Posted by Jon Fugler on Tue, Jan 19, 2010 @ 01:34 PM
It's a competitive world out there for athletic scholarships, but don't lose heart. In this day of instant gratification, the scholarship pursuit does not fit that way of thinking. It can take months, even years, before you get to the finish line, depending on your year in high school.
Bear in mind that while you are keeping your pursuit going, there are thousands of athletes that are dropping off every day. They just don't have the endurance to stay with it. From that angle, your competition is decreasing. On the other end of the spectrum, though, are student-athletes who are just starting the process.
Here's an encouraging story from Christian "Bubba" Luna, who just signed to play football with the University of Hawaii. His hometown paper in Southern California, the Valley News, wrote a feature on him:
"I always dreamed of getting a scholarship and it came through," he said in a recent interview. "All the hard work paid off."
Receiving a scholarship was a godsend, said the teen's parents. His mother, Lourdes, works as a mortgage loan processor. Her husband, Ray, works as a sales representative for Behr paints. Bubba, who got his nickname as a child, is the second oldest of the couple's five children. Ray is known in the family as "big Bubba."
"When that (scholarship) call came through, it felt like a big relief," Lourdes Luna recalled. "I'm in the lending business, and things aren't too hot right now."
Read the entire articleand see how Bubba stayed with it and worked hard to get the scholarship.
Posted by Jon Fugler on Fri, Jul 10, 2009 @ 04:46 PM
Ken Krause, of DiscussFastpitch.com reports in his blog that "the National Federation, the governing body of high school softball, just voted to increase the pitching from 40' to 43' for varsity players beginning with the 2010-2011 season.
"The rationale is to increase the amount of offense in the game. The feeling is the extra three feet will help batters hit the ball more, which will get the defense more involved (instead of watching pitchers rack up 15 strikeouts per game) and make the game more exciting for the fans.
"All of that is probably true for the better teams. But I wonder what it will do to the lesser teams -- the ones whose pitchers are already struggling. It might also be a problem for those pitchers who bounce between JV and varsity during the season. Any who rely on movement rather than speed may find it difficult to stay on top of their game."
Ken is encouraging your response. What do you think? Is it best for the game or not? Go to his blog and weigh in.