Athletic Support: Kids have changed, haven’t they? eli.cranor@gmail.com May 14, 2021 Eli Cranor is a former professional quarterback and coach turned award-winning author. Please use the “Contact” page at elicranor.com to send in questions for “Athletic Support.”

Dear Athletic Support: As a high school basketball player in the 70s, my teammates and I never gave it a thought about setting out a year when we would be moving up a level from Junior High to Senior High. We knew we were probably not going to get to play as much because of better and more experienced players on the varsity team. We knew that our time would come when we would be playing more as we got older and gained more experience in the sport with practice. We were good Junior High players, so we’d eventually be good Senior High players, too. As a teacher in high school and a follower of school sports, I see this is not the norm anymore. What makes these athletes think this way now compared to years ago?

— Paying Your Dues


Dear Dues: I can’t tell you whether kids have changed over the years or not. And that’s saying something because I’m around 14 to 18 year-old students every single day.

Their hairstyles are different. Sure. There’s this new fad called a “septum ring,” which just seems silly (and painful) to me. But have they actually changed? Do they truly lack the perseverance to stick it out and make the varsity team?

I don’t think so.

Kids are just kids. They’re like balls of clay. If you never apply heat—they’ll stay soft forever. What I mean here is that parents are the ones who have changed. Adults. We’re the ones to blame.

My momma always told me I wasn’t “grown” until I was out of her house and paying my own bills. Which meant I had to play by her rules. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

What I see these days is a lack of consequences from adults. Parents lost their backbones somewhere along the line and that’s bled over into sports.

Athletics are tough. Running wind sprints in the dog-days of summer is not easy. And the glory of scoring a touchdown on a Friday night is so far off at that point most kids can’t conceive it. They can’t imagine that the hard work they’re putting in during the summer will pay off big when the game is on the line.

And that’s okay because they’re just kids.

If I had to guess, you and all your buddies back in the 70s weren’t too thrilled about riding the pine at the start of your high school careers. I might be wrong. You might’ve loved it. But if you didn’t, and you were whining and complaining when you came home at night, telling your parents you were ready to quit… What did they say?

As adults — as parents — that’s the question we need to be asking ourselves. It’s always easier to give in. Nobody wants to endure a moping teenager over the course of an entire basketball season. But before you know it, the offseason will arrive, and that pimple-faced sophomore will become a budding junior and things will start to look up.

If you can convince your young athlete to stick it out, and he/she makes it all the way to Senior Night, I can guarantee you one thing — neither one of you will regret it.


Previous columns:

• Esports and disc golf bigger than football?
• Little pitchers have big ears
• Pregame music offensive
• Fouls in girls basketball
• Red Shirting
• Coach makes political post
• 7th grade girls basketball woes
• Multi-million-dollar buyouts don’t make sense
• Private schools have the upper hand
• Best of 2020

Athletic Support Columns 2020


Outside of athletics, kids’ brains are also at risk. Who knows what sort of impact virtual learning will have on their cognition and critical thinking skills. In this regard, I offer one simple tool — a good book! And luckily, I know just the book for kids struggling with the shift to virtual learning:

BOOKS MAKE BRAINZ TASTE BAD! Okay, you caught me… I’m the author of this book. It was published last week and awarded a #1 New Release ranking on Amazon. BMBTB deals directly with the same topic covered in this column, except in a much more lighthearted, kid-friendly way (zombie teachers and brain-munching screens!) If you end up purchasing this book for your children or grandchildren, I only have one final suggestion — ask them to read it while standing up! Eli Cranor's new book Books Make Brainz Taste Bad has just been released. ZOMBIES HATE BOOKS! Especially the zombie teachers at Haven Middle School. That's why they're using VR headsets to fry kids' brainz. Luckily, Dash Storey knows how to save his classmates from the zombie teachers—BOOKS! They make brainz taste bad! "Eli Cranor has an almost unbeatable advantage. He can remember how it felt to think like a twelve-year-old and he can see the very same events like the adult he is. Don't try to resist this book!" - Jack Butler, Pulitzer-Prize nominated author