NFL Tells High School Players: More to Life than Football

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The National Football League is hosting its first seminar for high school athletes with the message that life isn’t all about sports. 54 high schoolers were invited to Lambeau Field for the session.

Sports can seem all-consuming to young people. But former UW Badger player and Miami Dolphin Troy Vincent was on hand to tell the boys that there’s more to life than the gridiron.

Vincent is the NFL’s vice president for player engagement. He says even talented high school players probably won’t make it to the big leagues.

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That’s why the first ever “Player Development and Leadership” program includes what’s called a “keeping it real” session, “So we talk about the number of student athletes or high school football players that are playing in the United States: about 1,023,000. 67,000 will play on Saturday at the collegiate level. 6,000 may be scouted. You’re looking at maybe 300 new jobs per year in the National Football League. The odds are against you. We’re talking about that today. We want to be open and candid. We don’t want football to define who you are. We don’t want the NFL to define who you are.”

National Guard members were also on hand to talk to the kids about character development. The student athletes came from all over the state, and were recommended by their coaches.