2 Unexpected Lessons You Learn From Collegiate Athletics

Sure you learn how to hit a slider, get a mid-range jump shot, and block down field, but there’s countless other things you learn from playing a sport at the college level. There are countless articles out there detailing how you learn teamwork and a variety of other cliché responses. This is not one of those posts.

If you’re in search of tried and true then you’ve stumbled across the wrong article because here are 2 unexpected lessons you learn from playing collegiate sports:

Perseverance

Whether you’ve had to wait patiently for an upper classmen to graduate, overcome an injury or merely get out of a week-long slump chances are you’ve had to persevere.

Many college athletes grow up being the best Little League players, the best high school players; their shelves adorned with trophies, but at some point you realize that life isn’t that easy and it’s not about seeing how many trophies you can accumulate. Rocky said, “It’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward,” and that’s what the real world is like. That’s what you can learn playing a college sport.

There will always be setbacks, but it’s how you react to that adversity both on the field and in life that matters.

Time Management

It’s hard for people that have never played a sport to understand, but it’s usually safe to say that college athletes invest more time in their sport than most people working a full-time job. Usually you’re finishing your morning weight room sessions or your first practice about the time most college students are waking up. You might have classes from 8-12, and have time for a quick lunch before you have to be on the field, court, etc. by 1:30. You will practice until 5:30, shower, eat dinner and then start in on homework. This is before traveling, missing classes, and make up work ever begins.

This is also before your social life ever starts, and what fun is college without some semblance of a social life, right? The point is that while the adjustment is hard for many young student athletes, at some point you learn that you have to focus and utilize any windows of down-time to get work done.

I once played with a guy who went out every week night and still made great grades. When I asked him how he accomplished this he explained that when he had 15 minutes here and there or got to class a few minutes early he used that time to do homework instead of check his Facebook status or visit with classmates.

You’ll inevitably find a routine that works for you as well, and when you do you’ll be significantly more polished than your peers when you have to get that important document out in the 15 minutes you have in between that weekly meeting and the importance conference call with potential client X.

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The thing is there are way more than 2 unexpected lessons you can learn from playing collegiate sports (or any sports for that matter), but I just wanted to jump start the conversation. Use the comments section and share with us what lessons you’ve learned from playing sports (aside from teamwork of course, we’ve seen that one enough).

3 Advantages a Small School Has Over a D1 for Collegiate Athletes

By now you’ve probably seen one of the NCAA’s commercials about college athletes going pro in something other than sports. It’s a tough reality for many collegiate athletes to grasp, but what about the significant number of high school athletes that think they will land a D1 scholarship?

Once upon a time I was going to be the starting shortstop for Texas A&M and after we won National Title I’d lead the Atlanta Braves to a handful of World Series. Aren’t we cute when we’re kids?

By the time I was a junior in high school I realized that Texas A&M was unlikely and I started accepting the notion that I would either be a role player/walk-on as a freshman at a D1 school or someone with a chance to start at a smaller university.

For many athletes that is a tough pill to swallow. Chances are you have invested 10-12 years in honing your craft, and most good athletes have some semblance of ego, which can often translate to a delicate pridefulness; however, what most need to realize (left-handed pitchers throwing 95mph need not read beyond this point) is that going to a small school doesn’t have to be a reluctant alternative. It can be the destination. Here’s why:

More Playing Time & Ability to Develop

It’s tough to make the transition from Great White to gold fish. Hitting .500 your senior year to shagging balls, carrying equipment and taking cuts with the 3rd string if there’s any time left at the end of BP can be a discouraging experience for many young athletes. It’s unfortunate, but it’s often the way the system works. Maybe you never overcome that transition, or maybe your skills begin to dull because you have trouble finding time (or discipline) to get in the cage on your own time.

There are tons of talented athletes that just get lost in the shuffle. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you work your tail off and you think you have finally earned a starting spot as an upper classmen when the freshman phenom inks a full ride to your school.

What if you attended a D2, D3, NAIA, JUCO?

Now the chances that you enter an environment where you can legitimately compete for a starting job is significantly higher. Now maybe you platoon your freshman year and start your entire sophomore campaign. Now you’re not a leper only good for carrying equipment, but you’re someone the coaches invest time in helping get better because you are contributing right off the bat.

