Michelle Wie

Michelle Wie is a 14 year old girl, playing against adult men this weekend at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Michelle joins a growing list of high school athletes competing at the highest levels of their sport. Today, Freddie Adu, also 14 years old, was the first player selected by in the Major League Soccer draft. (Adu was already the highest paid player in the MLS.) We regularly see high school students in the Olympics in figure skating, swimming, gymnastics and several other sports.

Should high school students be allowed to play sports at the professional or Olympic level? Do the risks to these students outweigh the benefit? Should there be rules preventing this from happening?

Generally, I believe that high school students should be high school students. But, I also think that on an exceptional basis, high school students who have the capability to perform at a higher level should be allowed to do so. I am not convinced that there is a greater risk of psychological harm to these young men and women from playing at a higher level, than to those high school students who live more conventional high school lives. I know numerous young men and women who I would say are “screwed up”, and fortunately, I know a larger number of young men and women who seem well adjusted. And if you study the history of high schoolers participating in professional sports or the Olympics, you will find many who had psychological problems, and many more who wound up having a relatively normal life, psychologically speaking.

I don’t think there should be a rule banning high school students from participating. However, I also believe that each case should be examined individually, and if the governing body of the sport decides that the high school student is not able to handle the pressure, the governing body should step in and insist that the high school student not participate until he or she is more able to handle the pressure. Yes, I know that I am advocating allowing one high school student to participate, and not allowing another. I have no idea what the legalities of this situation are, but I think the rulings should be made on what is best for each individual. What do you think?