By Pastor Demetrius Moffett

 

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

How important is a father’s influence? Some of us may have heard of LaVar Christopher Ball, the father of Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball. Whether you agree or not with LaVar’s ways, he’s there for all his boys. I for one was okay with him until he pulled his son LiAngelo out of UCLA.

What message is being sent when you pull your son out of school because he would have been suspended from playing basketball for a year for a crime he did commit? Was the plan to be a college one and done like his older brother Lonzo? Are we sending the message that money is more important than education? Or that if you have money you don’t have to suffer the consequences of one’s actions?

La Var just like every other dad who coaches has influence over the kids he coaches.

Are we as parents, especially fathers, sending the message that athletics more valuable than academics? That making money is worth more than the knowledge of money management?

Yes, there are several success stories in professional sport. But these are a very minute number of players considering how many passes through the doors of professional facilities.

The statistic depicts the estimated average playing career for an NFL player is 3.5 years, the average MLB career is 5.6 years, the average NBA career is 4.8 years, and the average NHL career is 5.5 years.

I have no problem with wanting to create a better life for one’s children. Please don’t do it at the expense of losing the opportunity of a higher level of education.

How many of us would love to make millions of dollars doing what we truly enjoy doing? Sports, for those of us who are into sports, is a great avenue to make a living. But what happens if we are one of the one’s who only have an average career or suffer a career ending injury?

Education is so valuable. The ability to read, retain and regurgitate that which we have learned is value that can’t be taken or lost.

I believe that our children should be compensated more than just scholarships. There should be trust funds set up for these kids that will give them a nest egg after age 30. Education is vital, a father’s educational influence is priceless.