(S32) PT 1 - Mentor

[Alcott]

The best way to relate the importance of good grades to young and aspiring athletes is to help them understand the importance that an education has not only on quality of life, but also on their finances. The exact subjects and material are not as important, but the overall lessons are essential in life, such as math providing the skills to understand logic and learn basic principals of accounting or finances, English or literary arts classes expanding vocabulary to assist in literacy to understand more of what’s in contracts, science classes can help set the base for understanding nutrition, biology, and mechanics that all play roles in keeping your body in top condition to allow for peak performance for maximum duration. If the young athlete truly wants to be great and make it to the pinnacle of their chosen sport they need to understand more than just that one game and how much weight they can lift, a whole world of knowledge and a variety of subjects that tangentially relate to the sport will give them an advantage over everyone else who is ignoring those things. That’s the true key to success and why it’s important to focus on the classroom just as much as the field and film review, especially at an early age.

[abh89]

WSBL affiliate

[j00]

Well, it depends on how old this kid is, I think, and where he goes to school, like how much his school cares about football, and also how good he is at football. So I guess by age, it would be something like:

8th grade or lower: Holy shit you're already failing in school? This kid has no hope of being a functional adult, much less a professional athlete. I would suggest looking into disability pay for adults as soon as possible and maybe start getting this kid diagnosed accordingly.
High schooler: Did he just start dropping grades, like, he used to get A's? Isn't it a 2.0 GPA to be able to play football? I don't blame him if he does the bare minimum academically to play ball, but he better be good enough to earn a scholarship. Otherwise, if he's gotta continue doing the bare minimum academically to play in junior college and beyond, and if he ain't good enough, then it won't be worth it, probably.

Also, just to confirm, this kid is good at football right? I'm talking like, dominates the field, 5 TDs per game as a RB kinda player, his team wins games 60-10 kinda player, right? Because if not, he should probably just give up on becoming a professional player to begin with. And also because you have to be that good to qualify for any exceptions such as school teachers or coaches giving you a passing grade for being a star player.

Because really, you don't have to go to college to play skoo, but you gotta be good enough for that.

[TomHanks]

To help out my fellow toy wanting to get involved in professional sports, the main thing I would want to highlight is that football should only be a part of their life, not the only thing that they focus on. While making it a priority is a necessity to making it professionally, you need to have a complete character, rather than just be a one dimensional toy with only one defining trait. If you take the stance of “the only writing I need to be able to do is signing my name at the bottom of an ISFL contract”, not only will you likely have character concerns which will negatively impact your draft stock and other aspects of your game, but if something happens like a serious injury, you’ll have no backup plans. You always need a backup plan. And, ultimately, as toys it is our role to bring people joy. You can’t do that nearly as well if you aren’t a well rounded individual. So, in the interest of bringing people happiness, advancing your football career, and generally just living life to its fullest, you need to prioritize your off the field life along with your on field playing. Get those grades back up.

[Oles]

A member of the Oles family setting their sites on the ISFL is nothing out of the ordinary. With Oles #4 in the ISFL, it's a good chance that any Oles will make it to the big leagues even if the odds may not be in their favor. With award winners, championship winners, and hall of fame already in the Oles family trophy case, no ambition is to great, so it's no surprise that an Oles member would seek out that career path. For that one member to be slacking off is honestly no surprise, it's easy to get caught in the lights when a family member is successful and well known, and for multiple members to be successful ISFL players it's easy to overlook the books and to focus on the goal of being in the league. The biggest thing I could tell a family member who is slacking off is simply that you can only go as far as the books take you, you need to study film and playbooks in the league, and slacking off and creating bad work habits now will hurt those chances at a successful career down the road. Overlooking what may not seem important is a great way to overlook the important things as well.

