2% or 98%

I've seen several various studies regarding what percentage of high school athletes actually receive athletic financial aid to participate in college. The research I've seen puts that magic number at below 2%. Less than 2% of all the high school athletes in the United States receive any financial aid (scholarship) to participate in their sport in college. That brings to my mind a few thoughts.
First, if less than 2% of the athletes we work with at the high school level are actually good enough to "take it to the next level" should our focus be on the 2% or the other 98%. I've seen a countless number of coaches, who had one of these rare, gifted athletes come across their practice field and receive 98% of the coaches focus, leaving the other 2% of his or her attention to the large majority of the team. If that seems backwards, well, it is! As stated before I've seen this too many times to count, and I've NEVER seen a coach with this approach that had a consistently successful program. Some of the reasons for their programmatic mediocrity are obvious. Simply put a single individual can't "do it all!" I suppose one might argue the point with the rare example such as James Segrest. He was a teammate of my high school track coach, Charley Walton. Amazingly, as a senior at Bangs, TX High School Coach Segrest (he later became a very successful track coach and member of numberous "halls of fame)won the Texas State Track and Field Championship. You might ask, "what event?" Actually, he placed first in the 100, 220 (they ran yards then rather than meters) and the 440! He also placed 4th in the long jump, scoring 34 points for the mighty Dragons. He was Bangs' only qualifier and the 1954 State Championship "team" trophy still sits in the Bangs High School trophy case! Yes, James Segrest won the team title by himself... and then he graduated. Coach Walton told us time and again how the Dragon track programs was really nothing to write home about prior to Coach Segrest's arrival, nor was it much after his graduation. It was the case of one gifted athlete randomly passing through the Dragon hallways for four years. In contrast one might look at a program such as the Katy High School football program. They occasionally have an "athlete" receive some minor financial aid to play in college. They have even had some outstanding athletes, but what has sustained their consistent success for over 2 decades is their coaches focus on the 98%. They develop every athlete to reach his maximum mental and physical potential. Thus success has become a way of life for the Tigers.
Another thought on the statistic of the "less than 2%" is that it has always seemed that about 98% of the parents believe that their child is part of that 2%. I was recently contacted by yet another mom whose child (will be a freshman) is an "extremely gifted" track and field athlete, and I should work with her one-on-one because not only would it help the child develop but would also help my reputation when are accolades come to fruition. I don't want to get back into the parent issue. Spent too much time on them in the last blog.
The "2%er" under the coach that only shows attention to them also often realizes that they are "special," and as soon as they do, they often begin to decline. Former Rice University Track Coach, Augie Erfurth always said that "as soon as you think you've arrived you couldn't be further from the mark." In other words, as soon as you think you've made it to the top, there's only one way to go.
My final thought of the day regarding the "2%" club is that they would likely be successful under almost any other coach's guidance. I was fortunate to have a good number of these athletes and I can say that some of them could have been coached by Daffy Duck and they would have been successful. That is not to say that we as coaches don't possess the ability to screw things up, but occasionally the athlete shows up that simply has all the ingredients. They are talented enough, confident enough, humble enough, smart enough and have reasonable parents. Some find it depressing that those ingredients seem pretty simple, and yet they only make up less than 2% of all high school athletes. I don't find it depressing at all. To me, it seems that the 98% can be led to possess all except 2 of those "key ingredients." Natural talent is, well, natural, but we can coach them to be the best they can be, and the athlete has nothing to do with whether their parents are reasonable or not.