Page 80 - GRRIT-11

JOSHUA CARTWRIGHT
Motocross is a grueling sport. It is filled with injuries, heartbreaks, and sacrifices that everyone involved has to make. The competition in both amateur and professional motocross is so close that riders are forced to give up everything and dedicate their entire lives to racing. One of the immediate things they have to surrender is attending public school. With amateur national events scattered across the country, its essentially impossible
for a rider to miss weeks of school at a time and still pass their classes. This forces the majority of rising stars to be homeschooled and miss out on high school/college experiences. In other sports (baseball, basketball, football ext.) if you are good enough to be a professional, you are drafted to a college team and get to chase your dream along with getting a college education. For motocross riders, it is the complete opposite. If you have a shot at making a career out of motocross, you have to drop everything in life and focus solely on racing. No public school, no parties, no work, just ride, train, race and hope that one day it pays off. This is a recipe for disaster as there are only a handful of riders who make a living from racing. This leaves hundreds of uneducated riders in a tough situation as they only know how to ride and unfortunately do not have a “Plan B”.
80 GRITMOTO • MARCH.21.16
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