What is a Mature player?

Are those bad qualities?

If drinking beer, dipping skoal and dating older women is a sign of immaturity, then there are MANY immature kids out there! (including me at one point!) although my wife still thinks I am!

quote:

Originally posted by norstar:
If drinking beer, dipping skoal and dating older women is a sign of immaturity, then there are MANY immature kids out there! (including me at one point!) although my wife still thinks I am!

There definitely wouldn't be many mature college players.

Kind of an interesting question Fungo. I know all 4 of my sons thought/think they were "mature" well before I thought they were!

And then there's my Jr. HS daughter!?!? Whoa!!

And yes, I thought I was pretty mature when I could put down a few beers.

But if I could think of one thing as they head off to college it would be that your son/(daughter) is confident and mature enough to know when to ask for help. Not thinking they can do it all on their own right away. I know I still can't do it all on my own...but I think I "matured" when I realized that advice/help and even direction from someone with wisdom and experience are often-times a good thing.

Based on what our family has experienced this first year in college, maturity means one big thing: making the right choices.

Choose to make the best grades you can.
Choose to be the best team mate you can be.
Choose to be social, but always make time for study.
Choose to always be there for your team mates.
Choose to be honest with your parents.
Choose to do the right thing always.

Making the right choices go a long way to maturity.
even if along the way you make a couple of wrong ones, learn from your mistakes.

iheartbb, that's a great list. I'm going to print it and let my son read this. Outstanding post.

Good post for thought.

If those things qualify as being mature, half of our players and the team might be considered immature. I would consider some things just bad "habits" or preferences but I am not one to say what is right and what is wrong.
The experience is very different for most, some who had some bad habits in HS, get rid of them quickly while others who never had any develop them very quickly. You don't even have to play sports to qualify.

Being mature is making sure that you make the right choices, act responsibly which means do all of the things expected of you while attending school and playing a sport.

What kids do on their own time is their own business.

JMO.

quote:

Originally posted by iheartbb:
Based on what our family has experienced this first year in college, maturity means one big thing: making the right choices.

Choose to make the best grades you can.
Choose to be the best team mate you can be.
Choose to be social, but always make time for study.
Choose to always be there for your team mates.
Choose to be honest with your parents.
Choose to do the right thing always.

Making the right choices go a long way to maturity.
even if along the way you make a couple of wrong ones, learn from your mistakes.

iheartbb - very good list!

Fungo - maturity is never an absolute but rather a relative concept imho. For instance, immature people can do mature things and visa versa. Moreover, your friend's opinions about their kid's maturity level may be entirely correct based off of limited anecdotal evidence of other kids in their social group. Compared to other kids outside that circle (e.g., other freshman in college), they may not be considered so mature. Like, iheartbb, I look for objective signs that the "process" of maturing is underway. One of the best signs is what do the grades look like after the first fall semester in college.

One thing I would like to add to iheartbb's list is about under-age drinking. I'd prefer my kids not partake of it while in college yet I was not born yesterday. I asked that they never drive nor get in a car while they or someone else has been drinking. That meant calling a cab at my expense if necessary. One could argue that underage drinking in and of itself is a sign of immaturity. On the other hand, if moderation were employed and driving not involved, then that might also indicate a growing sign of maturity.

Fungo,
Is this kid's name John Daly?

Seriously, it comes down to having the self-discipline to get their schoolwork done despite all the distractions of college life.

According to dictionary.com the definition of maturity is: full development; perfected condition.

Are we,
( is anything/anyone )
ever fully,
perfected?

I think a true tell-tale sign of maturity ( player or non player ) is the realization that one doesn't know ( & never will know ) it all.

Every day, at any age, is a life-lesson day!

quote:

and dates an older woman

...well thats certainly a step in the right direction!- ha!

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
One could argue that underage drinking in and of itself is a sign of immaturity. On the other hand, if moderation were employed and driving not involved, then that might also indicate a growing sign of maturity.

quote:

Originally posted by Fungo: What do you think qualifies a freshman in college as mature?
Fungo

IMO...

They are going to make mistakes, they are going to make bad decisions...it is a part of the process...they simply do not have all the tools needed to be perfect at first and we should not expect them to...

...the ones that succeed are often those who can and are open to adapt, learn, and grow as they stumble...as athletes, as students, as people...

Adaption is a undervalued and under expressed skill...

44
.

TPM

SO WRONG AGAIN !!!

When kids play for a school, especially college, what kids do on their own time is NOT their own business--it is the schools as well along with you as a parent --what they do in their own time reflects on the school and its program as well as you as a parent. When a student athelte plays

Being mature or becoming mature, which to me is a better term at this stage of their life, is learning to cope with the situations in the right way.

I still recall my Dad telling me as a teenager---"I can teach you right and wrong but I cannot be with you 24 hrs a day. I can only hope that when a situation arises you will remember what we have talked about and you make the right decision"--

When a student athlete is on scholarship, that individual is under contract to the school, which is a business entity---Don't ever forget that