The Sports Doc Chalk Talk

Ever since Junior Seau’s surprising suicide a week ago, the mainstream sports media has continued to rev up the coverage of false correlations suggesting brain damage, concussions, and head trauma are to blame for Seau’s (and others like him) troubles upon sport retirement.  This is surprising, especially as we have plenty of sport psychology research to examine over the last 20-30 years that actually points quite clearly to a number of inter-related psychosocial factors that are far more responsible for sport retirement difficulties.  From a personal standpoint, I have tried to reach out to a number of national outlets to help better inform people about what research has found, and not what many media folks are trying to develop as the primary reason why athletes struggle (the brain damage theory). Thus far, these attempts have been met with very little interest.

Although brain damage should certainly be considered when an athlete displays any kind of cognitive trouble, it’s also important to widen the lens and look at many of the facts we now know in 2012 to be true:

• First, millions of athletes each year struggle with sport retirement.  These athletes are sometimes from the professional level, but they are also found at the college and high school level, too.  In fact, I bet you probably know a young person who had difficulty with sport retirement, even if he/she wasn’t suicidal.
• The vast majority of athletes who have trouble with the sport retirement transition do not have brain trauma, and most come from sports that are low- or no-contact sports.  Athletes who compete in baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and wrestling are at-risk, as are athletes from many other sports.  While it is true that these athletes do experience physical play, rarely do they experience concussions and/or head trauma.
• With athletes today often starting the sports careers as early as 5-6 years old, and many specializing in one sport and playing it year-round, it’s easy to see why so many develop an exclusive athletic identity that sometimes limits their self-value beyond that of “athlete.”  This paradigm has nothing to do with concussions of brain damage, but instead a product of how one perceives oneself, couple by how the world around the athlete often limits his/her worth to athletics.
• Many athletes, especially talented ones, foreclose on their future careers outside of sports and display what we call a low level of career maturity.  What this means is that they are often far behind in the “normal” career path that one takes, often having an unrealistic expectation of going pro in their sport (and as a result not very invested in looking into more realistic careers).
• Even though we know countless athletes from all different sports and age levels struggle with sport retirement, there are still very few programs available to help athletes with the sport retirement transition.  Making things more difficult is the “machismo” mindset many athletes have that served them well in sports (not asking for help but doing things on their own).  While this might make a strong athlete, it usually limits people from gaining the help they need in order to readjust to a new identity and learn more about potential future careers beyond sports.

It’s really amazing to me how the sports media continues to push a theory that at best is speculative, and at worst is incredibly irresponsible when you think of the empirical evidence we have ascertained over the last few decades.  Hopefully some of the sports media folks will begin actually talking to athletes (and not just football players) and explore the many issues they experience pertaining to athletic identity, role confusion, career maturity, future planning, and the lack of help available.  If they listen closely to retired athletes, they will see that the issues are far more tied to psychosocial variables than biological “brain damage.”

www.drstankovich.com

Check out Positive Transitions for Student Athletes for more information on sport retirement and how you can help an athlete who is struggling with life after sports.

Many athletes struggle with sport retirement, and not because they have all experienced brain damage or concussions (although that sometimes occurs).  The more prevalent reasons for difficulties experienced during sport retirement have to do with psychosocial factors, including the identity and athlete develops, as well as the lack of programming available to athletes when they are no longer able to play.  Of course, every athlete experiences sport retirement in his or her own unique ways, but on this video I discuss some of the common issues athletes experience during this abrupt and often difficult transition.

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Having studied psychology and mental health disorders for many years (as well as being a licensed practicing clinician), I have long been troubled by the trend for doctors to quickly prescribe anti-depressants to their patients without first encouraging other, safer alternatives.  Since the 1990′s, increasingly more doctors have quickly bypassed recommending things like professional counseling, exercise, or trying new hobbies and interests (all things that can really help with mood state), and instead quickly scribbled out scripts for anti-depressants.  Of course, if these new pills worked significantly better than the other ideas I just presented, and if these pills were 100% safe, I don’t think using them would be much of a concern.  Unfortunately, that’s simply not the case.

