It's not too hard to spot the student-athlete. You know, the one who is always practicing their sport with a few other teammates on the field or in the gymnasium. The one that you see at school events and meets cheering on their teammates. That kid doesn't have any friends outside of sports and it's causing them stress...
You might be thinking: "What does this have to do with me?" Well, as parents of student-athletes, we play an important role in shaping our children's friendships and social lives. Teenagers need support from family members when they make tough decisions about what kind of person they want to spend time with after school or during breaks between games/matches. 

In my opinion, it's more challenging to be surrounded by people who don't have high aspirations because they'll always put up resistance to change and have negative influences on our lives. It's important for student-athletes to surround themselves with people who believe in their goals just as much as we do because these types of friendships will provide encouragement when things are rough.

Brain research has shown that friendships are one of the most important factors for student-athletes. They can help with mental health, physical well-being, and performance in sports. It is crucial to choose the right friends so they encourage good habits instead of bad ones.  The best way to do this is by making sure your athlete's friend group includes people who have shared interests but also offer different perspectives on life experiences and ideas or activities outside schoolwork. For example, a study found that when two students' brains were scanned while solving math problems together before playing an online game against each other--the brain's reward centers lit up more if their partner was someone they knew versus someone unknown to them!

I hope this article helped you understand the importance of having your student-athlete choose their friends wisely. They have a lot at stake and it’s important that they choose people who will help build up not tear down. Make sure these relationships are worth all the time, energy, and effort they take by making an intentional choice about them! Let me know how things go in the comments below or on social media with #choosewisely so we can chat more about it together as well!