Maplewood athletes are notorious for putting up big numbers and having impressive high school careers. Unfortunately, this fairy tale does not have a happy ending. For most of our student athletes – most, not all – life after high school sports is anything but touchdowns and slam dunks.

    Why can’t our athletes make it outside of Maplewood? “It’s not necessarily them not making it, it’s just some of them can’t handle being away from the nest, I think it’s the attention  weather it’s Maplewood or home itself,” said Maplewood head football Coach Arcentae Broom.

    Is that it? Do we actually hurt our own? Do we hurt Maplewood athletes by giving them too much attention so that when they move up to the next level, where they face other players who are of the same caliber of athlete as them, if not better? In college student athletes do not get all the attention from the coaches and the fans. Our athletes end up feeling as if they are not wanted or not liked – a feeling they are not used to, so they hang their head and are ready to come home.

    “When I went to school in Iowa, I pretty much stayed to myself or talked to the other players who got recruited,” said Maplewood football standout and 2010 graduate Dewayne Smith. “The other players who were already on the team didn’t talk to us or acted like they didn’t want to get to know us. So I decided to come back.”

    What does it take to be a student athlete at the college level? What exactly are Maplewood students missing when it comes to making the jump from the high school level to the stadium-filled seats of colleges? “Hard work and discipline,” said new executive principal Mr. Ron Woodard. Two simple personality traits, however, if student athletes don’t have any one of those, they are not going to make it long.

     The problem seems to be that our student athletes feel like they were the big fish in a small pond in high school, where one day they would commit hard work and discipline but another day they wouldn’t. However, is it fair to only blame the student athletes? What role do the teachers, parents and school administrators play in this student athlete tragedy?

    Teachers and administrators let athletes get away with almost anything because of their talent, but on the college level you would have to have hard work and discipline every day, or the teacher and coaches will let you go. No coddling, no mercy, no heartfelt pep talks with a hug at the end – at the college level, you simply pack your bags and go home.