Last night 60 Minutes ran a segment on the efficacy of anti-depressants versus placebo effects, citing Harvard social scientist Irving Kirsch’s discoveries when evaluating real anti-depressant medications against placebos (or sugar pills).  Kirsch’s findings were really nothing new, and certainly not any different than what other research scientists have known for years — that is, anti-depressants only “work” because of the belief the patient has when using them, and not due to the chemical properties of the drugs themselves.  In other words, the changes patients claim they experience are due to the placebo effect, not the medication.

The problem, however, is that in the United States we are constantly bombarded with really great advertising that tells us if we are depressed, the answer to our problems might just be one quick office visit away.  As one of only two countries in the world that allows for direct drug marketing to consumers on television, these fancy ads coupled with our intense desire to get better provide for the perfect storm, so to speak.  In other words, when we feel depressed and are “ripe” for an answer, and then see a 30 second ad of a Zoloft egg bouncing around happy, it’s easy to see why so many potential consumers light up with excitement and quickly schedule a visit with their doctor as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, the problems we experience in life don’t simply “go away” by taking a pill (similarly to how they don’t go away from getting drunk, either).  The problems at home, mounting bills, and battles with health problems don’t get better by taking a pill — these situations only improve by learning important life coping skills.

So why are anti-depressants so widespread if:

A) they have been scientifically found to not work any better than a sugar pill, and

B) they put the patient at great risk for side-, interaction-, and withdrawal effects — check the black box warnings to learn more

Listed below are some of the big reasons why so many people continue to be prescribed these drugs:

• There is huge money in pharmaceuticals today, and these companies are not afraid to spend money.  This is the reason why we see so many ads today, and the more of the ads we see the more confident we become that these drugs really “work.”  Most people figure that if they see something enough, it must be true – this is called the mere exposure effect.
• Patients often ask their doctors directly for these medications, and often doctors are happy to acquiesce.  In some cases, doctors really believe in the value of anti-depressants, while in other cases doctors assume the placebo effect will “work” and that the potential side effects are worth the risk.  In other cases doctors know that patients expect to be given drugs during medical appointments, and would feel short-changed if the doctor told them the real things that help with mood state – like counseling and exercise programs.
• When clients do experience side effects, in most cases they continue to use these drugs because they blame the side effects on their disorder (i.e. depression), and not the medications!  In fact, in some cases patients take even more of the medication in order to overcome the side effects.

While we would all love to find a quick fix for our problems in life, the reality is these answers are not in the form of anti-depressant pills (as science is revealing through ongoing empirical findings).  Scott Peck, author of the popular The Road Less Traveled, starts his book with one very important sentence:

Life is difficult.

Think about that for a moment — the problems we face in life are difficult, and success doesn’t happen from casual efforts.  We need to also remember that there are no fast “silver bullet” answers when it comes to life’s problems, even if we wish there were.  Anti-depressants, which work no better than placebos and carry many potential problems with them, should not be the first thing we seek when we hit rough waters in life.  Instead, learning life skills like communication skills, conflict resolution, and stress reducing techniques should be tried first, along with developing a physical exercise program.  Most people dramatically improve their mood state from just those life changes, and professional counseling can help round out the self-improvement process for those still looking for even better improvement. 

Check out our Life Wellness programs to help improve mood state and the quality of your life!

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The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM), published by the American Psychological Association, is widely accepted as the bible for mental health descriptions and conditions.  The book has been updated several times over the years, and is slated for it’s next update in 2013.  If you have never seen the DSM before (and it’s likely you haven’t), you might be surprised at the depth and breadth of the number of “disorders” presented, and if you look close enough you might even find that you fit the criteria of one of them.  In fact, critics have argued that the DSM has become too liberal with identifying “new” disorders, as well as loosening the criteria needed to “qualify” for a disorder.

