Toadvine Blog

From the moment many children enter the arena of athletics they are pummeled with intense pressure to perform, improve, and outshine. In fact, as we learned in our last blog, intense pressure from parents and coaches can lead to several outcomes, including continually feeding the drive to excel by pouring more money into the pot with additional training and instruction. Some athletes tank under the stress and quit sports altogether, leaving behind thousands of invested dollars and oftentimes, a parent's dream of college recognition.

That competition doesn't end at the college level. In fact, it only heats up. If your child is tenacious enough and talented enough to make it to the college level, you will enter a whole new realm of competition as your child stands in line for one of only a very few college scholarship spots. If you think your star athlete is destined to capture the end-goal dream of a college scholarship, there are some realities about college athletic scholarships that might surprise you. Here are just a few.

Chances of Receiving College Sports Scholarships are Very Slim

According to a review in the Houston Chronicle, NCAA Division I scholarships were awarded to somewhere between .6% and 1.2% of high school athletes in the class of 2008. This total does not include NCAA Division II and NAIA schools, which would make the statistics higher, but only slightly higher. The end result of the review showed that your child's chance of earning a college athletic scholarship are 1in 300. Keep in mind that even if you make the recruiting cut, colleges actively recruit up to ten athletes for every one open spot so that they can freely evaluate and choose which athlete they believe is the best fit for their program.

College Sports Scholarships Aren't Free Rides

If your student athlete is fortunate enough to receive a scholarship, it will more than likely only be a partial scholarship. In a chart by BeRecruited, NCAA-mandated scholarship limits are listed. The allotted NCAA baseball scholarship limit for Division I is 11.7. Cross country/track and field is 12.6. These numbers don't even account for a whole team, so unless you are the hottest recruit on the planet, only a small portion of your college expenses will be paid for. You might get recruited, but that doesn't necessarily mean money toward college expenses.

Sports Scholarships Don't Necessarily Cover Four Years of College

Even if you are sold out to the idea that your child is stellar enough to snag a four-year scholarship to a big school, the harsh reality is this: scholarships at most institutions aren't four-year deals. They are one-year deals, renewed annually. In his article, "The Most Evil Thing About College Sports," Josh Levin states that most college recruits and sports fans don't realize that, "A university can yank that scholarship after one, two,or three years without cause. Coach doesn't like you? He's free to cut you loose. Sitting the bench? You could lose your free ride to a new recruit." So, even if you land a coveted scholarship spot on the team, there is no guarantee you will keep it.

Climbing the Scholarship Ladder Can End Before Recruiting

There are many minefields along the way when trekking the path to a college sports scholarship. With football brings the risk of severe concussions and injury. ACL and hamstring injuries can put athletes out for an entire season and sometimes permanently. What if your child burns out on playing sports and decides it's time to retire the cleats? What if your athlete gets recruited but receives a partial scholarship, leaving the remaining cost to the parent and finances don't allow for this kind of commitment, especially after so much money was spent getting to this point? Aspirations for that 1% chance of a Division I scholarship are dashed instantly.

The bottom line is this, although college sports scholarships are difficult to achieve, some athletes do receive them. With extreme talent and some aggressive marketing of that talent, your student athlete could possibly rise to the top and win an athletic scholarship, but you must be realistic if that is the goal. Dollars awarded and potential spots being recruited for are slim, but not completely impossible. But if you are a student athlete who just enjoys playing sports, follow the lead of one student athlete, Cole Cragin, a talented swimmer who beat the odds and earned a college scholarship, but at a cost.

Cragin encourages other athletes by saying: "Anyone who is competing in a sport and maybe doesn't have that chance to get to the next level, I'd give the advice to play anyway. If you love it, if you are learning how to be a determined, responsible person from playing a sport, play it for those reasons and it will still be worth it."

Image courtesy of topstep07 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Organized sports is now a trillion dollar business in this country. This is not an exaggeration. Marketers have even begun targeting participants "from the womb to the tomb," peddling products like Athletic Baby and Baby Goes Pro. Gymnasiums have also popped up for newborns with an eye on getting them to the pros, making personal trainers available for babies as young as six months.

