Taylor King was living every young basketballs dream. He played with some of the best players
in his age group, dominating the AAU circuit for years. He was offered a scholarship from UCLA
in the seventh grade and was attending powerhouse, Mater Dei High School to add
to his growing success. Although
he was excelling on the court, at home he was feeling the pressure of being a
basketball phenom. His father
pushed him to become the best, trying to live his own childhood dream through
his son. The expectations grew
when King committed to Duke University to play at the division one level. As the pressure mounted King started to
experiment with marijuana to escape the constant stress. His drug problem followed him at Duke,
where he left after a season because of lack of playing time. He transferred to Villanova University
but again failed multiple drug tests and was dismissed from the team after
playing for only a season. Today,
Taylor is getting his health in order, playing basketball overseas, and trying
to step foot into the NBA.
Although Taylor King is not the only athlete who succumbed to the pressured
of high school and intercollegiate sports, he is a great example in that these
athletes are put in the spotlight at such a young age.
-Ken Nakagawa (008817742)
Tue/Thu 12:30- 1:45
1 comment:
The expectations can be severe on a student-athlete. Having to balance sports, school, and work; then having all expectations to do great in all aspects can be unbearable for some. Society acts surprised when NCAA athletes turn to steroids to boost their success, or in this case Marijuana to help relieve their stress. Especially for this athlete it seems all the expectations pushed him over the edge. Sadly this probably happens all the time to non-scholarship athletes, because they have to balance work into the equation but we won't hear about them because they are not interesting to the media.
-Gabriel Hilbert
Tuesday/ Thursday 12:30-1:45 pm
Kin 332i
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