Thank You for this post. More people are becoming aware of the concept of student/athlete. My experience is exactly as you describe. We taught our children to use sports as a vehicle to help take you into and through the real world. My children never planned on careers in professional sports unless it was as a professional sports statistician. My son graduated from the University of Chicago(DIII Wrestling) with a degree in Economics with a Minor concentration in statistics. A combination of hard work in the class room and on the mat in high school open up this opportunity to be accepted at U of C. He is currently gainfully employed in the Finance world in Los Angeles and still dreaming of one day being a statistician for a major professional sports franchise, but not a professional player. Wrestling took him from point "A" to point "B" (College) point "B" to Point "C" (Great Job) to Point "D"(Future Statistics JOB) to Point E F G..... and so on.
Once Again THANK YOU James D, Schoettle Sr