PACERS COACH SAYS ATHLETES NEED A GOOD EDUCATION

Bob Hill urges his players and his kids to set goals and be responsible.

Bob Hill, coach of the Indiana Pacers, stresses that his team recognizes the importance of education, responsibility and having goals. He does the same thing at home with his own sons _ ages 8, 13 and 15.

"I think it's absolutely paramount for kids to have goals. I think that when you're young you've got to have goals that are reachable. . .

"I have three sons at home, and naturally they want to be professional basketball players. But that's a little much to be. I think that when you set your goals as a youngster you've got to set goals for each year and have in your mind what you want to become."

Hill believes you need to teach kids to accept responsibility step by step as they're growing up. For instance, he talks about how getting his sons to make their beds also taught them how to manage their time wisely.

Once they realized that more time was wasted by resisting rather than just doing their chores, he said, they had more time to do things they enjoyed.

"There's a carryover into your school work and if you manage your time and you do your work every day when you get home from school, then you've got plenty of time to do whatever it is you want to do," he said.

"And that carries over because if you don't get your grades as you're growing up, you can't play sports, which is probably the greatest rule there is for athletes."

Hill encourages his kids to do well in school, but he says, "We don't put a lot of pressure on them to get A's. I don't expect them to get all A's. I expect them to be the best they can be."

Children's Express asked Hill at his Pacers office whether education was an important part of being a professional athlete. He responded that teams look at academic records as well as athletic ability.

"When you draft a player in pro sports that's coming out of college, you always want to go back and find out: `Did he go to class? How did he do in class? What kind of student was he? How many years did it take him to graduate?' "

Hill added, "All those things are real important and it has an effect, particularly with the amount of money that's being paid now. You're not going to give $3 million to a guy that wouldn't go to class or was disruptive at practice or was a problem constantly for the coaches and the school, regardless of his talent."

Hill said that players also need to take responsibility for their lives away from basketball.

"The NBA has evolved so much more than the general public thinks. These guys are all like businessmen in a way. . . .

"You've got to learn to manage money and you've got to know what the right investments are and what they aren't. I've got two or three players that carry computers with them on the plane and while we're traveling they work on their private business.

"Without an education, you're not going to be able to manage your life like you should," he explained. "I mean, there's been examples of guys who've come into this league that have made a lot of money and blown it."

Hill has some advice for kids, regardless of their goals. "The most important thing about growing up is to try your best to first establish some academic values, to want to be educated. I think that's where it all starts.

"All I wanted to do (when I was in school) was play basketball and baseball and flirt with the girls. My academic values were very minimal. As I got older, I realized that I had made a mistake and then when I got into being educated, it was fun. And it was rewarding."