Training Champions

By Dennis Rowan

Start early and stay late seems to be the method of training champions. In the sports world we are often awed by the seven-footers and the guys who are as large as refrigerators. Because of the unusual size of many athletes we sometimes fail to realize what really makes a champion athlete…practice. I've read many accounts of how athletes beginning as young children practiced the thing that ultimately made them great professional athletes.

I probably read the account more than 30 years ago how Mickey Mantle, one of the all time great switch hitters in baseball, began as a young lad in back yard learning to hit a baseball swinging left-handed or right-handed as his Dad pitched to him. In more recent years we learned of a petite West Virginia high school girl, Mary Lou Retton, who became an Olympic gymnastics champion. She not only spent many years training, but she took one entire year to live and train in another state under an outstanding gymnastics coach.

In addition to such well know professional and amateur athletes we have our average American families budding young athletes whose performance is far above that of previous generations. As a teen-ager, I played as a starter on our school's baseball and basketball teams and never missed a game or practice session that I can recall. The next 20 years or so following my high school graduation I saw very few high school or junior high games. In recent years I have watched young athletes and there is no comparison as to how much better the PLAY. (I capitalized the word "play" simply to remind you and me that it is play for most people; few become professionals.)

Parents are putting their children in ball practice at a much younger age than was the case when my generation was growing up. Practice sessions for baseball and basketball when I attended school were one hour, five days a week, period. Now they practice more than that in two days.

I am almost at the point of being an "anti-sports" person. As a teen I loved sports. In college I never missed a WVU home basketball or football game. I once stood in line for three hours to get a choice seat at a basketball game. I'm aware of the many positive influences of sports can have on the lives of young people, but the domination of a young person's time is the part I now find difficult to accept. If a boy or girl spends three hours per day practicing ball, how much time is left to sleep? How much time is left to study school lessons? How much time is left to work at home responsibilities? How much time is left to sit down and eat a couple of meals with the family, and last but most important, how much time is being spent to prepare that child to become a champion for Jesus Christ? The Bible does say "Seek ye first the kingdom of God…".

At this writing I believe in public education. I've spent 39 of the last 40 years as a student, a teacher or school board member (past three years). But, at this point in life I firmly believe in Christian schools also. You and I could probably sit down and discuss that topic for hours, but let me make my point in this manner. Most people probably think parents send their children to Christian schools to protect them. Glenda and I have one remaining child in school (5th grade). I would like to have him in a Christian school, but not to protect him. Now to give you an explanation as to why, let me answer your question with another question. If you wanted to raise a champion basketball player, would you buy him the necessary basketball equipment and then send him to the nearest football field to practice?