Why Student Athletes Quit Essay

Why Student Athletes Quit

It is a well known fact that for an athlete to reach and compete in the elite level, a certain degree or mastery and proficiency must first be attained. Research suggests that guided training from an early age greatly influences what an athlete’s level of achievement will ultimately become. Hours of training alongside cognitive and physical development gives a good start for children when they have selected a sporting endeavor. Also, it has been shown that athletes who input more time into their sport perform better than their peers. Take Michael Phelps for example; it is said that when he was young, Michael didn’t have holidays or weekends off from the pool for 5 years. That means the Olympic record holder for eight

These thoughts could stem from the awareness that they might not be a good fit for the sport that they have been playing. The level of enjoyment greatly and quickly diminishes when you actually realize that what you’re doing isn’t fun anymore. Some athletes realize that they simply do not have the necessary skill set to further compete and/or pursue to participate in higher levels or competition. This could bring about a frustration or disinterest that could make a child want to quit. As a personal example, I have a student who is not really physically gifted but still enjoys trainings and drills during varsity practice. But when their age group entered a higher level of competition, he approached me to tell me that he was quitting because he felt that he could not perform at the level that were going into. He told me that he was having a hard time catching up with the physical demands of this new level of play and that he was quitting because its too hard. As a coach, I asked him: when your studies get harder, do you stop going to school? Quitting is not the solution when faced with a problem; especially one that you have direct influence