Here are some things I'm thankful for. The true student athlete. In that order, and no hyphen necessary. One noun comes before the other, and they are two separate facets of a young person's life. If you hang around a small-college campus even a little while, you will see myriad examples of what that phrase is intended to describe.
College is the first step out into the world, a polishing school for aspiring adults.
Still learning before being turned loose on the career path, but on their own to a great degree. And athletics is part of that learning process no more, no less. As I see so many kids and coaches achieving the proper balance be a student, play a sport, have a life I'm thankful to get to work with them and write about them. All the moments of truth that sports provides, where everything happening in the world fades to the background and the complete focus of one's existence is distilled to a moment of intense competition, followed by elation or agony, followed by a gradual return to the real world. The people behind the scenes.