Our son is showing signs of being an outstanding athlete. As a sophomore, he made the all-state team in basketball. He is looking forward to playing basketball in college and even earning an athletic scholarship. I don't think this will ever happen, because he is not a good student and has poor grades. The problem is that he never listens to me. How can I convince him that he needs better grades to fulfill his dream? - No Dreamer
Answer: Poor grades might well interfere with your son fulfilling his dream. At the same time, you need to realize that he is making sufficiently good grades to let him play on the high-school team, which might be high enough for him to be eligible to play basketball right away in college.
While your son might not listen to you, he will believe information from the National Collegiate Athletic Association about what it takes to be eligible to play sports in college as a freshman. Have him go online to the organization's Web site at www.ncaa.org and read the section on academics and athletes. It will spell out precisely what grades and also what SAT or ACT scores he needs to have in order to compete right away on the college level at a Division One or Two school. He also needs to look at the list of high-school core courses that he must take, as they also affect his eligibility to play as a freshman. He should definitely find out if he is taking the right courses before school begins again. For example, he will need to have three years of math starting with algebra. On the NCAA Web site, your son should also look at information about college recruiting, financial aid and all the rules and regulations that have to be followed to be eligible to participate in college sports.
If your son can't get good grades and play sports in high school, it probably spells problems in college. It wouldn't hurt to point out that college coaches don't want to give scholarships to players who are likely to be placed on academic probation and unable to play.
This summer is a good time to consider why your son is having problems in school. Is it a question of time management or poor academic skills? If it is time management, he needs to learn how to budget his time. If he is weak in basic skills, now is a good time to improve them. In either case, a tutor, learning center or summer-school program could be the answer.