So you want to be a sports star
What do you want to be when you grow up? An All Black, an Olympian, a rock star, a world champion in some other field?
It is wise to look at the percentages and see what the odds of achieving such lofty heights in your chosen field are.
Let’s use the sport of rugby as an example. There are 116,000 people who play rugby every weekend in New Zealand. How many of those will eventually play for the All Blacks?
There are fifteen players in a rugby team plus reserves. I think you should look at the mathematics and ask yourself “What chance have I got of playing for the All Blacks based on these numbers?”
That is not to say you should not aim high but rather you should have a backup plan, one which involves gaining an education of some kind. The life of an All Black or any sports star is a very short one, therefore having something to fall back on is going to prove very helpful to you.
If you are at High School and are contemplating your future, playing professional sport is no substitute for getting a good education.
The life of a professional sports player is very short and having something to fall back on is important. One of my ancestors said, “Always have another string to your bow.” She was good at art but she was better known as the “Aunt who was a nurse.” Some artists do make money from their talent but there is no guarantee that a particular artist will be the next Banksie, though thousands hope to.
Life is like a pyramid, at the top there are those who have reached the peak of their chosen sport or career, and the further down the pyramid you go the more people there are. Using New Zealand rugby as an example; At the elite level are the All Blacks, these are the players who play for New Zealand. Next level down is the Super rugby, there are five teams in Super rugby, next level down is the National Provincial Champs which have more teams and participating players. Further down at ground floor level or as it is called in New Zealand “Grass roots level,” you will have the most participating players.
Those youngsters who desire to be a sports star need to have some kind of backup plan because the life of a professional sportsman is rather short.
To put it in plain language; “Having some career outside of sport will be an advantage to you.”
This involves education and upskilling of some kind. Gaining qualifications at school will provide the platform for further learning after you leave school.
Learning does not end when you leave high school, it is a lifelong process.
As technology advances, your IT skills must keep up with this technology.
When I was at school the talk was always about getting a job. I never had a specific job in mind about the type of job I may be interested in. I did have some far flung dreams about being a harness racing driver but there was never a plan in place as to how I was going to achieve that goal so it just became a daydream rather than a serious career intention.
The one mistake that a high school student makes is to not make any kind of plans for the future; a school teacher cannot do it for you, he or she can only advise their students of options available to them and they can only do that once they know what your interests are.
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