Mental Illness

So, what is mental illness, anyway?  Interestingly, there are many different ways to examine mental illness, and to some extent, what one person might see as “mentally ill” the next person might see as “quirky,” “creative,” or just “different.”  In fact, it is from this perspective that some are wondering if the DSM is becoming so loose in its defining mental illnesses that nearly everyone could be diagnosed with something — leaving conspiracy theorists to surmise that once these “disorders” are labeled, pharmaceutical companies end up being the true winners as the manufacturers of the drugs that psychiatrists recommend their patients use to address their problems.

If you were to develop a continuum of people ranging from those who seem relatively healthy and stable on one side, to those with clear mental problems/limitations (i.e. of harm to oneself or others) on the other, it’s actually all the people in the middle who are the ones that seem to be of the greatest interest to mental health professionals.  Who is “normal” versus “abnormal?”  And who needs to be “put on something” versus who might benefit from just a couple lifestyle changes and possibly therapy?  It is here where the debates rage, and where the DSM (and it’s ever-changing criteria) end up having real consequences for real people.

Having taught clinical psychology at the college level, it has always been an entertaining classroom discussion to hear students ponder over what’s normal, abnormal, quirky, odd, and different — as well as what people should be diagnosed with something, and what people should be put on something.  As the DSM evolves and spells out “disorders” for clinicians, decisions are made that in many cases lead to the prescription of one (or many) medications – some that include serious side effect concerns.  The other problems that often occur when a person is diagnosed with a mental illness are the following:

• Patients often overly-value the benefits of their new medication, and as a result place less emphasis on behavioral changes (after all, only the drug can fix their problems, right?)
• Patients often believe they are permanently “branded” with the mental disorder for the rest of their life (and therefore need to continue on using their medications forever).  Of course, in some cases medications may be needed to protect the patient from danger to himself (or others), but in many other cases positive changes occur in the patient’s life, leaving him less needy of the drug (i.e. he is no longer depressed).

The Impact of the DSM, Treatment Decisions, and Future Consequences

Unfortunately, for potential clients in the United States today seeking therapy they will likely need a DSM mental disorder code in order for their insurer to reimburse.  This is unfortunate for a number of reasons, including the fact that a disorder needs to be “found” – which often leads to an even bigger problem of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  For example, the person seeking assistance after going through a tough divorce may come to believe that she is depressed – and depression lasts for a lifetime – and the only way to control the depression is by taking several different pills each day.  Without a DSM diagnosis, the odds of an insurance company helping out a patient who is simply going through a tough time in life is almost zero.  Sadly, once a patient receives her diagnosis, it often only serves as a really bad lifelong tattoo, re-emerging during times like when the individual applies for future life and/or health insurance (she will now be a “high-risk,” and pay a ton more for her coverage).

Getting back to the original discussion, it’s interesting to see what the new DSM will evolve into in 2013.  If, as critics warn, the diagnoses become even more liberal (you should read some of the criteria to see what I am referring to), more people will soon learn they have “something,” and likely will feel the immediate need to remedy and temper their condition by quickly going on some kind of drug(s).  Skeptics wonder if it will be this new disorder discovery, coupled by the new drugs these patients take, that end up causing the real problems — and not the initial concern for the call to the doctor.  Interesting to think about, isn’t it?

Check out our Life Success Audio programs – designed to help with human happiness, health, and life productivity!

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As 2011 comes to an end and the new year approaches, millions of people worldwide are giving thought to what resolutions they would like to achieve in the coming year.  For many, the goals will be fairly common ones, such as losing weight, quitting smoking, or getting back in shape.  For others, the goals may be more unique and include ideas around becoming a better spouse, or earning a promotion at work.  Regardless of what resolutions you set for 2012, the bigger challenge that looms for all goal setters is adhering to the goals (also known as goal compliance).  In other words, developing mental toughness and actually doing what you want to do.

