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Meeting the Demand
Athletes, Sports and Grades
By Shel Franco
Harmic's mother, Mary, would have to agree. While she admits to worrying about Andrew's time commitment to his sport and the status of his academic obligations, she says she knows what he's capable of, and she just tries to concentrate on that. "I would step in if I saw things coming down," she says.
But what does it mean for a parent to "step in"? For Mary, stepping in involves asking Andrew from time to time, "How's that project going? Don't you have a paper due for this class?" and reminding him not to wait until the last minute.
Simply letting him know that she's watching his back seems to put them both at ease, but Mary admits things weren't always that easy. Her oldest son, a former baseball player at the college level, was an entirely different story. "His grades suffered, but he did enough to get by," she says. "We let him get away with too much. We gave him every chance to make baseball his life."
Whether your child is a good student and you want it to stay that way, or your child is showing signs of a downward spiral where academics are concerned, get out your coaches cap – academic coach, that is – because you can help. Just keep in mind that in the end, it's all up to the student athlete.
"It's the athlete's responsibility to make academics a priority," Lancaster says. "While a coach can provide guidance, it's ultimately the athlete who must learn to balance school and sports."