[huck24]

SHL affiliate

[Matty7478]

First of all, I think that I would not be the best person to ask about this kind of topic, especially since I am a rookie in the world of professional football and have little-to-no experience of what the most important things are to focus on. However, as they asked me, I would try my best to convince the relative either way.
The first point I would lead of with is that the best players on the best teams in sports tend to be the hardest working and focussed people. Now of course that doesn’t always relate to school for a few, but in a sport as complex as football, showing mental aptitude towards studying even when it gets boring and stale will only serve to build character and good traits that can be used throughout their potential career as a professional player. I would then let them in on the very obvious trade secret that - while a lot of practice time is taken by drills to improve physical traits and fluidity in formations - a massive chunk of time with teams are dedicated solely to studying film and learning playbooks cover-to-cover. Not only does studying build the character they need to make sure they know they can succeed, it also makes coaches and GMs that much more interested in getting you in their team and giving you a shot at the career everyone dreams about. Not everyone dreams of studying film for half of their sporting life, but it is the price that must be paid for making it to the top.
And finally, I would remind them that athletics do not last forever, and as such gaining skills in educational disciplines outside of PE will help when Father Time catches up on them and they have to survive in the real world again. It will be a while until I get there, but it is something that needs to be worked on early in order to have the plan set for the time arriving.

337 words

[furiousPanda]

Being a mentor is something that Panda McKyle is not great at. He is a very selfish individual and only thinks of his own gain. But if a young relative was caught slacking, he would be up for the challenge of talking some sense to him. Because family is an important part of his life. For this young athlete, he would start by telling him or her, “To achieve greatness, you need to succeed in everything, and be above everyone else in all aspects in life”. McKyle would add, “It also means get better grades”. He would also tell this young individual that being a professional athlete is difficult and only the best of the best make it. Most great athletes from high school do not make it to college ball. But to make it you would have to work hard. It includes grades and athleticism. Some colleges would not even consider you if your grades are not up to par. And if you do not make a college team, the road to be a professional is tougher. So after a little pep talk, McKyle would try to help the young relative in some drills and homework. Help mentor and show what it really takes to become a pro.

Code:

209 words

[Painted]

Occasionally helping out at the waddle dee center, it should come as no shock that one of the dees would want to be a footballer like Soulja. It was bound to happen since he is so beloved in his home town in City Trial. But once Soulja heard that the Dee was no longer putting school first he made sure to talk to them. Soulja went on to mention first and foremost how difficult it was to even become a good college player let alone isfl player to the Dee, and he used that to remind the Dee that grades and school were more important in the long run. Soulja reminded the Dee that his college wouldn't even let him play football without an academic scholarship. Soujla told the dee that since the football path was so constricting and risky, he needed to have a back up plan, and that starts with getting his grades up.

The Dee listened, and after some thought, he decided to try harder in his math classes as he thinks he could be a good math teacher if football didn't work out, since it was his best subject. But he knew that you cant teach if you don't understand so the Dee got back to doing well in school!

Words: 214

[Mojojojo]

While Ernest comes from a small family — with only him and his brother — his wife Constance has a large extended family. In fact, it can be hard for Ernest to keep up with all that’s going on with his nephews, nieces, and cousins in-law. But Ernest is close with one of his nephews, Reid Goode, since he started playing football in his freshman year of high school. Playing at the Ripley High School where Ernest found his passion for football, Reid was quickly becoming a premier athlete. But Ernest worried that Reid was using sports to avoid some of the challenges he faced in the classroom. And as the first semester report cards made their way home, it became clear that Reid was struggling in school, particularly in the sciences. When Ernest talked to Reid about why his science grades were slipping, Reid answered that he had trouble memorizing facts and didn’t feel motivated to work on something that didn’t interest him. Reid was being given a chance to enter the science fair as an extra credit opportunity to bring up his grades, so Ernest worked with his wife Constance, a professional metallurgical engineer, to help Reid experiment with metal-based explosions like water and magnesium. The project helped Reid bring up his grades and sparked a new interest in science.