Sideline Smitty / Craig Smith
Try more than one sport, meet new friends, and read

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Q: What advice do you give high-school students?

A: 1) Realize that no one gets out of high school without emotional bruises. Your feelings are going to get wounded in everything from classes and sports, to boy-girl and friend relationships. These are some of the most vivid years of your life and the highs and lows come in flaming SpectraVision.

2) Use what I call the "video store" approach to starting a school year. If I go into a video store without an idea of what I want, I just tell myself , "OK, Spacklebrain, there are two movies in here that will delight you, so look hard, ask questions and find them." Your school has sports, activities, electives, teachers and students you will enjoy. Find them. They will provide memories when you are 95 years old and your teeth are in a jar beside your bed.

3) Do something to "connect" yourself to the school, whether it is going out for track or swimming teams (two teams that often need more members), joining the chess club, playing in the pep band or being in a play. If all you do is attend classes and go home, you might as well check into a retirement home. By the way, most people I know who quit a team in high school told me they later regretted it.

4) Realize that you can't be friends with everyone. You will "click" with some people and won't with others. It will be that way your entire life. But getting along with 97 percent of people isn't all that difficult. The other 3 percent are criminals, bullies or weasels. Avoid them.

5) You will have to make decisions on alcohol, sex and drugs. More cool kids say "no" than you realize. Show restraint. College and independence are ahead. I'm not advocating debauchery but I've never heard of a weekend beer shortage on a U.S. campus.

6) Read. Books, newspapers, magazines. Whatever you read, it will help your writing, speaking and thinking.

7) Don't get locked into running with the same crowd all the time. Be a good friend to your closest friends but don't feel obligated to hang out with the same folks day after day. It's like eating the same thing for lunch.

8) Keys to good grades: A) Don't fall behind. That sounds simplistic but it is the cause of most academic doom and gloom. If you need help, get it; B) Don't forget that teachers love it if you show extra interest such as stopping by to ask clarification of something you don't grasp or ask additional questions; C) Study groups are useful, especially if they include someone better at the subject than you; D) Don't be afraid to sit in the front row. It will make you concentrate; E) If you have trouble staying awake, buy a "squeeze ball" and squeeze it during class. That's what some cadets do at the service academies and they get less sleep than you.

9) Yes, grades are important, but if your IQ is above that of a geranium, you should have curiosity and get more out of school than grades. You should experience a special "that's cool" jolt when you learn something fascinating or when the tumblers in your brain fall into place and you "get" a concept, problem or theory. I like what poet William Butler Yeats wrote: "Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire." I'd rather have lunch with a curious person with a bunch of questions than someone with a 4.0 grade point and a collection of memorized answers.
 
10) Playing two sports is better than playing one. I'm sorry to break the news to you, but you won't be playing in the NBA or WNBA or on a pro-soccer team, so you might as well have a variety of high-school athletic experiences. It's not going to affect your scholarship chances half as much as your select-team coach is telling you.

11) The old adage, "What goes around comes around" is true. If you're talking about people behind their backs, I guarantee that folks are talking about you behind your back. Be nice to people — especially your parents — and good things happen. High schools are overflowing with insecure kids. Smile and try to improve someone's day.

Have a question about high-school sports? Craig Smith will find the answer every Tuesday in The Times. Voice mail (206-464-8279), snail mail (Craig Smith, Seattle Times Sports, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111) or e-mail csmith@seattletimes.com