Redeeming Adolescence as Training Ground

All over the country NFL teams are enduring the heat of summer, two-a-days, endless conditioning drills, and meaningless preseason games for one purpose: September 10th when the regular season kicks off. That's when the games count, when fans fill stadiums and restaurants, fantasy rosters are drafted and traded, and whole weekends are tied up with football. And while fans may get impatient for the games, every player and coach knows how important these weeks are for their teams. Every action of training camp is designed to bring success during the season.

I want to propose that we see the adolescent years like training camp. Much has been written about the "Boomerang" generation that delays growing up to extend the carefree, no-responsibility, and lazy years of childhood. Some cultural commentators have extended the adolescent years into the 30s or beyond. Instead of training ground, adolescence has become a holding tank. I believe there are 7 areas where we can redeem adolescence and move away from a holding tank. Here's a chart that shows what these 7 areas look like when we assume a holding tank and training ground mentality.

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