The first individual, whom I'll call Jack , was an extremely talented junior tennis player who at the age of 15 was the Tennis National runner-up in the US . The following year, Jack came back to the Nationals and played better and harder, and with more confidence than he ever played before. Again, Jack made it to the finals where he played his very best tennis. Despite Jack 's remarkable efforts and skills, he lost in two straight sets 0:6, 0:6. He couldn't hold his serve nor could he break his opponent's serve and at least win one single game! His opponent turned pro in 1988 and qualified to play at the French Open in 1989 where he made history when he defeated Ivan Lendl , the number one player in the world at the time. The 17 year-old Michael Chang from the US became the youngest player in history to win the French Open. Mr. Chang has never won another major event and retired in 2003 following a successful career as a tennis pro that lasted 15 years (7-years top 10). The experience of the talented, exciting, and tenacious Chang demonstrates the enormity of the challenge to make it to the top and then stay at the top.

Tens of thousands of junior tennis players compete in as many as 5000 (usta.com) tournaments each year for the eventual coveted title of the best junior (under 18) player. Once at the top, a handful of players still face a grim reality best described by Emilio Sanchez : "Every kid who is playing wants to be a pro. The main problem is that the spots available are very, very few. Because in tennis you only have 100 top pros and these 100 pros don't change every year. So it's not like you have 100 chances every year to be a top 100 player because many of these guys can have careers lasting seven to 10 years and only a few guys slip or get injured or retire. So you may have five spots open up in the top 100 every year. Think about that for a minute. You're talking about maybe five spots for all the young players in the world, for all of the academies, for all of the federations all over the world (Nott, 2007).”

The reality a top junior player faces when making the transition from the US junior or the college level may be even grimmer. Players ranked 101 – 200 as well as many unranked players are stronger and more experienced than the typical newcomer and are fiercely fighting for a spot in the in the top 100. Also, the level of play as represented by the average speeds of the first and second serves at the college and junior level as contrasted to ranked ATP players is quite revealing. For example, the average first and second serve speed for 16 of the 32 players who made it to the 3rd round of the Men's Singles at Wimbledon in 2007, was 119 mph and 99 mph respectively as compared to 91 mph and 71 mph for a sample of nationally-ranked under 18 boys (Tennis Speed, 2007). Thus, a college or nationally ranked junior player would have to return serves that are on average 30 mph faster (and at times slower or up to 40 mph faster) than he is accustomed to while his first and second serves, unless perfectly placed, will present him with a major weakness.

My second student, whom I'll call Josh, was a super star baseball player who at every age group, starting at little league and continuing through college, was the best and most valuable player of the league, then region, and then state. Josh eventually became one of the top amateur baseball players in the Nation and was invited to pitch for a minor league baseball team. At the minors he was doing very well until he hurt his pitching shoulder. Several surgeries later, Josh came to our Kinesiology program and got his degree while trying to recover and rejoin the professional ranks. He managed to make it back to the pros for a very short time until he reinjured his shoulder. He then came to the realization that a career as a physical education teacher would be a much more practical choice. Josh returned to our program and completed his Masters degree in Kinesiology and is now a successful physical education teacher and coach. Over the past two decades I have had numerous undergraduate, as well as, graduate students in my classes that had a very similar story to that of Josh 's to tell. I strongly doubt that my observations and experiences regarding this matter are unique in any way.

The final case study that I am presenting here originated from a note by a concerned mom. After visiting my kidsfirstsoccer.com website she emailed me for help regarding the following question (Frankl, 2007):

“My teenager son has played football [soccer] since he could walk. I don't think he is an extremely gifted player but he does have a lot of determination and some good skills. He plays for his school and a local team. I keep asking him what he is going to do when he leaves school and he just keeps saying that all he wants to do is play football. I have tried to persuade him to consider other options including joining the armed forces and play for them. He just cannot see that he may not be a good enough footballer to play professionally.

Can you give me any advice on either what to tell him or where I could take him either for training or consulting? Thank you. Concerned mom, North Wales .”

