January 5, 2009
Marcus Jackson: Presidential Inaugural Scholar
Marcus Jackson: Presidential Inaugural Scholar
By: Dr. Morris Jackson
Youth of today similar to youth of yesteryear face challenges to become a scholar athlete. Foremost among the challenges for the aspiring scholar athlete is maintaining a balance between academic excellence and sports success. In the heart and mind of every parent is for their child to achieve to the best of their ability in their selected sport. From the moment a child begins his schooling and commits to excel in his selected sport, the challenge of becoming a scholar athlete takes on importance.
Reality tells us that not every child will have the aptitude or ability or intellectual skills to be a scholar athlete. However if the parents and coach have assessed that the child has the intellectual and athletic talents, they play a key role in providing the child with maximum support and guidance to succeed. Parents need to learn early in their child’s development if he or she has the capability to achieve in the academic and sports arenas. And this assessment is an on going process. Why? Because maintaining the rigors of academic excellence and sports success on a consistent basis in not an easy task as the challenge of school work increases with each grade level. Structure and discipline on a daily basis are key to enabling a child to meet the demands of table tennis training and school work. Success in school and sports competition is the dream of every parent. It is incumbent of parents to take charge and create a road map of success which is comfortable for their child to achieve.
In table tennis, a few athletes come to mind who I view as scholar athletes and models for what they have been able to accomplish in the world of sports, academia and professionally. Former Olympians and USATT team members Todd Sweiss, Sean O’Neill, Han Xiao are a few noted table tennis players who I know have successfully managed their scholarly talents and athletic abilities.
During the school year 2008-2009 Marcus Jackson was inducted into the National Honor Society and selected as a Presidential Inaugural Scholar. With this honor he will attend the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference from January 17-21, 2009. The conference is sponsored by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council. As one of many inaugural Scholars he will Witness the Inauguration, Oath of Office and Inaugural Address of the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama, participate in educational activities and attend a Black Tie Gala Inaugural Ball and be inspired by speakers Colin Powell and Al Gore.
Finally, one of the reasons I was inspired to introduce Marcus to the sport of table tennis is because I had the opportunity to speak to many parents whose children trained at the Maryland Table Tennis Center located in Gaithersburg Maryland and was impressed with not only their children’s table tennis success but their academic achievements. And I know that today that the training of youth continues at that table tennis club and so does the academic success of youth.
I will end this article by sharing with you an experience provided by the parents of one of these children.
Their son whose name was Ning Bao was the leader of his schools academic team which was competing on the TV show Its Academic. The parents invited Marcus and me to watch their son compete. The atmosphere was like a sports event with support of parents, school mates and teachers in the bleachers, and cheer leaders cheering every time a player on a team answered an academic question correctly. When the show ended, the winner and leader of the winning team Ning said these words to Marcus, “One day I hope that you will be leading an academic team like me”. And I recall saying to Ning and his parents “thank you for the inspiring words and know that your son has achieved today the equivalent to a sports gold medal in table tennis for his outstanding academic performance”. Ning was a 1500 rated player.
Marcus Jackson at the recently held 2008 U.S. National Table Tennis Championships
| Download the latest Flash Player to view content. |