Throughout my life I have always appreciated little tidbits of motivational advice – one that I think about almost on a daily basis is the following:

“Ideas are a dime a dozen, but putting ideas into action is priceless”

It is from this perspective that I have studied others (and myself) as to why the “action” step to reaching the goals stated always seems to be the challenge.  So often we start out with great intentions, but then something happens – and we fall short of reaching our goals.  Over the years I have written extensively about what I have learned, and have even developed various life success programs to help others with their efforts.  Admittedly, answering all the reasons why people sometimes fail to reach their goals in just a few paragraphs here is impossible, but there are a few quick key tips that I think can immediately help those out there who are eager to reach their 2012 new year resolutions:

• Life changes – especially ones you are serious about – don’t need a target date to get started (meaning you don’t need to wait until January 1st).  Change can actually begin in a moments notice - and often does – so if you are really, really serious about your new goals, you are free to get started!
• When hurdles arise (and they will, like when a family member brings home junk food and you are trying to lose weight), the key is to train your mind to view these situations as challenges, not as threats. How you perceive the world around you will determine the actions that you take — roll your sleeves up for the challenge.  It’s also a good idea to think about the challenges that are ahead of you, an effective technique therapists call stress inoculation.
• Be realistic. Research studies have consistently found that when people set goals that are too difficult or unrealistic, they often become demotivated and eventually quit.  Instead, set challenging goals that you really believe you can achieve.
• Pay attention to daily, or micro-goals. Don’t overlook the little things as they will serve as strong building blocks for the months ahead.
• Go after your resolutions with conviction! Get excited and share your enthusiasm with others – not only will they cheer your efforts but also give you support during the tough times.

For more professional tips and advice on changing habits and developing balance and resiliency in life, check out the Advanced Human Performance Systems Life Success Package!

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It’s no secret that millions of Americans each year are prescribed antidepressant medication to help them better handle their depressed mood state and overall outlook on life.  Ironically, even though millions of people (including many kids) are prescribed these medications, psychiatric medical experts like Dr. Peter Breggin are very outspoken about the many issues and problems with these drugs.  Still, the beat goes on as increasingly more people each year turn to pills to beat their woes, rather than other less risky endeavors to improve their mental toughness, including exercise, learning new coping skills, or psychological counseling.

Since around the year 2000 when anti-depressant commercials began to really hit the television airways, it’s been very interesting to look back and see how far we have come in the last 10+ years.  As a practicing clinician, I would like to make ten personal observations related to antidepressants (including efficacy), general wellness, and established paradigms in America that have stayed relatively stable over the last 10 years:

10 years later and…

• We still have antidepressant ads that run on television regularly, prompting millions of people to quickly reach out to their doctor for that “magic bullet” that will immediately improve their mood state.  Interestingly, the United States is one of only two countries in the world that allows pharmaceutical companies to market directly to consumers through television ads, prompting many critics to voice their concerns over how many people are literally lead to self-diagnose and treat (through drugs, of course).
• We are still looking for the “magic bullet.”  Rather than actually making personal changes and learning effective coping skills, we still have too many people who want to make it all go away by swallowing a pill daily.  While it would be nice to think a pill can fix your daily stress, this is more wishful thinking than reality.
• We are still ignoring side effects of these medications, or erroneously blaming the side effects on the disorder and not the medication.  Interactions with other drugs, and withdrawal effects have also been noted by medical experts – but again when these things happen many patients simply blame their experiences as a result of their depression, and not the medication(s).
• We are still minimizing and/or ignoring the facts that show placebo treatments to be on par with the actual efficacy rates of various antidepressant medications.  Most double-blind controlled studies, even today, still do not show statistically significant differences for these drugs versus placebo treatments.
• We still don’t want to face the fact that even with a medication to control symptoms, we still need to learn coping skills in order to be happy and successful in life.  Pills, at best, may help control symptoms (even if it’s a placebo effect), but they don’t fix a broken marriage or make your bills magically go away.
• There is still far less interest in investing time and money in counseling when a perceived effective medicine is available.  Counseling takes time, costs money, and is often viewed as a burden to one’s schedule or privacy — even though the long-term success rates from counseling are far better than the perceived temporary relief from an antidepressant.
• There are still far too many doctors that too easily comply with their patients when they request an antidepressant medication.  Sadly, all a person has to do is watch a few commercials and memorize the symptoms — most doctors will quickly acquiesce to the patient’s request for a prescription if he/she later describes having those symptoms (and will do this more regularly than advise a patient to seek therapy).
• There is still a general resistance to the fact that “life is difficult” (to quote Scott Peck in The Road Less Traveled).  What this means is that there are going to plenty of ups and downs in life, and simply because you are tired or feel sad doesn’t necessarily mean you should race out and jump on an antidepressant medication!
• There are still too many unknowns about “chemical imbalances” (the terrific marketing used in scaring us into thinking we might actually have one of these, and therefore need medicine to fix it!).  What is a chemically unbalanced brain?  Better yet, whats a chemically balanced brain??  Aren’t we really in flux all the time – from the tranquil state we experience at rest to the chaos of getting the kids off to school in the morning?  And isn’t this somewhat….normal?
• There is still too much elevated (false) hope in pills.  In a best-case scenario, patients on antidepressants should be working in conjunction with a therapist and making concerted efforts to change irrational thinking and harmful behaviors.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of patients today still only use their daily medication as their means for “improvement.”

