COUNSELING AND CONSULTATION
ASSOCIATESCOUNSELING AND CONSULTATION
ASSOCIATES
Phillip L. Blansett,
Ph.D
Stephanie S. Blansett,
R.N., C.
2176 North Mount Juliet
Road, Suite 201
Mount Juliet, Tennessee
37122-3070
(615)
758-7568
Website:
http://users.datarealm.com/Blansett
Email:
Blansett@mail.datarealm.com
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When the Cheering Stops...
When The Cheering Stops.....................
What Happens When Star Youth Athletes are not chosen for a Select, Junior High, High School or College Team. Or when a Star Youth Athlete is so injured in a game that his career comes suddenly to an end?
For some, it begins even before they start school. It happens in community leagues, on public and private courts, on soccer fields, swimming pools and balance beams. Everywhere, children are finding out that they can perform an athletic feat, and when they do, peers, parents and other significant adults praise them. As they get older, little boys and little girls in elementary schools boast of the fact that "I'm the fastest kid in my class" or, "I'm always picked as Striker, or goalie, on my soccer team."
Once these young athletes reach adolescence, the field thins --- only a small percentage of those who played Little League or Recreational Soccer with them are now their teammates --- but they continue to do well in sports and continue to receive praise and recognition. Visions of being the next Alexi Lalis, Michael Jordan, Ken Griffey, Jr., Troy Aikman or John Harkes dance in their heads. On the streets, people wish them well in Saturday's big game and offer advice on handling their opponent's best player. No one wishes them well on next week's chemistry exam and any talk about college revolves around an athletic scholarship, not an academic major.
This is often the typical experience of many, although certainly not all, student athletes. Their self-esteem and identity are tied to their athletic accomplishments and with each new accomplishment comes new, higher expectations --- both internally and externally-- imposed.
If they are fortunate enough to make a high school or college team, they begin to see that almost every player on the team was his or her select or high school's leading scorer.
We offer and provide specific guidance for the young athlete and their parents that addresses their unique personal, academic and vocational needs. This service is candidly referred to as Shattering the Myths and Sharing the Realities. We provide a comprehensive developmental counseling program that encompasses values clarification, peer relationships, self-awareness, self-concept, coping strategies, stress management, decision making, interpersonal skills, goal setting and time management. We offer workshops for coaches, parents, teachers and others who affect the student athlete's identity.
But perhaps one of the most important things that we do is to provide the reality check that few others will. Many coaches don't want to distract their star athlete who is focused on winning, but maybe little else. Parents enjoy having their child lead the team to victory and the community likes the attention a winning team brings to its town or school.
Once these young athletes reach adolescence, the field thins --- only a small percentage of those who played Little League or Recreational Soccer with them are now their teammates
Reality check: Only 2.6% of all high school senior basketball
players will play college basketball and only half of those will
receive an athletic scholarship.
We are concerned with the psychosocial development of the person.
We focus on the transitions from Junior High School to High
School to College to the athlete's professional life and the
career decision making, academic problems, behavioral and peer
problems that are associated with those transitions of human
development.
Specifically, Student athletes (and their parents) may need
counseling to help them cope with success or lack of success,
identity conflict, social isolation, exploitation, alcohol and
drugs, stress and burnout, poor athletic performance, academic
and vocational concerns, and transition and retirement concerns.
Be on the alert for the player who is not chosen for a select
team, or an Olympic Development Team, or a high school team, or
who IS chosen but is shuttled from lead scorer to bench sitter.
Many exceptional middle and high school athletes are used to
being the best player in the game, although even that feeling is
diminishing with the increased participation in elite, select,
invitation-only teams and camps and soccer Olympic Development
Teams. If they are fortunate enough to make a high school or
college team, they begin to see that almost every player on the
team was his or her select or high school's leading scorer. Where
they once were their high school coach's favorite "go to" player,
they now wonder how big the lead has to get before their college
coach will trust them to go in at all.
Youngsters begin to identify themselves as athletes through
feedback from parents, coaches and peers, but few are talking to
them about being a student and telling them that they will need
academics to carry on in life. These young people foreclose their
identity very early in life and it gets reinforced by others so
that their only self-concept is that of the athletic world.
Be on the alert for the player who is not chosen for a select
team, or for an Olympic Development Team, or for a high school
team, or who is shuttled from lead scorer to bench sitter. See
that that player receives counseling help before depression, low
self-esteem, or dejection gains an entrenched hold on one whom
you love.
Children suffer from depression and low self esteem, just as
adults do. In fact, often adult depression can be traced directly
to such events as has been covered in this newsletter. Help get
such a child the help he or she needs. Counseling is not the
admission of failure in parenting, or weakness in character. It
is the recognition of responsible caring and nurturing for
someone in need.
Visiting The Rules Once More...
Our last few issues have dealt with the issue of rules, rule
keeping, Parenting, and education. Many of us jealously guard our
independence. We treasure that which is found only in our
country: the guarentee of individual rights as long as our
actions do not adversely affect others. Some, unfortunately,
guard their independance to the absurd degree: showing a
willingness to put others, even their own children, at risk in
order to avoid changing their own behavior.
Unanchored soccer goals are deadly. Adolescent boy athletes
wearing
boxers instead of briefs or athletic supporters are placed at
risk of childless marriages by parents unwilling to parent,
yielding instead, to peer pressure.
For more information call: (615) 758-7568
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