Many see sports as a means to an end, teaching athletes life lessons. If a player is skilled enough, their love of their sport can become an eventual professional career. On the other hand, for most youths, their identity is wrapped around their sports performance, and excelling is a validation of their self-worth. Becoming a professional athlete becomes a source of pride, as it proves that they are among the best in the country in their respective sports.
Furthermore, for more popular sports, such as football, basketball, and baseball, making it to the pros could mean a six- to seven-figure income and a chance to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
However, the reality is that very few people who pick up a sport are good enough to become a professional. According to Maurice Barnett, a parent, coach, entrepreneur, and founder of The Sports Portal and nonprofit organization Sports for Amateur Athletes (SAA), the pathway to the pros is a huge funnel. It's huge at the top and anyone can enter, but it gets narrower and narrower, and almost everyone ends up dropping out at some point. Some people see not making it through the funnel as failure, so many don't even try or avoid sports altogether.
