Reply to Does anyone hate how competitive the world has become?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Look, when the WSJ runs an article like this on an Olympic ping pong player...it's hard not to believe this is the thinking of many Asian families and sports:

Lily Zhang is the queen of American table tennis, a six-time national champ and four-time Olympian in the prime of her career. At only 28 years old, the California native can’t help but dream ahead about playing in front of a home crowd at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Her parents are less enthused.

“We always try to convince her to stop playing,” says her mother, Linda Liu. “We just want her to have a normal job.”

The irony is that Linda Liu and Bob Zhang helped mold their daughter into a table-tennis star in the first place. Immigrants from China, they wanted to pass down their native country’s national sport to their offspring. So in a cramped Palo Alto apartment, the ping-pong table pulled double duty.

“It was also the dining table,” Lily Zhang says. “We would just put a tablecloth over it and then eat.”

But to her parents, table tennis was an opportunity to enhance her college applications. “If she played at a high level, it would help her get into a good school,” says Liu, her mother.

At age 16, she competed at the 2012 London Games. Though she lost her first match, her parents declared it a resounding victory. “They’re like, OK, you got the Olympics, you got that on your college apps and now you can focus on studies,’ ” Zhang says.

“You already went to the London Olympics,” Liu said at the time. “That is enough.”[/quote]

I can’t speak for all Asians but most of us consider [b]sports a hobby.[/b] I can understand a mother of a 28yo wanting her daughter to get a “real” job and get married.

[b]My son plays tennis at a high level.[/b] School is the priority and comes first. [/quote]

Nobody plays any sport at a high level if it is just "a hobby".  That's what differentiates the hobbyists who play for fun on the weekend from the players who compete at a high level.

You contradicted your own statement.[/quote]

My kid has been playing tennis since he was in preschool. He also did soccer, swim team, basketball and track. His main sport is tennis. He plays tennis 5-6x per week, is on the varsity tennis team and plays tournaments when he can. He is as dedicated to tennis as a person can get without being all in.

We also know the kids who go to the boarding schools or private school or online school who play tennis all day everyday. We are not that type of family.[/quote]

Got it...but that's no different than any other sport where you have "hobbyists" who play occasionally for fun, you have kids that play seriously and perhaps may be able to play the sport at say a D3 level (or not), and you have kids that play the sport at a very high level and their goal is the D1 and/or the Professional level.

That's all.  It is more than a hobby, but not the highest level.[/quote]

I never understood this bottom D1, D2, D3 college team or bust stupidity.

I’d rather go to the best school and program for my desired major and play club sports than go to one of the 1000s of no name schools and play on their team.

My coworker was just bragging about a niece from texas going to play at some college in Long Beach I never heard of. Ok. Unclear what the long game or future career is after that. But hey, she’s on a college v ball team!!! [/quote]

I don't disagree with you...but college sports has gotten a little nuts.  It's possible your co-worker's niece is going to a competitive D3 volleyball program that basically develops volleyball players into D1 transfers.

So, that "no name" Long Beach school may get 50% of the team onto good D1 volleyball program teams after their freshman or sophomore year.

I don't think any of this is a good thing...but there are some D3 colleges that now identify as farm teams for D1 programs.  I personally don't know volleyball, but it's common in baseball.
[/quote]

What’s the point of that? 
College should be about studying, new friends, new city, more networks, internships, spring break travels, career services. 
Not transferring from one bottom sports program to another. [/quote]

So new rule: everyone should do college according to you?  If you don’t get sports, removing the doubt, playing at high levels, then you just don’t get it.  [/quote]

You seem dull.

College for studying doesn’t have anything to do with other options like military or trade school or going abroad or doing fulltime sports.
I said college is for studying for one’s career. 
Most of the planet agrees with exactly that.

You seem to be saying some different gabbaly gook about playing sports. And you’re responding to a thread on how some families put their kids in bottom colleges in order to do so. 
[b]Is that really “playing at the highest level”? Are the best coaches, recruits and level of play really at #321 of the ~350 D1 colleges? 
Is your potential major and career so low a priority that you’d rather attend that no-name school to play on their sports team versus a more reputable college degree and network?[/b] [/quote]

Only someone who knows NOTHING about sports would post this. 
[/quote]

Only someone who knows NOTHING about getting good grades and the power of a college degree, networking and career services would post that.

Smart people with transferable skills for various industries have a lot of choices. At every stage of their career. So do your best to get into a fantastic college for that and get the best grades and learning you can. Play the long game. [/quote]

Please stop, those of us who have played college sports and/or see our kids’ diligence and hard work to excel at a high level sport understand the value. You just don’t. Learning to time manage as an athlete with academics is also a valuable skill and college athletes are  often successful individuals professionally.  College gives the chance to work hard and see how good you can be at something that likely has been a lifelong passion.  The travel, the teammates, the community.  Not to mention the networking from alumni athletes. It’s an amazing experience.  [/quote]

Then what? You’re 22 or 23, then what? [/quote]

Isn’t that the same question every grad has to answer?  What people don’t realize is the incredible networking among sports alumni in a number of industries, I’ve seen it particularly in IB.   Alumni will take current players under their wing, provide internships, advice.  [/quote]
Of T50 colleges or strong slacs and decent GPA.

Not from the other 1000 unknown schools.

Internet influencer might work! 
[/quote]

It’s not a straight top 50 by USNEWs rankings.  Basically any Power 4 athlete has strong alumni networks for many sports.

This ranges from Duke to University of Alabama.

Decent GPA means just like a 3.0…though not even sure that matters all that much.[/quote]

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