Working class families have long seen sports as a ticket to the future, but the push to excel is a little overwhelming. From the time children can pick up a ball, parents see their child as competing against a multitude of other children for a very few select spots of recognition at the top. Getting into the scholarship pipeline has a much higher cost today than it ever has. Simply playing sports for your school doesn't cut it anymore. Parents are signing up for traveling teams, plopping down hundreds for expensive equipment, paying for personal trainers, elite sports camps, lodging expenses of food and hotels while traveling and sacrificing most, if not all, of their leisure time to attend and transport to games.

Dedicate blogger and statistics keeper, Stats Dad, kept track of the rising costs of organized sports involvement and found that the average sports playing youth spent $9,076 in 2010 and that number jumped to $11,704 in 2011.

In his book The Most Expensive Game in Town, Mark Hyman also explores and exposes the countless areas of commercialism and expenditure that takes place surrounding organized sports. As a parent who made many of the same mistakes he describes in his book, Hyman believes as parents we are becoming blinded to the insanity of spending, pushing and promoting our children up the ladder of success.

"We are sitting ducks. In other contexts, we are careful shoppers, bringing a coupon-clippers sensibility to how we buy and from whom. When the subject shifts from sports and our children, that equilibrium is suddenly lost. We have a hard time distinguishing between supporting them and feeding our runaway ambitions for them. The difference isn't apparent until long after the credit card has been swiped," Hyman believes.

Because most families making these lofty sacrifices aren't wealthy, a powder keg of pressure is unleashed on our very young children. That relentless drive from parents may be the reason 75% of children drop out of organized youth sports by age 13.

Although 7.7 million children played on a high school sports team last year and more than three million children between the ages of five and 19 signed up to compete with U.S. Youth Soccer, the national organization that oversees competitive travel soccer, the chances of making it to the pro level are extremely slim. Statistic Brain listed recently that the odds of a high school football player making it to the NFL as 1 in 6,000 and a shot at the NBA, even more unlikely at 1 in 10,000.

"Parents have the best of intentions for their kids," Hyman said. "They want their kids to be successful and succeed, but sometimes we just show it in the wrong way and have our heads down."

Reuters believes that parents should become aware of this growing problem and begin to lower their expectations. Becoming the next Albert Pujols is probably not a reality, but there are some steps families can take to make sports participation less of a strain financially and emotionally by doing the following:

• Choose your sport carefully. Weigh the investment of different sports. Golf clubs can cost more than $1,000. A soccer ball, cleats and shorts may only run $150. If your child ends up losing interest, you haven't lost a fortune.
• Barter Creatively. Negotiate club fees, barter the costs, pay installments, ask for discounted bulk sports purchases and ask to find out if sports leagues are willing to waive their fees.
• Forget the Shine. When it comes to gear, buy used. Play It Again Sports has great prices for gear that will save you a bunch of money if your child continues to pursue this sport. When you finish with gear you're not using, do the same. Sell it. Don't let it collect dust in the garage.

Although involvement and investment trends in organized sports are climbing, with a little awareness and a strong resolve it is possible for parents to say, "the buck stops here."

