SCHOOL season is just a few weeks away, and I’ve been asked so many times by concerned parents on which school to choose for their athlete-sons or daughters.

Perhaps, the primary consideration would be, for an athlete, is the athletic standing of the school, or how it fares in its own collegiate league.

Perhaps, it should be how sound the basketball or volleyball program is, or how many titles did the school win overall or in each sport.

Or perhaps, it is also how the school takes care of its athletes, providing them with adequate housing, food, free tuition, and a little extra money to tide them over during the years they play for the school.

Although as a former athlete and coach, the readers would expect me to say yes to all of these. Although these are important, these should not always be the primary consideration.

But aren’t all these backbone of an educational institution?

If we look closely at the sentence, we will see clearly the word education.

So, primarily, all the things mentioned above would be weighed against the education system of the school and quality of instruction.

If we look at this closely, an educational institution’s objective is to prepare young individuals to a rewarding career, not necessarily in sports.

It does help that every time the school wins, it gets the publicity.

Along with publicity comes a certain stature among other educational institutions.

I am not sure if it is a factor, but are parents and students drawn to a school in a few times because it was popular, but not necessarily true to its aim as an educational institution?

As I have said over and over, measure the school on how its students fared out in the real world.

The world does not have enough room for professional athletes raking huge sums of money but it does have enough room for a lot of capable professionals.

There are many prolific players in the collegiate level who did not amount to much after their playing careers are over.

That is the sad story of sports on the back burner. For every success story, there are perhaps hundreds and even thousands of letdowns.

But education will always balance out things. It is something that a player can look forward to after a sporting career.

Lakers vs. Utah or Kobe vs. back spasms

UTAH’S back. Kobe Bryant says he will be, too.

A series is now a series, which meant all eyes turned to the newest Most Valuable Player as he took it easy on Monday, resting his back in lieu of risking further flare-ups of the kind that floored him a couple of times in Game Four.

Hapee needs a healthy Jervy

BAGUIO CITY—Hapee Toothpaste head coach Louie Alas knows that if his wants his team to win the 2008 Philippine Basketball League (PBL) Lipovitan Amino Sports title, he would need a healthy Jervy Cruz.

TUNE-UP games against Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) teams are one of the plans for the RP-Nokia Youth Team as it prepares for the Fiba-Asia Youth Championship in Tehran from August 28 to September 5.

Red Bull and Coca-Cola are looking pretty good.

The coleaders hope to keep the pressure on their closest pursuers as they wrap up their elimination-round campaign in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)-Smart Fiesta Cup.

Lyceum struggled against a surprisingly tough St. Benilde side but pulled off a 25-22, 25-19, 31-29 victory just the same to assure itself of a playoff for the last semifinal berth in the Shakey’s V-League Season 5 at The Arena in San Juan Tuesday.

BAGUIO CITY—Former junior star Kat Gonzales carded an eagle-aided 54 points under the Modified Stableford scoring to put in motion Manila Southwoods-Masters’ title-retention bid in Group I of the fifth Camp John Hay (CJH) Asian Ladies Team Championship on Tuesday at the Camp John Hay Golf Club course.

SCHOOL season is just a few weeks away, and I’ve been asked so many times by concerned parents on which school to choose for their athlete-sons or daughters.