Jamal Merrell

But that's a whole nother conversation because scholarships is one thing.

mental health is a whole nother thing not talked about because kids being truly happy.

You look at the suicide rate, you break it down.

That kid will miss the catch in the game.

And mom and dad just verbally said, Oh, like you're better than this.

You're better than that.

And that kid mentally deep down inside, he's like, man, I just want to play soccer.

You know?

So, at the end of the day, he might not be as good at it in soccer, but that's where it's hard at.

So, at one point, it's the hardest part as a parent to know when to just be a parent and let your kids go.

Like, let them go.

Yes.

So I would say...

Parents today, if I wasn't as knowledgeable as I was in sports and knowing how the colleges work and NCAA rules, I would say reach out to somebody that has done it.

A lot of parents say scholarship, scholarship.

I want my kid to do scholarship, play this sport, take a scholarship, but don't know the parameters, the guidelines, the rules, how hard it is to get a scholarship rather than

I know multiple parents now and their kids are juniors or seniors and they have no scholarship.

So now it's like, what do we do?

They have no backup plan.

So I would say now parent has a kid growing up, reach out to somebody that has done it before you, has lived it, understand how the college's game work, how scholarships work, and then have that conversation with the kid.