Being a high school student is often thought to be easy. But most times, this is nowhere close to the truth. As a high school student-athlete, you’re expected to do so much work with such little time and it’s easy for the most dedicated of students to fall behind. Research done by the California Department of Education shows that about 46% of student-athletes, almost half of the athlete population, fall behind in academics and athletics, and 20% to 25% are deemed ineligible to play sports because of their grades. Dr. Braxton Barrett Shaw, a former athlete and coach, saw this problem and sought to fix it because so many talented and capable athletes were struggling.
Dr. Shaw was very familiar with the issue of student-athletes being too stretched out with their schedules, trying to balance both sports and academics. In high school, he played both football and baseball at Sonora High School. After graduating from the class of 2001, he earned a scholarship for football in college and went on to play semi-professional football for 10 years. He became a coach and taught at many different high schools, encountering talented athletes along the way. With so much experience as both an athlete and coach, Shaw was determined to help, believing that talent should not go to waste.
“I began researching various fields of psychology which revealed powerful tools for change, including performance psychology,” said Shaw.
Shaw saw the gaps with research between the potential and performance of student athletes. Students that performed exceptionally in sports weren’t doing as well in their academics and the problem wasn’t intelligence or dedication. Shaw began developing methods that would help students get over this obstacle. He conducted more than thousands of interviews across 150 school districts and used his research to write and publish a book exploring how mental techniques used in sports can be applied to both personal and academic development.
The main technique Shaw explores in his book, titled “Transference: Unlocking Academic Achievement and Transformative Growth,” Psychological Skills Training (PST). PST is defined as a mental training process used in sports psychology to enhance performance in both academics and athletics by developing cognitive and emotional control. PST can grow many things in a student athlete, including focus, discipline, mental strength, memory, and stress management.
“PST isn’t just applied to sports, it can be applied to business, career, and health,” Shaw said. “The way we think not only affects mental health but also physical health.”
The connection between mind and body can be strengthened by PST as well. Some may think the mind and body are two separate entities but this is not the case, particularly as an athlete. In order to be well mentally, an athlete needs to be well physically and vice versa. Shaw found that sports psychology can have so many possibilities because of the methods used to benefit athletes.
With his book, Shaw has improved so many student athletes’ lives. His research on PST and other techniques have proven to benefit grades. Out of 4.4 million high school students, 2.2 million are athletes. This huge chunk of students depend on educators to succeed, and Shaw believes that the entirety of the student population comes first. Writing this book has impacted the way he coaches, leading him to believe that we can always do better as a society in education. Shaw truly exemplifies what it means to be an educator and the impact he has on his athletes is simply outstanding. His beliefs and values are what led him to write a book that has impacted so many students today.
“Education is a transformational process,” Shaw said.” Everything is built on education.”
