David Pollack offers advice to parents of young athletes
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Georgia fans and SEC fans alike remember David Pollack’s decorated career at Georgia from 2001-04. The Bulldog linebacker was SEC Player of the Year and took home a number of postseason awards that fall. SEC fans now know Pollack as a college football analyst seen every Saturday on ESPN’s College GameDay. They might forget, however, the years between Pollack’s time in Athens and career at ESPN.
In the 2005 NFL Draft, Pollack was a first-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals. Early in his second season, Pollack suffered a career-ending neck injury. He tried to rehabilitate and return to the football field, but ultimately retired in 2008. As someone who was forced to realize there’s more to life than sports, Pollack recently felt like addressing parents of young athletes on Twitter.
I needed more characters to say how I felt about sports and parenting. Enjoy and feel free to respond however you are moved. pic.twitter.com/phZNHxIFle
— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) June 30, 2017
Here’s the full text of the message Pollack shared in the photos accompanying the tweet:
“My son Nicholas is 8 years old. He loves sports, but he is just an average athlete. He doesn’t own that ‘killer instinct’ at all!
‘I’ want him to have that so bad. ‘I’ want my son to be tough! ‘I’ want my son to be a hard worker. ‘I’ want my son to be an awesome competitor. ‘I, I, I, I…’
It’s amazing that I’m so selfish and that I try to make him what I think he should be.
What if he misses out on something great God has for him because he has a ‘killer instinct’ heart, instead of one that’s filled with compassion?
I look around my life and see so many dads wanting their kids to be great at sports. They ride their kids hard. Always coaching! Always pushing! Where’s the line?
I know for a fact that sports will not last forever in their lives. What’s next then?
Sports are great for kids and I support them 1000%! You guys know I want to win more then anyone, but sports are not the most important thing in our lives.
If that’s all you and your kids do and talk about, the day is coming soon where you might not have much to talk about.
Sports teaches so many great life lessons and they are so good for kids, but they should not be the main focus of our household. They are not more important than church, family time or living life. Sports should not own and drive you from place to place 7 days a week.
I saw so many talented kids come into the University of Georgia that ended up not being successful because they didn’t love the game. They didn’t love the game because they were pushed so hard to be something, never having the opportunity to enjoy life as it came.
Enjoy life!!! Sports isn’t life, it’s just a small part of it.
#EveryDayCounts”
Pollack’s tweet appears to have resonated with his followers, currently showing 700 likes and 289 retweets at the time of this article.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
