How many times have we all heard the phrase, “That player has potential!”? The word “potential”, in the world of athletics, basically means that the player can be really good or he or she can be the greatest student athlete ever.
There are a huge number of highly skilled high school athletes who all have the potential to be great. Many of these talented high school athletes are trying every day to figure out how to get better athletically. All student athletes work very hard to get better and are constantly looking for ways to improve. ‘Potential” basically means all of that.
Because of high expectations for high school athletes, many will fall short of achieving any level of athletic success. The reason: competition. There’s always going to be a player out there who is working just a little bit harder than you are. There’s always some high school athlete who wants that success more than the average player.
Only the high school athletes who are the absolute best will have the skill set to reach the college level. That’s exactly what college programs are looking for; only the best high school student athletes.
“Potential” is a funny word because you can look at a high school athlete who may have all the skills, the size, and many other incredible intangibles and college programs will take a chance on a player who they can develop just because they have this “potential”.
Then, there are high school student athletes who possess a certain level of skill and a certain level of talent but it may not translate to the college level or it will translate to the division three level where many high school athletes basically are not interested in that level of competition at all.
Sometimes I think the word “potential” can even be a damaging word to high school student athletes because of the pressure placed on them. When you see a high school athletes who are really doing well, automatically everyone will say he/she has the potential to be great. When a student athlete falls short and does not reach their full potential, then that high school athlete becomes an embarrassment.
High school student athletes: if you do not want to fall short athletically based on the word “potential” that has been placed on all athletes, I suggest you work as hard as you possibly can on your game. The pressures of failure should be your desire to work ten times harder, to never see failure.
I think you are absolutely correct. So many of these kids today have so much pressure on them. Everybody they know thinks they are a coach, some kids are in a situation where if they don’t get a scholarship they can’t go to college, and some kids have all the talent in the world but can’t get any exposure. The word potential is also a safe word because your basically saying maybe they will or maybe they won’t. I think athletes should have fun playing the game and let everything else take care of itself. Have fun! Nice article Mr. Woods!
-@SoSportz
http://www.sosportz.com http://sosportz.blogspot.com
We all love high school sports and many of us want to see these kids do well and I know just in conversation many people who enjoy sports always like to project where these kids may end up playing in college. I know using the word potential can be dangerous. We’re talking about young high school kids who barely understand the real world.
Many kids are afraid of the potential they have whether it be "real" or "built up." Having potential means you have a responsibility, and along with that responsibility, comes the reality of succeeding all the time. At the same time, many coaches use this word to keep themselves out of the "spotlight" when it comes to winning / losing games … easier to blame the player and his / her "potential" that they did or did not use. Everyone wants to be the "star," but the expectations are serious when it comes to sports, as well as other aspects of life.
Potential and placing high expectations on student athletes can be very dangerous. Some years ago was working with this one student athlete who was very talented but somewhere along the way someone placed the tag of potential on this kid. What ended up happening because of the high expectations on him he did not go to college for football because he wanted to play ball at Michigan State. Playing football at the division two level was unacceptable for this young man. That’s my example of how dangerous potential can be.
I have seen this happen as well … may times parents and players think D I is the only, and best thing in the world. They fail to realize that being a great HS athlete doesn't always equate to being a great D 1 player, and the most important thing about college sports is that an athlete gets an education … which can be at any level because eventually it all ends, and the individual must reinvent themselves when it comes to using their potential.
Playing division one sports is great but I’ve also known of high school kids who only want to play division one ball walked on somewhere and never played for four years. I also know of a lot of high school kids who played at the division two and division three level and a huge number of these kids made it to the NFL or play professional basketball overseas. Really the bottom line is getting an education because athletics does come to an end.
Great article. I personally hate the word potental. It truly has no meaning at all. And unfortunately it is usually used to describe someones basic skill level or natural athletic ability. It would be great if coaches used the excitement and time and their coaching ability on the student athlete who demonstrates coachability, desire and committment to learning. If we based peoples' "potential" on the characteristics that make people champions, then maybe the word would carry more weight. But to tell someone they have potential to be great, but they do not have the work ethic to become great, is setting that person up for failure (as mentioned above). A kid with less natural ability, but the right work ethic and desire to be the best player they can possibly be, that kid has potential
).
Potential is an amazing word as it relates to all athletes but it can be extremely hazardous to those athletes who are constantly being told there great but never live up to the potential of being great.