Jim Tressel,
head football coach,
The Ohio State University
“2002 National Champions”

“Build a foundation—get good grades in high school, use those good grades to help you attend college on an athletic and/or academic scholarship, play your sport in college, get your college education so you have something to fall back on, and then give professional baseball your best shot.”

Lloyd McClendon
Valparaiso University, Indiana
Former Pittsburgh Pirates Manager

"I didn’t get drafted out of high school because I wasn’t mature enough physically and mentally at that point in my life. I needed to attend college and experience real-life situations with other people who were my age in order to mature into a well-rounded young man. It is not an easy road to go down for a teenager who is competing and playing against ball players several years older and wiser than you."

A: Very important. I wouldn’t be where I am at today if I didn’t have my college education. As a youngster, I also had the same dreams and goals of one day playing collegiate and pro sports as many of today’s athletes do and even though I did have a few scholarship offers to play basketball at some small colleges, I was realistic enough about my own abilities to know I didn’t have what it would take to make it to the next level. I knew that I needed to make a decision on what classes I should take in college that would lead to me getting an education in the field of what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Dan Patrick
University of Dayton graduate
ESPN SPORTSCENTER anchor and ESPN Sports Radio talk show host

Today’s high-school athletes need to understand going to a college to get an education is a "must", it doesn’t matter what college they attend as long as they obtain their degree. They need to understand that their earning power in the “real world” will be significantly much greater if they have a degree than if they don’t."

Hines Ward,
USA Today All-American H.S. Quarterback
University of Georgia halfback / quarterback / wide receiver
Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro Wide Receiver

I set numerous goals for myself during my freshmen year in high school, and I obtained each and every goal I set for myself because I knew how much work it would take for me to achieve those goals. I worked harder than anybody will ever know to reach those goals. If I hadn't been drafted as high as I was in the draft, I would have attended Duke University on a basketball scholarship."


Dwight Howard
Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year
Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, Georgia
1st pick in the 2004 NBA draft
Orlando Magic Forward

College recruiters want to know about your work ethic and how much time you spend working on your game. Some college coaches prefer to recruit high-school athletes from other countries like Korea because they know how hard the Korean high-school golfers work at improving their game and how many hours per day they spend practicing their game.

My advice for any female high-school golfer who has the opportunity to play on the professional tour directly out of high school is go to college for at least a year or two. Go to a college away from your home so that you can gain very valuable life experiences and to develop your social and communications skills so that you can become a well-rounded person. You’re on your own when you become a professional golfer; you don’t have coaches to teach you the game and teammates to give you support."

Leslie Spalding,
Two-time Montana State High School Champion
University of Alabama
LPGA Golfer

Your “Plan A” should be getting a college education; Your “Plan B” should be getting an athletic scholarship or playing professional sports. There are so many variables that have to come into play in order for a college athlete to ever make it to the professional level that it would be unwise for young athletes to not have acquired their college education.

I was very fortunate to make it to the NFL; I didn’t just walk into a starting position for the Miami Dolphins and become the AFC sack leader. I wasn’t taken in the NFL draft. I was a free-agent who was lucky enough to have some valuable contacts that helped me get my foot in the door in order to get a pro tryout as a free agent. My story is very unique and I was prepared to put my college education to good use when I found out I wasn’t drafted by an NFL team. I began looking for a good job in the “real world” before my valuable contacts got me a chance to attend a pro tryout."

You will get noticed by college hockey coaches if you are playing on a junior hockey league team. The rest is up to you to perform well on the ice in front of these coaches."

I am the father of 11 children, two of which received football scholarships, (Barry, Oklahoma State and Byron, Northwestern University). I made sure each and every one of my children knew the importance of getting a college education. All 11 of my children have graduated from college. Parents need to support their child’s dreams but they also must emphasize to them that they need to have their college education to fall back on.

If your son or daughter wants to play college or pro sports—you need to read this book. You need to understand how the recruiting process works and the reality of sports so that you can help your children increase their chances of getting an athletic scholarship and a college education."

William Sanders,
Father of Barry Sanders
Oklahoma State University All-American
Detroit Lions
NFL “Hall of Fame” Halfback

A: What many people don’t know about LeBron James is that he was a well-rounded young man who took pride in everything he did, both on and off the basketball court. In school, LeBron not only would attended all of his classes, but he also was a good student who wanted to learn. It is obvious that he was truly blessed physically with a great body that would certainly help him become a great athlete. But what any young athlete who is reading this book should realize is that LeBron had an outstanding work ethic.

