Abundant Life
Academy’s definition of today’s “troubled
teen” is a young person who comes from a good family
who has
tremendous gifting and talent, yet appreciates little to nothing.
This
student is unmotivated, refuses to hold himself accountable,
and
blames others, especially his parents. We call it “Entitlementitis”.
Additionally, the typical ALA student is emotionally immature,
selfish, self-centered, and is only interested in having fun
with his peers. Unfortunately, his friends are not good influences
and are leading this child in the wrong direction. This teen
is now lying to his parents, is very manipulative, and applying
punishment (“grounding” and taking away personal
freedoms and liberties) does not work. This student is creative,
and uses his creative talents to justify all his negative
behavior. He is an expert at “playing the victim”.
This child does not like to be held accountable, and will
not take responsibility for his actions.
 The typical Abundant Life Academy student athlete is a great
athlete, physically talented, but does not apply himself academically.
Unfortunately, due to his poor academic performance this student
is no longer athletically eligible to participate in sports.
Or, this student has gotten himself in trouble and has been
kicked off the team. Sometimes, this same student has begun
to experiment with drugs and alcohol, and his motivation toward
athletics and academics have disappeared. He claims that he
is no longer interested in athletics, but it is just another
excuse to explain away his poor choices.
The Typical ALA Student Athlete demonstrates most, if not
all of the following behaviors:
- one who has a tremendous sense of “entitlement”
- rejecting their family’s Christian values
- unmotivated and has underdeveloped potential
- failing, or behind, in school
- one with potential of a natural leader (but in the wrong
crowd)
- making poor choices with destructive peers
- rebellious and shows disrespectful behavior toward authority
- may be experimenting with drugs/alcohol
- one who sneaks out or runs away to friends
- one who lies and manipulates
- one who has mild to medium learning disabilities
The Typical Abundant Life Academy Family
The parents of the ALA Student/Athlete are people of faith,
integrity, and commitment. These parents have raised their
children to know right from wrong, and have been a living
testimony to all that is right and good. Additionally, these
parents have taken on a huge chunk of the responsibility that
the child should bare. These parents know the child’s
potential, and they care a great deal about the child’s
future. They have provided every opportunity for the child
to succeed. Unfortunately, most of these parents have gone
too far, and they have inadvertently become “rescuers”,
or “fixers”. They care more about the future of
the child than the child does. They invest more time and energy
into the child’s future than does the child. In some
cases, the parent does all the work in order to help the child
succeed. Over time, the child has come to depend on the parents
to fix everything that is wrong, and expects his parents to
rescue him from the disaster he has created all on his own.
At this point the typical parents of an ALA student athlete
are committed to turn things around (restore destiny). They
still believe in the potential of their child, and want nothing
more than to see their son grow and develop into a man of
character and integrity. They realize that they need outside
help, and they believe that in the right environment, with
the right coaching, the child can and will succeed. Abundant
Life Academy is a leadership school, rebuilding and restoring
the potential in each student. This means that we will coach
the child to be “restored” in the areas of academic
and athletic success. In the meantime, we will lead them into
tremendous emotional and spiritual growth.
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