Anonymous wrote:Facebook feed is full of this right now. Nothing we'd ever do, but if you want to brag about your child's athletic offer from D1 UVA or Michigan or using sports as a hook to get into super-selective Dartmouth, Chicago or Williams, be my guest. But those are less than 5% of sporty families. The rest boast how their 15 years of sports obsession netted their kids D3 offers from completely mediocre regional private colleges nobody has ever heard of. Or some open admit regional public commuter university they'd never entertain going to were it not for the chance to play sports. What's the mindset that drives this? Seem so irrational. After freshman year, most kids quietly quit the sport and often transfer to a bigger university their high school friends went to.
Is it ego? Do sporty parents lack the ability to cede the 15 years of sports obsession can gracefully end in 12th grade?
I'm with you, OP. Many of my high school friends' parents did this too.
I don't understand why they put a focus on sports over education. This was the opposite of my parents, who also wanted us to play sports, but prioritized education.
Shrug.