“The Future Begins in
School - and in the Pool”
By Rene F. Concepcion
Student-athletes are the best students in any school. But many of their teachers and classmates would probably disagree. Athletes are always absent, have poor grades, and slip through the system. But for every sports star who reinforces this negative stereotype, there are many who prove they are the best kind of student in any student body.
For example, LC Langit, a De La Salle University (DLSU) varsity swimmer, got a near perfect grade point average during the year she was training hard for the Doha Asian Games (where she set the Philippine record in women’s triathlon). Langit’s current DLSU varsity teammate, Enchong Dee, who everyday juggles early morning and early evening swimming workouts with school work, has a weekly show on TV and does modeling work. He, too, got into the Dean’s List.
The daily life of a student-athlete isn’t easy. Training is murder, and the academic work gets harder after a killer workout. Practices are normally four hours daily, and it isn’t the kind of exercise that you can escape with an iPod to read a magazine while pedaling on a stationary bike. Muscles burn, lungs scream, and the coaches scream too. Plus there is the added pressure to excel in both school and sports. A student-athlete’s competitive nature wouldn’t be satisfied with passing grades, or finishing a race without a medal. They need to be the best. And when they graduate, they bring this attitude to the real world, where life doesn’t get easier. Yet they know they can succeed in anything because their hearts and minds were trained to face all difficulties.
Therefore, it is a shame that many still think of sports as only for leisure. Some might even say sports are not important compared to school. Parents want their children to major in business and finance, or grow up to become engineers, doctors or lawyers. A father might ask - what good would swimming endless laps, or hitting a tennis ball over and over do for my son who needs to take over the family business?
The answer is everything. Competencies needed in careers are easy to learn. If a student doesn’t immediately comprehend classroom lessons, it can be fixed by tutors, the Internet, and extra effort hitting the books. But confidence needed in life can be learned while facing a match point, or in a painful last lap or homestretch. Here, the teacher is one’s own undaunted spirit that teaches to never lay down hastily to defeat.
And life brings many defeats that need to be overcome. There’s the loss of a job, unprofitable investments, losing face, and even losing of a loved one. Student-athletes lose all the time. Sadly, in the prevailing culture, they lose more in the classroom. Many athletes have come to accept – and with no help from the academe otherwise – that they are only meant for the physical and not the mental. They quickly give up when facing physics or term papers or oral reports, yet they shouldn’t. There is segregation in schools between the jocks and the nerds, yet there shouldn’t.
Truly there are outstanding athletes who are also bookworms. There’s a Philippine Olympian who was a pre-med student and history major from a world renowned university, that when he decided to pursue film directing, a friend could only think to compare him to Woody Allen (the very witty, intellectual, and existentialist side of Woody Allen, of course).
The UAAP season is well underway, and it is a marketing dream, once again, because men’s basketball is the hottest ticket in town. Well, somewhere also in town are many other student-athletes competing in other sports. These warriors also need the attention, the sponsorship, the support, the fanfare, and the respect. Media coverage must be thrown their way too, and not just to publicize results. People need to know how much student-athletes sacrifice, how dedicated they are to their sport (even to sports that don’t have prize money nor endorsement deals).
People need to know these student-athletes have career plans in the future to build skyscrapers, innovate computer software, become diplomats, lead corporations, cure diseases, and fight injustice. They are the best of the country’s youth. It’s about time to nurture them for they can contribute towards a fantastic future.
By Rene F. Concepcion
Student-athletes are the best students in any school. But many of their teachers and classmates would probably disagree. Athletes are always absent, have poor grades, and slip through the system. But for every sports star who reinforces this negative stereotype, there are many who prove they are the best kind of student in any student body.
For example, LC Langit, a De La Salle University (DLSU) varsity swimmer, got a near perfect grade point average during the year she was training hard for the Doha Asian Games (where she set the Philippine record in women’s triathlon). Langit’s current DLSU varsity teammate, Enchong Dee, who everyday juggles early morning and early evening swimming workouts with school work, has a weekly show on TV and does modeling work. He, too, got into the Dean’s List.
The daily life of a student-athlete isn’t easy. Training is murder, and the academic work gets harder after a killer workout. Practices are normally four hours daily, and it isn’t the kind of exercise that you can escape with an iPod to read a magazine while pedaling on a stationary bike. Muscles burn, lungs scream, and the coaches scream too. Plus there is the added pressure to excel in both school and sports. A student-athlete’s competitive nature wouldn’t be satisfied with passing grades, or finishing a race without a medal. They need to be the best. And when they graduate, they bring this attitude to the real world, where life doesn’t get easier. Yet they know they can succeed in anything because their hearts and minds were trained to face all difficulties.
Therefore, it is a shame that many still think of sports as only for leisure. Some might even say sports are not important compared to school. Parents want their children to major in business and finance, or grow up to become engineers, doctors or lawyers. A father might ask - what good would swimming endless laps, or hitting a tennis ball over and over do for my son who needs to take over the family business?
The answer is everything. Competencies needed in careers are easy to learn. If a student doesn’t immediately comprehend classroom lessons, it can be fixed by tutors, the Internet, and extra effort hitting the books. But confidence needed in life can be learned while facing a match point, or in a painful last lap or homestretch. Here, the teacher is one’s own undaunted spirit that teaches to never lay down hastily to defeat.
And life brings many defeats that need to be overcome. There’s the loss of a job, unprofitable investments, losing face, and even losing of a loved one. Student-athletes lose all the time. Sadly, in the prevailing culture, they lose more in the classroom. Many athletes have come to accept – and with no help from the academe otherwise – that they are only meant for the physical and not the mental. They quickly give up when facing physics or term papers or oral reports, yet they shouldn’t. There is segregation in schools between the jocks and the nerds, yet there shouldn’t.
Truly there are outstanding athletes who are also bookworms. There’s a Philippine Olympian who was a pre-med student and history major from a world renowned university, that when he decided to pursue film directing, a friend could only think to compare him to Woody Allen (the very witty, intellectual, and existentialist side of Woody Allen, of course).
The UAAP season is well underway, and it is a marketing dream, once again, because men’s basketball is the hottest ticket in town. Well, somewhere also in town are many other student-athletes competing in other sports. These warriors also need the attention, the sponsorship, the support, the fanfare, and the respect. Media coverage must be thrown their way too, and not just to publicize results. People need to know how much student-athletes sacrifice, how dedicated they are to their sport (even to sports that don’t have prize money nor endorsement deals).
People need to know these student-athletes have career plans in the future to build skyscrapers, innovate computer software, become diplomats, lead corporations, cure diseases, and fight injustice. They are the best of the country’s youth. It’s about time to nurture them for they can contribute towards a fantastic future.
NAKS!
ReplyDeleteSee you later tabs! Woooooo!
DeleteJust like those college days, i'm also part of the competing team, im not an athlete, or i dont know how to categorize us actually but we compete (the cultural team) in traditional competition (mine is oration). We dont have UAAP, but we have BULPRISA, the feels, the expectations and all.
ReplyDeleteit feels good to be a part of this kind of team, to represent your school with pride. :) Nice post!
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And Asyang, i added you on my links.
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And you really find that extra fight in you when you know you're competing for your team.
DeleteThanks!!