At a smaller school you’d be a shark, and if you have a Great White-worthy season you can always transfer to that school of your dreams. Chances are they’ll call you.

Smaller classes equals more face time with professors and more personal attention

Being a college athlete is, despite what others may tell you, more than just playing your sport. It’s about being a student first. How many athletes kick off their freshman campaign in Biology 101 with 600 students in an auditorium? Most people don’t realize how hard it is to maintain solid grades when you’re at practice before most people wake up and then the second you get out of class until dinner. That’s before road trips ever start.

In a class of hundreds your teacher doesn’t know you exist, and if they do, they’re hard pressed to find any personal time for you. You might get some face time with a graduate teaching assistant if you’re lucky. This isn’t an environment conducive to making great grades, and you need to do well in school to ensure you’re eligible to play.

Smaller classes enable you to get to know your professors. They enable you to ask questions in class and have them answered. It’s easier to get to know the people in your class for homework help and study groups. Classes at smaller school’s are similar to your high school classes making the transition much easier and giving you the opportunity to succeed out of the gate instead of having to play catch up in the years to come.

Fewer distractions

Let’s fact facts. Bigger schools have more cute co-eds, more parties, and bigger towns with more opportunities to get in trouble. Even students that aren’t athletes often struggle making the adjustment their freshman year attending frat parties on Wednesday, Happy Hour on Thursday, and the campus concert on Friday.

Sure, the smaller universities have plenty of opportunities to get in trouble also, but which town offers more opportunities Austin, Texas or Alpine, Texas (Sul Ross State)? With fewer distractions there’s more time to focus on what you should’ve come to college for in the first place: your studies and your sport.

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There’s nothing wrong with aspiring for D1 dominance, but high school athletes should be aware of all of their options. For every D1 college star there’s countless other student athletes who want to continue playing sports while obtaining a solid education and these are three reasons why a small school can be an awesome destination. I’m sure I missed some other great reasons to please use the comments section to share your own reasons and/or experiences why a small school can be a great option.

Mack Brown: The 5 Million Dollar Man

University of Texas head football coach, Mack Brown recently leapfrogged other prolific coaches Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, John Calipari and national title opposing coach Nick Saban to become the highest paid collegiate coach.

Which begs the question? How much is enough?

In Seth Godin’s newly released ebook, “What Matters Now?” (a great read by the way), writer, speaker and thought-leader Merlin Mann shares his thoughts on enough:

How do you know when you’ve had enough?

Not everything, all the time, completely, forever. Just enough. Enough to start, finish, or simply maintain.

Unfortunately, foodbabies only appear after it’s too late. And, if your satiety’s gauged solely by whether the buffet’s still open, you’re screwed. Like the hypothalamus-damaged rat, you’ll eat until you die.

Before the next buffet trip, consider asking “How do I know what I need to know – just for now?”

Then savor every bite.

UT professors certainly think the salary is ‘unseemly,’ citing it doesn’t make sense with some lecturers, teaching assistants and staffers facing job loss.

It’s a fair criticism I think.

The opposite end of the coin would argue that Mack has helped build the nations’ highest earning athletic department.

“According to university officials, football revenues have quadrupled under Brown, from $21.3 million in 1997 to $87.5 million in 2008,” (ESPN.com)

Others will argue that coaches live and die by their performance, and that it’s easier to rally around a stalwart football program than things like academic research.

This is probably a reasonable juxtaposition.

Back to the question we started with…

How much is enough?

Does Mack Brown need $5 million dollars? Wouldn’t you expect that you could live a pretty luxurious lifestyle on $3 million a year? What kinds of things could you do with the additional money? Is pride a factor? Have you ever envied your neighbor? A fellow classmate who got a higher starting salary?

I’ll leave you with two articles to think about in context with this discussion.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard writes this gem speculating what would happen if LeBron signed somewhere in 2010 for the league minimum. Not only would it generate world-wide buzz, but the team signing LeBron could get at least two other high impact players. If LeBron was saddled with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade is that not a guaranteed NBA title?

And then there’s CEO Derek Sivers who sold his company, CD Baby, to charity. Take a second to read about how he created a charitable trust to benefit music education. He had what most people will never have, enough.

