School teams with exceptional sports programs and winning records are always looked up to.  Colleges and universities recruit players with better than average skills.  The hometown athletic field, basketball court and baseball diamond are places the scouts first look for future professional league players.

Women’s sports teams are making headway in the field of competition.  Equal opportunity rules have played a great role in women’s sports advancements.  Where the dollar has increased the program benefits as well as coaches and players.  

Individual sport scholarships are available in golf, tennis, and swimming in addition to the previously popular team sport scholarships.  The professional purse has increased tremendously and televised sport programs keeps the public aware of fame and fortune opportunities.  

Pensacola, Florida has a history of sports figures that have made it to the national leagues.  Don Sutton, Emmitt Smith, Roy Jones and now Derrick Brooks are honorees celebrated as community sports legends.  They serve as educational examples of sports helping build character, self esteem and they are role models for youngsters.

Other cities have those they look up to and celebrate.  High schools through out the nation have exceptional players that the community turns out to watch.  Local papers write sports columns about their successes and a tradition of athletic superiority develops around favored teams.  Athletic programs provide educational opportunities for the socio-economically challenged and offer the ability to advance outside the walls that trap them.  
Students that learn to apply the intensity of their athletic competition to academic studies
have greater opportunities in life.