Teachers vs athletes

Esther Cepeda (article Aug. 6) doesn’t seem to realize how few professional athletes there are versus teachers. And, these professional athletes are the ones left after girls are effectively out(revenue issue – male vs. female sports), guys who don’t want to participate, those who can’t, those who can but realize they aren’t good enough, those who will eventually get cut from the team, those who will be injured (or will retire early due to an injury) or those who will suffer later for the “hits” they took during their playing time.

Maybe we should be asking why professional athletics is allowed at all.

I found some NCAA research from 2013 (“Estimated probability of competing in athletics beyond high school”) that says:

▪  3 in 10,000 male high school basketball players will reach the NBA

▪  8 in 10,000 male high school football players will reach the NFL

▪  1 in 200 for baseball

▪  1 in 1,000 for soccer

Are these odds you think you should be playing your child’s future against?

Good luck becoming a teacher – it’s not as exclusive as sports, but it is tougher than ever to get in, and I’m seeing more people leaving and moving around than ever before!

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Teachers vs athletes."