The “life stuff” that comes natural to you, doesn’t come as easy to them in the digitized landscape.
“We’re worried about perfect sports technique with kids who don’t know how to:
Shake hands properly.
Look people in the eye.
Start & hold a conversation.
You think adding another lesson to their already overloaded schedule is going to help them win the real game?”
-Ray Zingler on X
Most people are trying to major in the minors and it’s sad to see.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about sports and activities.
I am all about stretching limits and doing everything we can to maximize our potential, (despite knowing most go about it in the completely wrong ways) but at some point we have to look at the bigger picture.
A 4th hitting lesson?
For a boy who doesn’t know how to properly shake a man’s hand?
Another lacrosse skills lesson for a girl who doesn’t know how to make eye contact with the person she’s “communicating” with?
Most kids don’t know how to start and hold an in-person conversation with kids their own age.
How do you think this is going to impact them when they’re across the desk at that job interview a few years from now.
And for what it’s worth their future employer (if they can even close the job) isn’t going to give one iota about how good their swing was back in high school.
Don’t believe me?
Here are some statistics, per an Intelligent.com survey regarding employers and recent college grad applicants:
53% struggled with eye contact.
50% asked for unreasonable compensation.
47% dressed inappropriately.
27% used inappropriate language.
21% refused to turn on their cameras during VIRTUAL job interviews.
And 19% brought a parent to their job interview.
These are college GRADUATES.
And in an era where the coddling is only growing, we are bound to see these atrocious statistics continue to increase.
But sure, keep traveling 4 counties over for that sport specific guru, surely that will make the difference!
The things you and I (hopefully) know as standard operating behavior, these kids don’t know.
In fact, they have no idea.
Their social behavior happens behind screens and keyboards.
Trying to “get a job” is their parents making social media posts attempting to get them jobs providing a service they have no qualification to provide.
They weren’t running a push mower for 100’s of hours every summer in MS & HS.
Hell, kids today don’t even door knock to sell their sports fundraiser cards, anymore.
Prioritizing sports over fundamental human behaviors is a recipe for disaster regardless of how you chop it up.
Kids don’t pick-up on the dare I say “traditional” life stuff.
They must be taught.
And shielding them from reality aint it.