Mental disorders are nothing to take lightly, and in no way am I suggesting that all medications are bad, per se.  Unfortunately, with multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies with big investments in medications, direct television advertising, and a country full of people yearning for a “quick fix” to their problems, far too many people — and especially kids — are being treated by unproven drugs and at the expense of actually learning coping skills and strengthening their resiliency!

What we need for the future is more research on these medications, less direct television ads designed to incite fear and paranoia, and a greater emphasis on better self-care and management.  We need to better understand and accept that life is full tough times, and it’s not unusual to feel the stress and depressed mood states that are associated with life difficulties and challenges.  We also need to realize that when we are “down,” it doesn’t automatically mean we have a permanant type of depression that can only be “fixed” by some pills in a prescription bottle.

As a professional counselor of almost 20 years, I have personally witnessed a decline in our collective resiliency, and a new generation emerge that talks as casually about prescription drugs as the generations before them did of street drugs.  Today’s teens are very aware of the various drugs being used to treat mental disorders, and they know how to find, steal, barter, and buy them.

Lets hope the next ten years are better than the last ten, and that fewer kids will turn to a perceived “quick fix” for their symptoms rather than more measured and prudent ways to cope with life stress.

Life Enhancement products can be found at Advanced Human Performance Systems – get 2012 off to a great start!!

www.drstankovich.com

ESPN premiered “The Marinovich Project” last week, offering up close and personal views of the way Todd Marinovich was raised to play football under his father Marv’s relentless training.  This story was especially interesting to me, as I am about the same age as Todd, and even back in the 1980′s (before the internet!) I remember hearing about this “bionic QB” being built out in California by his dad.  Unlike today, where high school athletes are regularly talked about on ESPN and other national sport outlets, for us to even hear — much less watch video — of a high school quarterback from the west coast was simply unheard of.  I remember seeing Marinovich on television and hearing about all the hype surrounding how he was literally “built” to play football – and how his dad controlled his every meal and put him through unbelievable training workouts.

Since first hearing about Marinovich in high school, I continued to watch from afar as he went on to play college and professional football, and I went on to graduate school to study human thinking and behavior.  While I never obsessed on Marinovich, he was always in the back of my mind, especially later in my professional counseling career when meeting with parents at my office that seemed to be obsessed with their kid’s athletic development. After watching Marinovich burn out from football, his story (sadly) served as an example I used with parents who were clearly going too hard with their kid.

What one famous behaviorist once said…

Interestingly, I remember in graduate school learning about the famous behaviorist John Watson, and specifically learning about his claims that if he could control all the surroundings of a kid from birth onto adulthood, that he could essentially develop the kid into anything he wanted (i.e. a doctor, artist, accountant, etc.).  His argument was that environment, not genetics, play a much bigger role when it comes to human development.  In the Marinovich example, one could easily say Watson’s theory may have held up – at least for a short while.  While Marv did seemingly develop his kid into an elite-level QB, the price they both paid for the efforts seems to have been a hefty one indeed (ESPN revealed their personal struggles in the program – Todd with drugs, and Marv with failed marriages).