Image courtesy of Naypong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• Telescopic Systems. This is our most popular type of seating and is designed to offer flexibility to fit a variety of facility configurations. The forward folding bleacher systems open in the forward direction and utilize either free-standing floor attachments or wall attachments. The reverse fold telescopic system is helpful when space behind the bleachers is desired for other activities when the bleachers are not in use. The recessed system of seating requires a minimal clearance to fit conveniently under a balcony overhang and maximizes usable floor space as bleachers are stacked. Mobile systems, or single sections of bleachers, can be used in one part of the building and stored in a completely different area. Free-Standing Floor-Attached Systems are utilized where bleachers are required to be located away from walls or when wall construction prohibits attachment.
• Sculptured Seat Modules. These one-piece, injection-molded, high strength polyethylene seats are made with molded-in solid color which will not fade or wear out. These seats are easy to maintain and will not wear out. They will not stain or splinter.
• Contoured Seat Modules. For added comfort, appeal, and endurance, this seating is hard to beat. These waterfall designed seats are highly functional and visually appealing. The angled seats allow for 30% more leg room than competitive products which allows fans and spectators to move legs more freely.
• ComfoBack. For a luxurious seating option, the ComfoBack seating is ergonomically designed for maximum spectator comfort. The backrest on this seat provides superb comfort and convenience for facility personnel with a fast and effort-free set-up.
• Classic Wood. For the more traditional type arena, this sleek wooden bench seating, constructed of southern yellow pine, is the standard in the telescopic industry. These wood seats and front riser boards are finished in classic style to enhance the appearance of your arena.
• Platform Chairs. The platform chair is a great way to meet the needs of a diverse, multi-purpose facility. The platform and PC chair combination is perfect for any auditorium, sports arena, or assembly hall where you might need more comfortable seating with more space between rows.
• Stadium Chairs. For maximum performance and durability, the stadium chair is designed for ergonomic comfort and outstanding appearance and is manufactured using world-class technology. To enhance your indoor arena and add a touch of style and color, the stadium chair is the perfect choice.

Whatever crowd you need to serve, Toadvine has all the seating options that your indoor arena could need and will leave fans and spectators on the edge of their seat when you design your facility with versatile, quality seating from Toadvine. For a quote on your indoor arena seating, contact us here.

On Monday, April 7, the best two teams in the country will take center court at ATT Stadium in Arlington, Texas and battle for the title of NCAA Champions 2014. Much preparation and sweat, practice and dedication have gone into this moment that will crown "the" best college basketball team in the country.

Although much may be known about the final two teams and the strength of their record, the team performance and their background of their coaches, little may be known about the home to this game of powerhouses, ATT Stadium. Before the tip-off begins for this winner takes all tournament game, here are some facts about the stadium that we found interesting:

• Everything at ATT Stadium is "Texas sized"
• ATT Stadium is also home to the Dallas Cowboys
• When the retractable roof at ATT Stadium is enclosed, this facility garners the honors of largest enclosed NFL stadium
• For major events, ATT Stadium is expandable to accommodate 100,000
• ATT Stadium boasts the world's largest, and very first center hung HDTV video boards, measuring 160 feet by 72 feet at a cost of $40 million
• This video board contains 30 million light bulbs and 25,000 square feet of video displays
• Each of the two center-hung video screens stretches from one 20-yard line to the other and weighs 1.2 million pounds
• Total square footage of the stadium is 3 million square feet
• The entire Statue of Liberty and its base could fit inside the stadium with its roof closed
• Dallas-based ATT paid $17-19 million yearly for an undetermined amount of time to claim naming rights
• Average ticket price for all events in 2008 was $84.12
• The facility was called Cowboys Stadium until 2013
• ATT Stadium cost $1.4 billion to build
• There are 3,100 pieces of food service equipment in the stadium
• The retractable roof has 128 total motors used to operate it
• There are 41,000 light fixtures in the facility and 3,000 televisions
• On game day, the ATT Stadium uses more electricity than the entire country of Liberia

With Texas-sized design and a multi-purpose plan, the ATT Stadium is a mega-center built for thousands of sports and entertainment fans hoping to cheer on their NCAA college powerhouse or pull an upset with a scrappy Cinderella team. Either way, the madness of March basketball promises to be a "larger than life" competition for the lone star state and millions of adoring fans.

