High School Superstar - College Nobody

The superstar athlete who has received every award, all the praise from fans and admirers and hangers-on now has to live up to all of the hype and produce at the college level. Many great high school players sometimes do not make the transition to college superstar status. In high school, many of these superstar athletes were the best on their teams, they showed great athletic ability, superior athletic skills and, at game time, no one could compete with them.

These athletes stood alone; they were unmatched because there was no competition for them to worry about. As these athletes compete, they gain confidence knowing that they are the best in their city and in their community. They shine head and shoulders above everyone who plays their sport. The transition to college, in their minds, will be easy because they have had it easy their entire athletic career while in high school.

These days, athletes receive so much coverage from so many places; magazines, website message boards, they are written about on blogs and talked about on TV as though they were the greatest athlete to have ever played. This type of hype can be dangerous when dealing with teenagers who have no life experience and may not be able to handle the pressure.

All of their athletic lives, they felt no pressure and they've dealt with very little adversity because, as a superior athlete, everything is given to you--everything in the sport world is easy. The transition to college can be difficult for many student athletes who have never lived away from home or dealt with the adversity because once you are at a college athletic program, all the players are good, all the players were also the best at their respective schools therefore, the competition is greater than many of these athletes has ever had to deal with--ever.

For every Lebron James who was a superstar basketball player, there are millions more who wish to be like a Lebron James but fail to achieve any level of success. All over the country, student athletes from all sports believe in their minds that they too will be a success at the college level; they believe college athletics will come easy to them just like it did in high school. Ego plays a large part in athletic failure.