Johnny 71
Junebug
Best advice ^
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What do you tell a teen that wants to quit football when he has potential??
- Thread starter Shadow11
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mguthrie
**# 1 Fan**OHIO STATE**
You did a fine job with buzz JB. He’s grow up to be a good young man. I’m sure sports taught him a lot more than how to play a game.
JB0704
I Gots Goats
Thanks Guth! Much appreciated. I’m very proud of that kid.
DannyW
Senior Member
This could be me talking about my boy. He played football, and was blessed with technique but lacked size and speed. The coaches always used him as an example in technique to the other players...but...he was the backup to Orlando Brown (drafted by Baltimore and now with KC). So we both knew he was never getting any meaningful playing time.
We had a discussion once and he told me what he really liked was being part of a team, especially the required discipline and hard work. Even though his part was being a live blocking dummy for Orlando.
My advice to the OP is to be there if he needs to talk about it but stay in your lane and not try to be a parent.
ATLFalconsfan80
Senior Member
Its every kids dream when they play sports to play pro or at least play for their favorite college team. Then they grow older and they see other kids matching their level and eventually passing them and then a realization sets in with them whether it be a good one or bad one.
The OP didn't specify the kid height, weight or position. I'm assuming, and I could be totally wrong, WR or RB due to the agility footwork and hands comment also with a kid whos he's obviously competing with. If he's not up to the challenge to compete for a position then HS sports is where it ends. Its easy to be the big fish in a small pond but can he be the bigger fish in a bigger pond, and unfortunately he doesn't seem to have that mindset he needs to play D1 football especially SEC.
No jabs towards that kid or his family, I wish him the best in his hopefully bright future.
One last question, the kid whos he's supposedly competing against, is he a grade higher than your nephew? If so that would explain why he said he would wait till his senior year to play and that would show he's scared of competition and then it becomes that its something in him he needs to focus on now...confidence
The OP didn't specify the kid height, weight or position. I'm assuming, and I could be totally wrong, WR or RB due to the agility footwork and hands comment also with a kid whos he's obviously competing with. If he's not up to the challenge to compete for a position then HS sports is where it ends. Its easy to be the big fish in a small pond but can he be the bigger fish in a bigger pond, and unfortunately he doesn't seem to have that mindset he needs to play D1 football especially SEC.
No jabs towards that kid or his family, I wish him the best in his hopefully bright future.
One last question, the kid whos he's supposedly competing against, is he a grade higher than your nephew? If so that would explain why he said he would wait till his senior year to play and that would show he's scared of competition and then it becomes that its something in him he needs to focus on now...confidence
My only dream was to play for Valdosta High Wildcats.
ATLFalconsfan80
Senior Member
I don’t blame you with that program….
Pig Predator
Useles Billy’s Fishel Hog Killer ?
I dont know about yall but when I was a sophomore in high school I was kinda wanting to be in the position of one of em boy cheerleaders during the game....but I couldn't handle all the spot light... wasnt pretty enough eyereckon....
gobbleinwoods
Keeper of the Magic Word
My only comment to the young man would be if you change your mind later it will be hard to beat out your replacement unless you are that much better.
across the river
Senior Member
The hard reality is that unless you can pull his name up now as a sophomore on the recruiting sites and he is not only list but has a bunch of stars by his name, he ain’t going to Georgia, at least on a football scholarship. If the kid doesn’t want to do it, there is no point in pushing him to do it. If you want to push anything, push him on his grades. That will matter in 30 years. Whether he play football or not won’t.
I quit sports early on because there were real and important things in my life I wanted to do more instead of wasting all my time on playground games. Maybe he is the same. I don't really understand the importance that folks attach to "sports" compared to other things that are much more fulfilling and meaningful.
JB0704
I Gots Goats
I've made some posts in here about it but, I think sports can provide just as many meaningful life lessons, possibly more, than hutnin', fishin, running trap lines, etc. PRolly ought start a thread on it.
I want to add that a lot of parents completely ruin the chance for sports to be meaningful by thinking their kid is better than they actually are, and always blaming the coach when things go south. The focus is always on the worng things.
Tight Lines
Senior Member
There has been a lot of good advice in this thread. At the end of the day, you do need to talk to the kid if no one else is, not because of football, but because of whatever else is going on. Not to push him to play ball, but because there is something going on...
At his age, in this environment, after 2 years of insanity and lockdowns, with the issues his parents might have, there is no telling what might be going through the head of a kid his age.
It's less about football and more about what is going on in his head.
I have a niece who was one of the top softball players in the nation. Had D1 full rides. But, she was burned out, wanted to become a nurse, and loves living in KS duck hunting, deer hunting, and hanging out with her boyfriend. So she hung up her cleats. Done after 2 years of college ball at a JUCO. She could not be happier.
My son has played 7 years of football and won 3 championships. He's had an amazing ride. But high school ball is about to be a lot harder, and he has 0.00000% chance of playing college and less of playing in the NFL. Unless he is a kicker or a coach. So I want him to play, if he wants to play, but I also don't want him to get hurt like I did and pay for it the rest of his life. Football is hard on your body and I only played through high school.
Those saying they don't get it and sports isn't that important, well, they don't get it. There is nothing quite like team sports and winning, and learning to work hard and be part of a team. You've either done it and it clicked, or you didn't. High school football was an amazing part of my experience and one of the best memories of my life. What I learned on that field has never been lost. Never will.
