Pop Warner-Youth Football-Youth Cheer

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May, 2022

Champions in the Classroom

Every year, I look forward to celebrating the hard work and achievements of our All-American Scholars. I am always so incredibly proud of the remarkable commitment thousands of our young student-athletes make to their academics, and no more so than these past few years which brought challenges of remote schooling and limited interaction with friends and teammates. It’s an exciting time, and one I hope you all get to enjoy with family and friends.

In the midst of this year’s celebration, I was asked “what does it mean to be a student-athlete?”

Luckily, Pop Warner has many great examples of what happens when you work hard not only in your sport but also in the classroom. Aerospace engineers. Police officers. Nurses. NFL players and executives. Teachers. Business CEOs. These are just a few.

Being a student-athlete is in our DNA. We were built on promoting the dual values of athletics and academics. It all started (nearly 100 year ago!) with the idea of giving young people a place where they could learn lifelong values that go beyond sport and be applied to all aspects of life. Today, we remain the only national youth football, cheer and dance organization with established academic standards. We believe that this distinction – the standards we set for our participants – instills in them a sense of responsibility that will help now and later on in life.

Being a student-athlete means managing your time, giving strong effort in school and extracurricular activities, making good decisions, being disciplined and driven, and maintaining a good attitude. It means dedicating yourself to your athletics, but never ahead of your academics. (There’s a reason the word “student” comes first.)

There’s a stat that I think is important to share. Nearly eight million students participate in high school sports, less than 500,000 compete in college, and a fraction of them – just two percent – go on to play professionally. Let that sink in. Just two percent. It’s not to say that professional sports aren’t possible. They certainly are. But it speaks to the fact that education is vital and focusing on your studies can help build a foundation for success.

The road won’t be easy, but ask any student-athlete and they’ll tell you that it is always well worth it.

Congratulations once again to our All-American Scholars. We encourage you to continue your outstanding work in your sport as well as in the classroom, and hope to be celebrating with you again next year!

Website Manager

Pop Warner Little Scholars YOUR FUTURE BEGINS HERE!

News Detail

2

May, 2022

Champions in the Classroom

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