"When I get rich and famous, I"m going to get out of this ghetto and buy my mom a house." This quote by a student athlete conveys the attitudes of some impressionable youth. Other ambitious student athletes are lucky enough not to be in that situation. In every case, these youth see the fame and wealth that comes from this type of life. The big body cars, the jewelry, the houses and the money could appeal to a person from many different walks of life. Not to mention the fame and exposure you could get from being a professional athlete. Playing games on television, movies, shows and every boy's dream, a spot on sports center. Imagine the pressure faced by an eighteen or nineteen year old to sign autographs for one hundred screaming fans.
What if one day you could wake up at nineteen years of age and have one million dollars in the bank? Most people would do whatever they wanted; buy anything and everything their hearts desired. That is usually what young, successful athletes do, which is a real problem. At eighteen or nineteen years old, you haven't learned the value of money that most adults have been taught. This is a drastic change in responsibility that many kids aren't ready to handle. At such a young age, kids are vulnerable to being taken advantage of. Not knowing how to invest or save your money intelligently could be like giving your money away. Another change in responsibility that young athletes face is the sudden changes in self-care. They go from being taken care of by their mothers to being independent. It's like taking a hatchling out of its nest and expecting it to fly immediately. They still need guidance and life experience. As Brian Shaw said of a nineteen year old Kobe Bryant in Sports Illustrated magazine, "nobody was going to listen to him when he was eighteen, nineteen years old. He didn't have enough NBA experience, or even life experience- (Pg.