I’ll leave you with this anecdote from another of Sivers’ recent posts, coincidentally entitled ‘enough’:

At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut tells his friend, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history.

Heller said, “Yes, but I have something he will never have: Enough.”

Cy Fair ISD Invitational Tournament

For our second year Key2Sports is participating in the Cy Fair ISD Invitational Wrestling Tournament, located at the Berry Center in Houston, Texas. This year we are expecting over 60 wrestling teams and thousands of participants to attend.

This will be our first year to have partnered with Coach Tim Ray and his team of wrestlers from Cy Ridge High School. Coach Ray’s continued dedication to the development and promotion of high school wrestling is evidenced by the integral role he plays in multiple Texas based tournaments, and his years of committment to the sport, so this is a great opportunity for both of our organizations.

As most people know, all across the country athletic programs have seen increased expenses and reduced budgets. Financial challenges are frequently part of athletics. However, Key2Sports has partenered with the Cy Ridge Ram Wrestling Team to maximize this events profitibility by establishing an event specific website where athletes, coaches, and families can see and pre-order their Official shirt in advance.

The profit from these purchases will go towards meeting the expenses of the Cy Fair ISD tournament and will insure this great competition continues year after year.

Key2Sports strongly recommends that each team look at more conservative alternatives to the speculative purchasing of t-shirts and other products; which is why we created the K2S Program Sites.

In the current economy it is more difficult than ever to project accurate sales volumes so our new program allows teams to offer Official Event Apparel without having to be worried about reduced profits and excess inventory.

To see a sample of a sports specific Program Site, you can visit www.wrestling.k2spiritshop.com.

To see what a school wide Program Site looks like, you can visit www.tigers.k2spiritshop.com.

If you are headed to the tournament, please be sure to stop by. We will be located on the 2nd floor of the Berry Center at the top of the stairs.

If you are a team or organization looking for ways to improve the business side of your program, we hope will contact us because we are the Key2Sports.

Are We Setting Today’s Youth Up to Fail?

I was six, a little too smart for my age, and hovering near my Dad as he spoke with another man near the office of our local Little League Park.

“We’re thinking it might be best for everyone involved if we stop keeping score for T-ball games,” the man said, rather matter-of-factly, to my father.

“Then why even bother playing the games,” I blurted out before my Dad could respond.

Not that my comment had any impact, but we kept score that year. Our team finished second, and thus our trophy was a little bit taller than the team that finished 12th.

Is the fact that everyone gets a trophy hurting today’s youth? What about the fact that there’s plenty of room on the “B” team if you don’t make the “A” team? Are parents setting up their children to fail when they step into the harsh reality of the real world?

Because the truth is when you submit your resume for a job, there’s usually only one ‘winner,’ and a lot of other disappointed people. Reality is that everyone doesn’t make $50K the day they get their diploma, and tough business decisions often have dollar signs and multiple zeros attached to them.

Generation Y (that’s my generation) is regularly accused of being entitled and seems to have trouble coping with failure. Can we trace these problems back to their childhood where many were coddled by their parents, even their coaches, rewarded for participation?

There’s a lot of be said for wanting kids to have fun. And for not discouraging young kids who want to learn a game and share experiences with their friends. I’m actually a proponent of “B” teams, because who really knows how some kid in middle school will develop?

But, I suspect there are real lessons to be learned from being cut as well. What does the guy who gets cut from his freshman basketball squad learn about himself when he spends the entire off-season working his tail off to ensure he doesn’t endure that embarrassment again next season? And what about the kid that decides toiling with computers or making films is his passion instead of aimlessly going through the motions, stranded in right field and striking out every at bat?

Life is filled with adversity, and it’s often the way we react to that adversity that helps shape who we are and defines what we accomplish in this world. Having experienced the anguish of defeat, the embarrassment of failure, and the resilience it requires to get back up again – that’s what prepares us to grab the proverbial bull by the horns and hang on for the ride.

Because that’s what this is about, right? The ride. And not a ride on a carousel in some strip mall, but on a bull in an arena full of people anxious to see if you’ll get back up and dust off the mud when life bucks you off.

What do you think? Which ride is your kid experiencing? Are we setting up today’s youth failure?