LeBron not only worked hard at improving his game on the court by constantly practicing on his shooting and ball-handling skills, but he also was in outstanding shape because of all the basketball specific conditioning he did that was behind the scenes. Many people didn’t realize he took the time to do this because they thought he was so gifted that he didn’t have to do it. A common problem with many young athletes today is that they put in the extra time to do the fun things to improve their game like practicing their shooting in basketball, but very few work at the less fun things to do in order to improve their overall game like the conditioning part of the game. What makes LeBron James so special is that he had the drive to become the best all-around player he could be. He didn’t want to be viewed as just a great offensive player who could score points and make great passes; he wanted to be viewed as a great complete basketball player who was also a student of the game. LeBron knew that no matter how good he was physically on the court, he would still have to continue to learn more about the game every day regardless of whether he was playing the game on the court or watching films or a basketball game on TV.

A: Get your education. You have to have discipline in your life. I would not have accomplished everything I have as a football player if I didn’t have self-discipline.

Jerry Rice,
Mississippi Valley State University
All-Pro Wide Receiver for the San Francisco 49ers,
Oakland Raiders, and Seattle Seahawks

A: Take everything one step at a time. You need to be realistic about how hard it is to get an athletic scholarship or to make it to the professional level. You need to work just as hard in the classroom as you do on the court or ball field, not only to show the person recruiting you, but also because getting good grades in high school can lead to your being eligible to receive numerous academic-related scholarships. Very few athletic scholarships cover all the expenses that go along with attending college. The higher your grade point average and ACT/SAT scores, the better chance you have of obtaining more money to attend college.

Lisa Leslie,
University of Southern California All-American
Los Angeles Sparks forward
3-time Olympic basketball champion

A: High school athletes need to realize that every year there are thousands of athletes trying to get an athletic scholarship and that there are only limited scholarship opportunities available.

They have to be realistic about their abilities and they need to be thinking about what they have to offer the college coach who is recruiting them or the pro scout who will be signing them to a professional contract.

When I speak to high school athletes, I tell them to ask themselves these questions: Why should the college coach or pro scout choose me over all the other athletes competing for the same position on a team? What do I have to offer that coach or pro scout that separates me from the rest of my competition?

Harold Reynolds,
Seattle Mariners infielder
TBS “Baseball Tonight” analyst

A: What I tell young people is that dreams do happen. Dreams absolutely can happen but you have to be willing to be passionate and you have to be willing to make sacrifices. I think a lot of our youth in this generation coming up expect things to be easy and want things handed to them.

If anyone, when I was seven-years-old, would have told me that I was going to go to the Olympic Games someday, Mary Lou Retton of Fairmont, West Virginia, I would have laughed at them. But you know what? I had a dream and I worked very hard to make that dream come true and that means you have to make a lot of sacrifices and be willing to put in the work.

Dreams do happen. You can make them happen, but you have to be willing to put in the work and be able to handle and expect failure. One thing I tell kids today is don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t be afraid to try something outside of the box because we can learn a lot more from our failures than we can from our successes.

Mary Lou Retton,
Fairmont, West Virginia
Olympic Gold Medalist gymnast

A: Work at your game daily. Take your school work in high school seriously. Grades are very important when it comes to being recruited.

When the time comes for you to choose what college you’re going to attend—pick the college that you feel is best suited for you to get your college education rather than what college has the best athletic program.

Jay Bilas,
Duke University
ESPN College Basketball analyst

A: There is much more to being a college or professional athlete than just being a good athlete. You have to be very intelligent, also. The playbook in college football is much larger than the one in high-school football, and the playbook in pro football is much larger than the one in college football.

You have to be able to absorb new information instantly and have good study habits. The sooner a high-school athlete can understand the importance of having good study habits and getting good grades in high school, the better his chances of pursuing his football career at the next level.

Jabar Gaffney,
University of Florida
New England Patriots wide receiver

Every athlete not just the soccer player needs to work on improving their weaknesses that they have in their sport not just their strengths.

The best time to work on improving your overall game and weaknesses is at practice or in a relaxed setting like at home.