In many school districts around the country, a student-athlete must maintain a certain grade-point average. Some districts require a 2.0, or C average; others require a 2.5. This demands that the student-athlete concentrate extra hard in the classroom in order to remain eligible for a sport. Students with athletic talent who prefers those activities to classroom learning can focus on the sport to the extent that her grades are affected. This could be a sticking point for an athletic team and the student, as well as the district.
There are occasions when a student tries to participate in an athletic activity even if he has no athletic ability. In some cases, the student just wants to be a part of something and knows he isn't the most talented. However, if he has a bad experience in a practice or a game, a situation in which he feels he has been embarrassed, that can hurt his self-esteem and even cause him to quit -- a bad lesson learned.
A good coach is a positive role model and can have a strong effect on a student's performance in a sport. However, some coaches have a negative effect on a student because of her temperament, demands or having very little knowledge of a sport. A negative coach can send a student backward in terms of development. The coach can also have a negative effect on self-esteem. A good athletic director can help prevent this. Hiring a good coach for a sport can make a big difference.
If kids are never allowed to fail and are yelled at or pulled out every time they do something wrong, they're being trained to be afraid to try.
Parents have been known to live through their children as the students participate in an athletic activity, regardless of sport. Demands for excellence and playing can be overwhelming to a teenager and her coach. Parents sometimes act as though they know more than anybody, which can be very negative at a teenager's athletic event. Some parents even insist their children play only one sport year-round. Another issue is the demands placed on a teenager in terms of expectations. Sometimes they are so high that the student cannot reach them. Burnout in kids' sports can be caused by a "play at all costs" attitude by the parents and coaches, via overtraining and excessive travel.