*Image Credit: ACordova

Tiger Woods or These Guys…Who is the Better Athlete? VOTE NOW

The argument over whether Tiger Woods is the greatest athlete that has ever lived has been in play for some time now.  People have compared him to every almost every different type of athlete, from every different sport.

Sports writers and enthusiasts have discussed this topic over many a sub par hole, and/or beer in the club house.  Until today I hadn’t realized that there is probably a group of athletes that Tiger will never be compared to because few speak of this other group as “athletes”. 

Members of this other group often times have long hair, speak a language all their own and their stadium is the largest in the world…they are the most elite class of surfers.

That’s right, surfers.  Before you weigh in on whether or not we should consider them athletes, view this impressive slide show from today’s surfing in Hawaii.  The last 48 hours has offered surfers some of the most astounding waves of this last decade…many report 50′+ tall waves.

If this isn’t evidence enough, consider these facts:

1. Surfers will rise well before dawn to surf (train) the waves they need to become their best

2. Loved ones often feel like ”surf widow(ers)” much like “golf widows”, etc. because the athlete spends so much time perfecting their play

3. Surfing requires upper and lower body strength, balance, situational awareness, cardiovascular endurance, not to mention a high tolerance for pain and risk

Because these athletes don’t care about the label others put on them, they never demand to be called athletes.  I’m not sure they have really lost anything by not being included in this group, but have we?

Have we missed out on the opportunity to really enjoy some of the greatest demonstrations of athleticism and man’s challenge to nature because surfing isn’t commercialized in the same way as other sports?

Are young surfers less influenced to graduate high school because there isn’t the same collegiate recruiting structure as in other sports?

Tell us what you think…are surfers athletes?

IRS says your group can’t be a Non-Profit? What to do now?

In recent years we have seen a growing number of our Booster Clubs, and other sports and team related organizations, be turned down for the Internal Revenues (IRS) Non-Profit Status: also known as 501c.3, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t options.

Many similar organizations have found that establishing a Foundation is not only  a great alternative, but can also be  a great means for adding credibility to your group and their use of funds.

In very general terms a Foundation can be established to help serve a particular type of group(s), for instance you can establish the Coastal Youth Sports Foundation, rather than a non-profit, team specific booster club.  This Foundation would then be the fund raising arm for your team, as well as others.  It’s Board of Directors, along with the foundation manager then decides how to manage and disperse raised monies, based on the Foundation By-Laws.

One significant difference is the restriction on how and what amount of money that a Foundation can disperse each year.  This restriction is also the reason that Foundations can be more successful at fund raising.  Alumni and others can feel more assured in how their donated funds will be used and that the Foundation will always maintain a balance for working capital, etc.

As part of our comprehensive Program Development guidelines, Key2Sports,  along with our tax attorneys, consults with each of our client groups to help them determine which tax structure will best deliver their short and long term goals. 

Below you will find the link to the IRS website that provides detailed information regarding these important tax structures: http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/index.html.

We invite you to contact us for assistance in this evaluation, but if you want to do your own analysis we strongly recommend you contact a tax attorney in your specific state that can help you understand and evaluate your options.

Above all else, know and follow the IRS rules.  Lack of compliance is the leading cause for loss of non-profit status and it’s too important to not make it a priority.

This information contained herein is general information and should not be considered tax or legal advice. 

Will the Real Tiger Woods Please Stand Up?

With the recent news of Tiger’s indiscretions, we are left to wonder which Tiger history will ultimately remember…the one before his father passed or the one of the last three years.

In May of 2006 Earl Woods, Tigers father, passed away after a long battle with cancer.  Tigers entire life had been guided by Earl, “He’s the bridge between the East and the West,” his father said. “There is no limit because he has the guidance. I don’t know yet exactly what form this will take. But he is the Chosen One. He’ll have the power to impact nations. Not people. Nations. The world is just getting a taste of his power.”

We can all be certain that Earl Woods had visions more along the lines of Tiger helping to bring an end to poverty through his foundation, rather than his now obvious power over hostesses and cocktail waitresses across the nation.

As a teen and young adult, Tiger spent hour upon hour playing golf, rather than hanging out with friends and experiencing friendly and romantic relationships with young women.  Essentially, Tiger grew up much like a child movie star and now we see much the same tragic result.

