Kids Issue Double cover with willow and Jaden Smith

St udent Gr eat ness
About
that life!
By: Marage Blakeney
Many young student athletes face
various challenges that their other
classmates may not endure. In addition
to keeping up with their academic
classes, they must learn time
management, perseverance,
commitment, and dedication at an early
age. In fact a blog listed on
www.psychologytoday.com suggest that
opponents ?believe that sport
participation decreases grades because
young athletes are over burdened with
practices and games. As a result, they
don?t have time to focus on
schoolwork.? However,
www.aspenprojectplay.org reveals that,
"high school athletes are more likely
than non-athletes to attend college and
get degrees; team captains, MVPs (Most
Valuable Player) achieve in school at
even higher rates (US Dept. of
Education, 2005). The benefits extend
to the workplace. A survey of 400
female corporate executives found 94%
played a sport and that 61% say that
has contributed to their career
success." Haywood Hale Brown, once
said that, "Sports do not build character
they reveal it." Recently, I had the
pleasure of meeting four young
individuals whose characters?reveal
that they are beating the odds of being
honor students and excelling in sports.
Aamaiya Ijames is nine years old and is
a fourth grader at Kannapolis Charter
Academy. She is a cheerleader, member
of the drill team, and runs the 400/200
meter dash for the Salisbury Speedsters
(an Amateur Athletic Union 'AAU' track
team). Following her mother's passion
for track competitions, Aamaiya is
determined to beat her opponents and
get better at the 400 meter dash. In
fact, she has set personal goals to
monitor her progress. She has
completed the 200 meter race in less
than 30 seconds. The A/B honor roll
student is able to maintain her
academic high scores by prioritizing.
She completes her class and homework
first and then focuses on her sport
practices and run in her spare time. By
being a young student-athlete, Aamaiya
has learned to never give up and if you
try you can succeed. It is also important
to remember that if you believe in it,
you can do it. Aamaiya receives a lot of
inspiration from Olympian, Allyson
Felix, who is making a name for herself
in the track and field sport industry.
Ricky Horton is a 15 year old basketball
shooting guard position and a
linebacker football player exualted
athlete at Zebulon B. Vance High
School. Similar to Aamaiya's story, Ricky
is following in his father's footsteps. His
father played basketball, football, and
baseball in his younger years.
Therefore, sports has been a vital part
of Ricky's social and physical
development. He has been playing
football and basketball all of his life,
since 5 years old. Ricky had to learn to
overcome the challenge of keeping his