It's mid-March and sports fanatics across the country are beginning to formulate, speculate, and anticipate the outcome of this year's "Big Dance." College powerhouses and Cinderella hopefuls will tip-off several different tournaments across the country in hopes of advancing to the final game in Arlington, Texas early next month. Sixty-four teams will emerge as victors from their respective conferences and hit the hard wood hoping to claim the ultimate title as the 2014 NCAA Basketball Champion.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of a tournament steeped in tradition and rich in talent. If you're a loyal basketball follower, you may be familiar with the eligible teams, the basic rules, and even the analytics of picking your tournament bracket. But, we've compiled a list of interesting fun facts you may not know about the NCAA tournaments. Hopefully, this list will inform you and get you pumped for the start of March Madness (even though the final game will be played on April 7 this year).

1. Oregon won the first NCAA tournament in 1939 and they have not been to the Final Four since.

2. UCLA has won the most NCAA Men's Basketball Tournaments: 11.

3. Number one seeds have won five of the past six championships and 10 of the past 14.

4. Bob Knight, Dean Smith, and Joe B. Hall are the only individuals who have won an NCAA championship as both a player and a head coach. Knight won as a player at Ohio State in 1960 and as the coach of Indiana in 1976, 1981, and 1987. Smith won as a player at Kansas in 1952 and as the coach of the North Carolina Tarheels in 1982 and 1993. Hall won as a player at Kentucky in 1949 and as the coach in 1978.

5. Jim Calhoun became the oldest coach to ever win a national championship in 2011 at the age of 68 His UConn Huskies defeated the Butler Bulldogs 53-41. In 1940, Emmett B. "Branch" McCracken was the youngest coach, at age 31, to ever win a national championship. His Indiana Hoosiers beat the Kansas Jayhawks 60-42.

6. In 1968, dunking was outlawed in the championship game, but reinstated in 1977.

7. Total ad spending for NCAA tournament time reached $1,005,000,000 in 2012.

8. The average cost of a 30-second commercial during tournament time in that same year, 2012, was $1.34 million.

9. The odds of picking a perfect bracket are 9 quintillion to one

10. Up until 1986, NCAA victors were repetitively shown snipping the nets from the winning arena. After that year, teams were also given the actual hardwood court on which the championship game was won. Many schools have reused it, sold the pieces or kept it as a memory.

Let the "Madness" begin!

Indoor chair seating provides a level of comfort for fans that supports your audience and also enhances your space. Indoor arena chairs are designed with premium materials, durable construction, and rigorous quality control. These sturdy, fixed seating chairs are designed to meet stringent standards for audience safety, durability, and also provide easy maintenance.

Fixed to your indoor arena wall in banks, telescopic platforms can include stadium chairs that can be upholstered or constructed from polymer. These chairs are designed to meet any unique seating challenges of a small to mid-size entertainment facility. Telescopic platforms can also incorporate the following features:

• custom and variable rise
• tapered sections
• extruded aluminum decking
• folding platform chairs

By choosing indoor arena chairs for all or part of your sports facility, you offer patrons a private viewing experience that is complemented with separating arm rests, flip down seats, and an ergonomically designed single piece seat. They can be installed in a designated section to provide VIP seating for parents, boosters and faculty or along an entire sideline for the home crowd.

For more information on how you can add stadium seating to your sports facility, contact Toadvine Enterprises and a member of our team will be glad to give you a quote.

With Interkal Indoor Telescopic Bleachers, your gymnasium can come alive with color when you install custom seating in your school colors. Made with polyethlene which resists stains and splintering, these sturdy bleachers can be installed in your choice of 15 colors with a variety of options including:

• VIP chairs on a platform
• wood bleachers (southern yellow pine)
• custom seating arrangements such as corner seating
• recessed systems
• self-storing aisle rails
• stadium chairs
• much more

Our custom seating is durable, constructed of one-piece injection molded high strength polyethlene and molded-in solid color which will not fade or wear out. Each seat is 18" wide and anatomically-contoured to provide a minimum adult seat height of 16 1/2" to achieve greater spectator comfort and more leg room. The modular design delineates each seat space and allows for ease of replacement. These seats are easy to clean, with no debris traps or exposed hardware.

Click here for a bleacher quote, or if you would like us to contact you to discuss bleacher seating or team color integration in your sports facility.