07-21-2017, 06:11 AM
I can't speak authoritatively about football. Observing WBB and my own daughter in track I think a lot really is motivation. Motivation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for athletic excellence, and not all students at elite colleges possess motivation in equal measure.
A lot of very bright high school athletes put their efforts into sports because high school academics were easy or boring and athletics (and extracurriculars in general) challenged them. When they get to Stanford on scholarship, of course they are obligated to give their sport their best effort. But they may become more genuinely interested and motivated by their academic pursuits than they ever expected--in fact we hope that this happens. Social and cultural opportunities also abound--perhaps for the first time in their lives. Stanford is such a great place to be--but that means lots and lots of things can compete for the attention of the student-athlete. And it is not exactly a "failure" if something beside athletics becomes the top priority of the student.
Where this really shows up is how much athletes are willing to work on their sport when out-of-season or on their own time--and how conscientious they are about rehab when coming back from injuries. For example, in WBB you notice that certain players improve remarkably over the summer, and others seem to come back at about the same level.Â
A great case to study is Mikaela Ruef, who admits she did not really understand or absorb the degree of effort required during her first couple of years. She was injured during her third year, and looked to be finishing up after an exceedingly mediocre career. But something happened to her motivation. She rehabbed and came back for two outstanding seasons--one as a grad student. The difference? She grew up and became much more disciplined with her time. I could not find the exact interview where she talked about this, but this video of Ruef as a grad student is still enlightening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z4wrnrB_pA
The contrasting player would be Kailee Johnson. Kailee came in with similar promise as Mikaela and had similar mediocre seasons early in her career. She also was also hampered with injury--and was called out by Tara in the press after her junior year "Kailee just needs to decide how important basketball is to her. She could be a lot better." Rather than do a Ruef, Kailee retired from basketball, graduated, and went into real estate.Â
Ruef and Johnson both probably made the right decisions--for them.
A lot of very bright high school athletes put their efforts into sports because high school academics were easy or boring and athletics (and extracurriculars in general) challenged them. When they get to Stanford on scholarship, of course they are obligated to give their sport their best effort. But they may become more genuinely interested and motivated by their academic pursuits than they ever expected--in fact we hope that this happens. Social and cultural opportunities also abound--perhaps for the first time in their lives. Stanford is such a great place to be--but that means lots and lots of things can compete for the attention of the student-athlete. And it is not exactly a "failure" if something beside athletics becomes the top priority of the student.
Where this really shows up is how much athletes are willing to work on their sport when out-of-season or on their own time--and how conscientious they are about rehab when coming back from injuries. For example, in WBB you notice that certain players improve remarkably over the summer, and others seem to come back at about the same level.Â
A great case to study is Mikaela Ruef, who admits she did not really understand or absorb the degree of effort required during her first couple of years. She was injured during her third year, and looked to be finishing up after an exceedingly mediocre career. But something happened to her motivation. She rehabbed and came back for two outstanding seasons--one as a grad student. The difference? She grew up and became much more disciplined with her time. I could not find the exact interview where she talked about this, but this video of Ruef as a grad student is still enlightening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z4wrnrB_pA
The contrasting player would be Kailee Johnson. Kailee came in with similar promise as Mikaela and had similar mediocre seasons early in her career. She also was also hampered with injury--and was called out by Tara in the press after her junior year "Kailee just needs to decide how important basketball is to her. She could be a lot better." Rather than do a Ruef, Kailee retired from basketball, graduated, and went into real estate.Â
Ruef and Johnson both probably made the right decisions--for them.