Some of my other observations from the Marinovich program included:

• This was a perfect example of erroneous human thinking – we often believe if somebody is “good” at something, they must also love doing it.  Todd admitted he liked playing football, but to objectively parse out that he “loved” playing was rather difficult, especially with his militant-style father never giving him a chance to experience life without football.
• The pursuit of playing in the NFL seemed to serve as a utopia for the Marinovich’s, leaving Todd in no-mans land once he finally made it to the league.  What do you do for the rest of your life once you have played in the NFL at the age of 21??  Todd struggled with this, and admitted on the program he really didn’t know what to do “next” as this was his end-all, be-all lifelong pursuit.
• Marv Marinovich appeared to be a very loving and caring father, but also a troubled one.  He clearly obsessed with Todd’s development, even to the point of losing jobs and marriages.  Supporting your child is one thing, but living your entire life through your child is another.
• It was really no surprise for me to learn about the drug usage Todd admitted to while playing football.  Of course, it’s never advised to recklessly use street drugs, but in the case of Todd Marinovich it’s easy to see why he would turn to drugs (or anything for that matter) that would provide a respite from all the pressure and expectations placed upon him.  Again, this doesn’t excuse or endorse the behavior, but instead hopes to explain it.
• I found Todd to be a very interesting, thoughtful, and caring guy.  Most of us simply saw him as some kind of super-human machine when we first heard of him in the 1980′s, but after all that he has been through he came off in the program as a level-headed and cerebral guy.  No bitterness, no animosity, and no hatred toward his dad (or anyone else).  If anything, he appeared more confused by all that has happened the last 25+ years of his life – almost as if he had been on the sidelines watching his life play out based on a story written by his dad.

I’m sure there are other parents out there today similar to Marv Marinovich, obsessed with their child’s athletic development to the point where all other life pursuits are thwarted.  This is unfortunate for a number of reasons, the least being the fact that even with 24/7 training the pursuit of one day becoming a professional is still an unbelievable long-shot for most kids (even if John Watson would think differently if he were alive today!).  Not only are the odds against “making it” (even Todd Marinovich admitted to his God-given talents being just as, if not more important as his training was), but leading an imbalanced life as Todd did often sets people up to be unprepared in many other important ways.  Even in the best-case scenario when an athlete does “make it,” the average professional sports career is only 3-4 years, making holistic life skill development that much more important than exclusive sport training.

Every sports family should watch the Todd Marinovich story and talk openly as a family about the tradeoffs that often come part and parcel with 100% devoting to sport development.  At the end of the day, we should, at minimum, learn a few basic things from this story:

- While it sounds great in theory, John Watson’s original idea of creating a persona (i.e. a football quarterback) is really more of a talking point for balancing nature vs. nurture when it comes to personality development. To try an control a young persons surroundings like Marv Marinovich did is not only unhealthy, but potentially dangerous.

- When people feel overwhelmed, pressured, and don’t see a way out of their circumstances, it is very common for them to turn to drugs, alcohol, or a number of other reckless and dangerous behaviors.  The short answer for this is that they provide a temporary “break,” or respite, so that the individual doesn’t have to continue to stress out over his or her circumstances.

- Perhaps the biggest oversight by Marv Marinovich was that while he taught his son how to succeed on the field, he apparently stopped short of teaching Todd how to use his athletic skills off the field.  When an athlete compartmentalizes all his learning through sport into only being useful in sports, he has missed an incredibly invaluable learning opportunity.  Ironically, Todd Marinovich learned countless athletic transferable skills (i.e. discipline, teamwork, goal setting, etc.), yet was never taught how to parlay those skills into everyday life experiences (like learning how to successfully deal with stress).

Check out our entire line of sport and life skill products at the AHPS website!