I rowed in college, and that's another sport, totally different that is pure magic when it's all working right. 8 kids moving a shell with grace and finesse without a sound is something you just have to experience to understand.
Discipline and character are built in sports. Not the only place, but certainly one place...
We only get one chance to play kids games, and at some point we have to grow up and hang up the cleats. Most all of us wish we could have played longer. Quitting now is likely going to stick with him forever...and so will powering through whatever is bothering him. If he can.
Talk to him and get him some help. I have a friend in my Sunday school class whose daughter is in outpatient treatment and whose nephew just committed suicide. All revolving around social pressures from friends, and probably family.
Talk to him...
At his age, in this environment, after 2 years of insanity and lockdowns, with the issues his parents might have, there is no telling what might be going through the head of a kid his age.
It's less about football and more about what is going on in his head.
I have a niece who was one of the top softball players in the nation. Had D1 full rides. But, she was burned out, wanted to become a nurse, and loves living in KS duck hunting, deer hunting, and hanging out with her boyfriend. So she hung up her cleats. Done after 2 years of college ball at a JUCO. She could not be happier.
My son has played 7 years of football and won 3 championships. He's had an amazing ride. But high school ball is about to be a lot harder, and he has 0.00000% chance of playing college and less of playing in the NFL. Unless he is a kicker or a coach. So I want him to play, if he wants to play, but I also don't want him to get hurt like I did and pay for it the rest of his life. Football is hard on your body and I only played through high school.
Those saying they don't get it and sports isn't that important, well, they don't get it. There is nothing quite like team sports and winning, and learning to work hard and be part of a team. You've either done it and it clicked, or you didn't. High school football was an amazing part of my experience and one of the best memories of my life. What I learned on that field has never been lost. Never will.
I rowed in college, and that's another sport, totally different that is pure magic when it's all working right. 8 kids moving a shell with grace and finesse without a sound is something you just have to experience to understand.
Discipline and character are built in sports. Not the only place, but certainly one place...
We only get one chance to play kids games, and at some point we have to grow up and hang up the cleats. Most all of us wish we could have played longer. Quitting now is likely going to stick with him forever...and so will powering through whatever is bothering him. If he can.
Talk to him and get him some help. I have a friend in my Sunday school class whose daughter is in outpatient treatment and whose nephew just committed suicide. All revolving around social pressures from friends, and probably family.
Talk to him...
I played baseball on a serious level. I was good at it. I was on three championship teams. I get it. At the end of the day if you follow it to it's conclusion, it's still grown men acting like kids chasing a ball around a playground. And it takes over your whole life and all your spare time. I dropped it and focused my time on hunting, fishing, playing music, family, and working. Your mileage may vary. I don't miss it.
I have room for those who admire and appreciate organized sports and for those who don't. No matter which side of this issue one falls on the important matter here is the health and well being of the youngster right now. An Uncle can be a help but the focus should be on the health and well being of the youngster, not on whether he plays any particular sport. Without a good understanding of what is going on, it would be very easy to do more harm than good.
Tight Lines
Senior Member
OK. That post wasn't directed at you or anyone other than the Uncle...I hope whatever is happening with the kid gets sorted out...and most of us would have played as long as we could have, and look back on it with very fond memories...my point is he will likely regret it or it will become a defining moment in his life.
I snapped my right femur in two in October of my junior year. I was told my football was over. I said like heck it is. I started working out 2 weeks after it happened, 4 days after I got out of the hospital in traction. Not only did I play again, starting linebacker and defensive captain, as well as starting offense and playing special teams, I ran track the following spring. I didn't win much, but I was back on my sprints and hurdles because I was going to play ball my senior year. And I did.
I had D3 scholarships and chose to get an engineering degree instead of following football...and don't regret it at all. But I would have regretted not fighting to get back on the gridiron my senior year...and playing with the boys I'd grown up with...and boy what that taught me falling over hurdles because my legs wouldn't do what I wanted them to...but I got up, picked off the rubber, and kept going...I'll never forget.
There isn't much that builds character like sports and the military in our world today...IMHO.
But you are correct, YMMV and everyone has to make the call for themselves. Based on what the uncle wrote, I'd be pretty worried about the kid myself...
Yep, either something traumatic happened at school, or it's just the pressure from his family, who seem to have the attitude that if your life doesn't revolve around wanting to play football that you then logically must be a queer. That's one of the stupidest things I've ever read on here, and that's saying something.
Well said. The kid not wanting to play football isn't a crisis. The kid suddenly making a 180* turn in his behavior and not talking to anybody about it is a red flag.
JB0704
I Gots Goats
That part made me feel bad for the kid. Earned a Billy thread too.
1eyefishing
...just joking, seriously.
I bet in the absence of family pressure he will find his way into something he enjoys.
My youngest excelled at Little League Baseball. On base percentage greater than .600... Later an often leading scorer in community league basketball (his grandpa and I were big ballers; disappointing when he decided to hang it up). The high school football coach loved him as a wide receiver, but my son wasn't enjoying himself. He now carries a golf handicap you can count on one hand and is looking to make $200k this year.
Sometimes it's best not to try to make them fit a mold.
2 cents...
My youngest excelled at Little League Baseball. On base percentage greater than .600... Later an often leading scorer in community league basketball (his grandpa and I were big ballers; disappointing when he decided to hang it up). The high school football coach loved him as a wide receiver, but my son wasn't enjoying himself. He now carries a golf handicap you can count on one hand and is looking to make $200k this year.
Sometimes it's best not to try to make them fit a mold.
2 cents...
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