By Troy Vincent
NFL Player Engagement
Tis the season to treasure time with family and work with your parents and coaches to create an academic and athletic plan for the next six months.
Additionally, take time off to allow your body to rest and recover from this past football season, which may have been your last high school game and perhaps your last organized game ever.
As football fades away into holiday celebrations and a break from school, student-athletes can ponder their SATs and ACTs, while seniors can prepare for the offseason by looking at the system they may be playing in next year.
While enjoying this festive respite, the student-athlete should take advantage of this gift of time to think about two tracks: “How am I going to manage my time?” and “What is my plan?”
To arrive at these answers, ask what worked for you this year both on and off the field that you can carry over into next year, which will be here before you know it.
With this in mind, what were the highlights of this past season that will make you better next year?
Did you perform as well academically during the season as you do during the rest of the year?
Did you buy into what your coaches were trying to teach you, and what will you remember?
Did you make your teammates better and did your teammates make you better?
Did you and your teammates represent your institution in all the right ways.
This last question is especially important so you can be part of the solution in creating a friendly environment which allows people to be who they really are. Sports has always been the great melting pot of society that breaks down socio-economic barriers, where by working together true teams are built.
This enlightened thinking can help you become a better person and player in 2014.
This impact could be immediate since some of you at both the college and high school levels will immediately be back on the Gridiron, whether it be a Bowl game or an All-Star Game.
Others may be moving onto the next sport in season, such as your high school hoops team in winter or track team in spring, where the answers above remain relevant no matter what the sport.
Answers that increase areas of success through proper preparation & planning and time management.