to double down on his studies and face harsher penalties for any retreat in his academic status. \u00a0If you are doing this right, \u00a0your child achieving that ranking should impose greater pressures but not on the field, \u00a0off the field. \u00a0If you want this ranking to be a positive mental tool, \u00a0then use it to ask junior to achieve more away from the gridiron. \u00a0Along with improving academically, \u00a0be at church every Sunday and if that is given, \u00a0be on time more often and be harsher on him than before for being late. \u00a0Use his new ranking status as reason for him to do more community service. \u00a0The message should be well, \u00a0you are ranked now so more eyes are on you. \u00a0Build yourself up into the little man you need to be and that has nothing to do with making a run stuffing tackle on 4th and 1. \u00a0Ultimately, \u00a0the ranked young man’s identity can not be wrapped up in his football status. \u00a0This sounds obvious but it can easily happen.<\/p>\n

There’s a swell of pride in parents when their child is recognized for being exceptional. \u00a0Kids hear their parents speaking to others about them. \u00a0If being highly ranked becomes the lone topic for discussion when parents are around friends and family members then youngsters start to equate their entire worth around their football abilities. \u00a0 As much as parents don’t want to realize this, \u00a0the superior football abilities of a youth football player can quickly erode as they travel into adolescence. \u00a0If all the top ranked youngster has been was a recognized football star then what’s his mental state when he’s not the #1 ranked high school player or dominant prep player? \u00a0As parents and adults we must guard against this with our entire being because the repercussions can be tragic.<\/p>\n

Young minds are still forming and we’ve all seen what has happened to the youth and teenaged Hollywood stars. \u00a0Before youngsters have figured out how life works and how they operate they are being told they are the best at something and everyone else is beneath them. \u00a0That’s a lot of pressure for an adult, \u00a0let alone an individual missing a pair of front teeth. \u00a0Rankings aren’t going away so the parents of Top 10 kids better display #1 type management skills. \u00a0Can I get a Amen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Chad Wilson – Editor GridironStuds Blog Follow Me on Twitter: @GridironStuds I have three children and anyone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-youth-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181","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=3181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}