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Life stress can come in the form of negative events (like losing a job), as well as positive events (like planning for the holidays).  Unfortunately, regardless of the source of the stressor (good or bad), our bodies often react and respond by breaking down physically and emotionally — unless we learn how to safely and effectively cope with stress.  Fortunately, help is on the way in the form of our exciting new app, The Life Stress Test!

The Life Stress Test (.99 in the Apple apps store) is a professionally designed test you can complete in just a few minutes, and will provide you with specific results and feedback along a number of potentially stressful dimensions, including time management, assertiveness, organization skills, resiliency, and self confidence.  By learning how to recognize and effectively respond to stress, you will learn how to better plan and navigate your life — resulting in a happier, healthier, and more productive life.

Take control of your life and beat life stress — get started today with the NEW Life Stress Test!

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There is no disputing that it’s a different youth sports landscape today than it was only a few years ago, when in the old days it was a regular sighting to witness kids assembling pick-up games in the backyards and games of H.O.R.S.E. on driveway basketball courts (Sport Success 360).  Today, those distant memories are being replaced by a generation of student athletes constantly “plugged in” electronically to their friends through social media via Facebook, Twitter, IM, email, and all other electronic means of texting communication.  In fact, in increasingly more instances it appears as though today’s kids are literally tethered to their smart phones, seemingly afraid that by not being “plugged in” they will be left out of life’s exciting happenings.  The important question, therefore, pertains to the negative effects kids experience while choosing to be connected 24/7 to their Facebook, while at the same time missing out on real-life academic, social, and athletic opportunities?

I have personally witnessed a change in recent years with the student athletes I counsel at my practice, as it has become a common sighting to witness student athletes regularly looking down into their lap, purse, or gym bag to check their Facebook page while in the middle of counseling sessions.  Interestingly, in the vast majority of these instances the kids don’t bother to look up and acknowledge the momentary disruption in our dialogue, but instead simply carry on as though the device is just a small part of our session. Of course, with each instant message that comes through, the youngster’s attention is divided, and we inevitably have to go back to the previous comments to “find our place” again after the disruption.

Being tethered to virtual communication is exciting for many kids (and a lot of adults), but there are many consequences to consider – especially as they apply to student athletes.

●      It is often perceived as rude. It goes without saying that people don’t like having their face-to-face communication disrupted by a text message or Facebook update, but this is exactly what is happening increasingly more these days.  For student athletes, especially when talking to coaches, AD’s, and possibly future college coaches, this type of behavior sends the message (no pun intended) that the virtual conversation is far more important than anything to be gained in the face-to-face meeting.

●      You miss out on real-life things – like sports! For kids who are constantly connected to their devices, one thing they are not doing is using that time to play pickup games, lift, run, or do anything else that can help them improve in their sport.

●      It fosters dependence, not independence. The perception that people have when watching kids constantly connected to their devices is that they are overly-dependent on their friends, and may not have the confidence and skills needed to make future independent decisions.

●      Security risks for when things “get out.” As we all know virtual communication is anything but safe, as we have all heard the stories of controversial messages and pictures that have gotten out to the public.  For student athletes, this kind of unwanted attention could impact athletic eligibility, as well as future potential athletic scholarships.

●      Multi-tasking and the threats to time management. Lets face it, it takes time to keep up with your virtual friends, return IM, texts, and email, and make regular posts on your wall.  Again, the question becomes what other things suffer because of the huge time commitments needed to “keep up” in the virtual world?  With some kids easily going over 5000 texts in a month (yes, you heard that correctly), is it any wonder when you see grades drop in school?

Being plugged in to social media and electronic communication can be a really fun and exciting life endeavor, but it can also be a very life-draining experience when there is little time left over for real, face-to-face life interactions.  The key is to balance virtual communication with real-life living so that real-life opportunities aren’t missed or overlooked simply because of the responsibilities need to stay “plugged in” to the virtual world.

Get “plugged in” to the many ways you can help your kids get the most from sports by checking out our high performance line of products at www.drstankovich.com