I suspected that the concerned mom from North Wales was facing a problem of value differences with her teenager. According to Susan Carpenter and W.J.D. Kennedy "Asking someone to adjust his values is like asking him to alter his sense of reality." Therefore, while it is possible to persuade a teenager with dreams to make it to the pros through the use of reason, it is not an easy task. The difficulty in negotiating a viable solution in a value differences conflict stems from the condition that value differences are instigated not only from disagreements about the substance of a dispute but also out of disagreement about the proper resolution or the management of the issue under dispute. “Given the lack of agreement on both process and substance, parties involved in value conflicts tend to turn to force-based conflict options more often than negotiation or persuasive approaches, because force seems to be the only common language that both sides understand and honor (International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict, 1998).”

The above is a common scenario that parents of teenager athletes who are overly committed to their sport may face. Value differences issues may be addressed through communications with the mediation of a social worker, therapist, school counselor or any other entity that the parent and her/his teenager may perceive as fair and willing to genuinely consider both positions. The position held by a 15 year-old teenager that he does not need to pay attention to his education since he plans to embark of a professional athletic career not only seems self-destructive but most probably is a recipe for disaster. The available evidence, some of which was discussed above, clearly indicates that the teenager in this case is setting himself up for a big disappointment. Following his current roadmap he may dig himself into a deep hole that he may later find very hard to climb out of.

Many parents share their child's passion for her/his sport and wish him/her all the best and genuinely hope that their child would be able to continue working hard on her/his dream. However, the child must also understand that even if he/she will end up realizing her/his dream, he/he still must also pursue his education. The mix of youth and lack of education with super stardom and lots of money is a very lethal combination. Also, in the more likely event of not making it, or making it just for a few months or 2-3 years, young athletes should know "that nobody is going to give [her/him] a check . . . or give [her/him] a job because [he/she's a former [athlete]. It just doesn't work that way" (Member of the 1988 US Olympic team, cited in Coakley, 1994, p. 274).

As is the case in professional tennis, baseball, basketball, and/or American football, the prospect of a career as a professional football (soccer) player in North Wales or anywhere else on the British Islands does not seem very promising. According to Martin Johnes (2002), "With the exception of the 1920s, domestic Welsh football has not been able to offer the wages or glory that English clubs could and thus Wales' most talented players have plied their trades outside her borders. Similarly, Welsh professional clubs have employed strong contingents of English players." I found no data about the probability of making it into the professional football (soccer) ranks at this time are but given the fact that soccer is no longer a national market, but rather a worldwide market (Bourke, 2003), the odds seem pretty grim. My prediction or speculation is based on the fact that young aspiring talents from around the globe may now send videos and other materials to scouts and thus substantially broaden the pool of potential new players. English football clubs can pay much better salaries than most soccer clubs in the world and that would also include American soccer clubs. I know of many young and very talented soccer players in the U.S. who dream about a professional career in England . This reality makes the prospect of becoming a professional football player in England more competitive that it has been in any other time in the history of professional football (soccer).

Those fortunate few who do make it to any one of the professional teams' rosters are still very far from “having it made.” In a study about upward social mobility and British professional soccer players Houlston (1982), reported that there was an overrepresentation of players from lower socioeconomic groups in the league. These players experienced a steady decline in earnings and a diminished social status as their playing career dwindled and eventually ended. Average earnings per year for this group declined from about 7,500.00 pounds/year to 3,500,00 - 4,500.00 pounds/year. Several studies in the U.S. indicate that compared to non-athletes, athletes with a college degree earn more and enjoy a higher occupational prestige in their 40s and 50s (Coakley, 2007). Clearly one's quality of life after competitive sports is very strongly related to one's level of education.

“Shooting for the stars” is a dream in the hearts of many aspiring young athletes that leads to a relatively short career in professional sports for a very select few. For this dream to not turn into a nightmare, however, one must keep her or his eyes wide open and never stop working on plan “B.” Paying close attention to one's education, as it turns out, is critical for continued success in life for the many that never make it as it is for the few and fortunate that hit the jackpot. Also, a growing concern in regard to aspirations of becoming an athlete super star is the ever increasing tendency for early specialization. The deleterious effects of extra ordinary physical, physiological, and psychological demands on young and still growing bodies that stem from intense training and a heavy competition schedule are well documented in a statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness titled: Intensive Training and Sports Specialization in Young Athletes (2007)(http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/106/1/154). Thus, when shooting for the stars one must first be sure to keep both feet on solid grounds.