Now it appears that an emotionally immature Tiger Woods has decided to sow his oats, albeit fairly publicly, while being married with two young children.

So what will Tiger do now?  His somewhat stoic, above all others, approach to personal questions is a tactic that is sure to fail him.

Much like Bill Clinton and others, he is going to have to face the public questions this time around.  It’s hard to imagine how he will explain his actions or why he thought he could get away with indescretions with so many young women.

The icing on the cake is the very wrong messages that some young athletes may be getting from the story…that having sex while under the influence of prescription drugs is the way to go, and that there’s no problem having unprotected sex with multiple partners.

In recent days there has been talk about the couple renegotiating the prenuptial agreement. 

The question needs to be asked, is this relationship a marriage or a business deal?

Should Tiger go on Oprah and bare his soul?

Tell us what you think.

Cedar Park Event Center – A Great Place to Start

After almost two years of fielding the questions of our truly amazing members, we have decided that it is well past time for us to enter into the not so new world of “blogs”.

As always, our ultimate goal is to provide you with information and resources that will help to grow your interest and understanding of all sports and everything they have to offer.

With that said, many of you know that our corporate offices are located in Austin, Texas and just 15 miles away from the new Cedar Park Events Center. What many of you don’t know is that we were fortunate enough to attend the opening event to see George Strait perform an absolutely amazing concert.

It’s always a bit challenging to attend a venues first event but we were all pleasantly surprised.

Here are the Keys to this venue:

Cedar Park Event Center
2100 Avenue of the Stars
Cedar Park, TX 78613
512-600-5000
Email: events@cedarparkcenter.com

PARKING: Large events will be accomodated by additional Park & Ride Shuttle service from the parking lot of the Ranch 1890 shopping center located at the corner of HWY 183A and FM 1431. There is parking located behind the Cinemark Cinemas and Clark Travel Luxury buses will pick you up and drive you to the side entrance of the stadium.

For our event this service was free for the first 600 people but we never saw anyone taking an official count or charging late comers. It was definately he way to go because the traffic was very dense and many missed the beginning of the show because they were still trying to park.

RESTAURANTS: Even before this venue opened we were regulars of a great sushi restaurant, Hayashi. If you don’t like Sushi then there are several other more casual restaurants to pick from like Freddies, Chik-fil-a, Starbucks, Which Wich, etc.

In-Venue Food: Typically we eat prior to events so we can’t really comment on the quality but it seemed to be the standard fare of hot dogs, burgers, etc. and all priced at the inflated prices seen at most events.

COCKTAILS: As with most venues, cocktails are a bit on the expensive side. There were several different domestic beers offered in the concourses, as well as a frozen “girly” drink. If you wanted any other alcoholic drinks, to include wine, then you had to go inside one of two lounges. One lounge was reserved for club members only. The other was open to the public. You can not take a drink out of either of these clubs and you can expect to pay +$8 for a drink. The wait staff was inexperienced but they were friendly.

SEATING: This is a topic we plan to expand on in the future because this is very important…all seats are now created equally in this venue! Again, we were fortunate on this evening because we had tickets in Section and on Row .

The Row was very important part because the Rows have drastically different spacing for leg room. Rows literally had only a few inches between the front edge of your seat and the back of the seat in front of you. Some people weren’t able to sit in their sits because there wasn’t enough leg room for them to be able to sit down.

SEATS: The seats themselves are very comfortable. The armrests do not move so there were also some people who could not sit in their chairs for this reason.

AUDIO/VISUAL: The sound was great and there is a large roof mounted screen…not Dallas Cowboys large…but large nevertheless. This screen allows you to see the concert and any videos the performer has put together. It will be used for replays, etc. during all sporting events.

OVERALL RATING: Since the venue is new, everthing smells and looks clean. It is built of rock, metal, and concrete so it should be able to stand the test of time. The bathrooms were odd in that they reminded us of something from the Cotton Bowl or some other older venue but let’s face it…who wants to spend time in a bathroom when you can be watching George Strait or the Stars play.

As local venues go we would give it 4.5 stars

On a national scale we would give it a solid 3 stars.

The traffic patterns are definately something that needs to be worked out but that is just part of the challenge of any new venue.

All in all we are excited to welcome this event to Central Texas.