Parents need to chill
The Dream Is a Sales Pitch
About 2.3 million kids ages 6 to 12 play football, tackle, and flag. Around 8.5 million kids under 17 play baseball.
In any given season, the NFL has 1,696 active roster spots, and Major League Baseball has 780.
That means roughly 1 in 4,300 kids, or about 0.023%, will make it to the league and play on Sunday. In baseball, roughly 6–12% of high school seniors go on to play in college, and only about 2% play Division I. The odds of your kid making the majors are about 0.04%.
I love sports. I love kids playing sports. Not so they learn how to win, but so they learn how to lose. The camaraderie. The discipline. The work ethic to get the job done when you're exhausted. The mental toughness it can build, if you let it. The commitment to a team and a season, and honoring that commitment.
But parents and coaches selling the "dream" that a kid could be great with just a little more work? That's a scam. I'm not saying don't practice. I'm not saying don't try to be great. I'm saying chill out a bit. Invest more in your kid's mental health than their physical development. That's what my Amazon best-selling book, Mental Legacy, is about, and it's what my nonprofit, ENLITEN Programs, teaches.
The reality is, life won't go the way you planned. How you respond to the adversity that's coming will decide your success. Success is subjective, but you get the point.
And if you're lucky enough to get a scholarship to any school, D1, D2, D3, or NAIA, take it.
Most of becoming a D1 or pro athlete is decided the moment sperm meets egg. The idea that anyone can get there with enough camps and trainers is mostly a sales pitch. Look at a hundred kids and you can spot the few who might have a shot. Even then, it's a big maybe.
What separates them is freakish athleticism, natural ability that coaches then sharpen. Those kids roll out of bed better than everyone else. I know, because I was one of them.
I played four sports in high school: football, basketball, track, and volleyball, two of them in the same season. I made first team and earned scholarship offers in three of them. In the one sport where I didn't get a scholarship, I won the high school dunk contest with a 360 windmill that made jaws drop, against several guys who went on to play D1 basketball. Why? Because I was a freak athlete. Yes, I lifted. I worked out. I did all the things. But as humbly as I can say it, I woke up better than you. And my teammate, a guy named Bates, woke up better than me.
At the University of Arizona, alcohol derailed my priorities. Athletically, I was as good as or better than guys who played on Sunday.
Sports are great. Play them. Love them. Just don't build your kid's future on that expectation. Instead, teach them accountability, self-awareness, kindness, and emotional regulation.
That's what I try to do as a parent. I'm not coaching from the sidelines. I'm supporting their interests, whether that's soccer, RC cars, being a princess, or anything else. I'm trying to leave room for them to find out what makes them happy, not me.
This isn't parenting advice. I don't believe in that, because we're all different. I'm just giving you the facts and my opinion on what matters more than the private lessons and extra practices.
Leave Your Legacy.