High School Athletes Should Not Go ProLebron James and Freddy Adu are both young athletes and have millions in their pockets with countless endorsement deals. Whether it's high school athletes who drop out of college and interrupt their educational development for millions of dollars, or teenagers who sign contracts with companies for enormous sums of money, sports programs for young people evolve quickly. However, American high school athletes are not prepared financially, physically, or mentally to face and endure the pressures of professional sports. Today's society allows athletes from fourteen to eighteen years old to earn millions of dollars and eventually become stars. From Lebron James, signing with Nike for ninety million dollars before even stepping on the field, to Freddy Adu, signing with Major League Soccer to become the youngest professional to ever sign a contract in the American history, today's teenagers are changing. Freddy Adu is the youngest player on a major league team since Fred Chapman was fourteen years old and played baseball for Philadelphia in 1887. Adu, born in Ghana, signed with MLS to play for DC United in 2003. He and his family moved to Potomac, Maryland in 1997 and he eventually became an American citizen in 2002. He signed with Nike for $1 million in 2000, becoming the youngest professional to sign an endorsement deal with Nike. Greg Couch, a Sun Times writer, says: “Are we ready for this? Because if Freddy Adu has his way, then the battle to save little things like fun and imagination in youth sports is over. He is absolutely right. What happened to the main reason for exercising: to have fun? These young children will not understand the fun after being demanded, day after day, by the most rigorous coaches, to reach a level to which they have not yet been exposed. They haven't been exposed to this level because they skipped the most important part of their life and career, which is college. In rare cases, there is an athlete who comes along and is very special. Sappenfield of the Christian Science Monitor says, “In some cases, these are truly unique athletes. In others, they are simply products of a new, hyper-competitive youth sports system, lured to big-time athletics by bad advice and the prospect of extravagant wealth and rock stardom. star? (Sappenfield 1). Ki...... middle of paper ......n education and should get one before going out into the real world and being thrown into an atmosphere of fame, glory and money. An atmosphere a teenager is not ready for. Works Cited Bae, Isamu. High school athletes should go to college, not the professional level. June 1, 2004. Silver Chips Online. April 22, 2005. Carter, A. Cinque. Athletes should stay in school before relying on false dreams. October 29, 1998. Daily Bruin. April 22, 2005. Couch, Greg. And the #1 reason not to become a professional at 14? November 20, 2003. Chicago Sun-Times. April 10, 2005. Keller, Mandy. Article 12 of the regulations: Amateurism. July 2003. National Collegiate Athletic Association. April 9, 2005. Ryan, Joan. Little girls in pretty boxes. New York. Warner Books. August 1, 2000. Sappenfield, Mark. Young, Gifted and Rich - Behind the sudden rise of teenage sports superstars. December 1, 2003. The Christian Science Monitor. April 9, 2005. Satterfield, Kathryn R. Ready for the Big League. Flight. 9 No. 8. November 7, 2003. Time For Kids. April 9. 2005 .