A plea to area student-athletes

This is a column that I wrote in the Sept. 20, 2014, edition of the Daily News.

It is something to keep in mind given the situation with the Hilbert student-athlete and sportsmanship.


Athletes of today at all levels of sports live under a bigger microscope than ever before. Maybe within the last five to 10 years.
The reason? Social media and the Internet.
For the last few weeks, the NFL was been rocked with scandal surrounding domestic and child abuse, revolving around two of the league's top players — former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.
Sports are supposed to be fun. Athletes thrive on competition and have fun while playing. Professional athletes get paid to do it.
For high school student-athletes, they play in sports because they like to have fun, they love the competition and they get to do something fun with their friends or family members.
However, just one slip up, no matter the magnitude, an athlete is scolded, probably more so than someone not involved in sports.
It is often heard athletes are on a pedestal. That's why their actions are more closely monitored than others. Both sides are to blame. Fans put them on that pedestal because they play for a certain team or they are capable of doing things most dream of doing. At the same, athletes don't try to climb down. They love the spotlight.
Before the age of social media and the Internet, athletes at all levels seemed to get away with more than they do now. Therefore, their actions weren't frowned upon.
Today, one wrong move or bad choice of words can change an athlete's life. It's easier to catch them doing something wrong because of the spotlight and the instant ability to share the wrongdoing with the world.
This is not a pity column for Rice and/or Peterson. What they allegedly did was wrong.
Instead, this is a warning piece for area student-athletes. If there is anything to learn from the last couple of weeks, it's be mindful of your actions.
That's the biggest problem with sports and celebrities in general: Athletes are too often tried in the court of public opinion.
We are too quick to judge. It's guilty before innocent. That's true at the high school level as well.
All student-athletes have to adhere to a school's Code of Conduct. On the West Bend School District website, there is a 23-page document called The Athletic Code Handbook.
There is so much temptation these days for a student to slip up. And because of failures to adhere to conduct rules, the eyes watching over an athlete are bigger and tougher. The punishments are tougher and have greater ramifications down the road where one slip up could prevent a scholarship.
As someone who witnessed it, a bad decision can be a downer for a team.
So the next time the temptation is there, here's the plea to stop and think again. One wrong decision may take all the fun away, on and off the field of competition.