SEMO Prep -- training to achieve goal

Many students preparing to take college entrance tests such as the SAT enroll in courses to help them prepare, the thinking being the additional tutoring will raise their score and help them achieve their goals.

A similar program right here in Cape Girardeau is helping college-hopeful athletes prepare for the next step of their journey.

SEMO Preparatory School, in its first year, offers athletic training and academic support to young men who want to earn a college scholarship to play basketball. The nine-month program involves practices and games, a physical fitness regime, specialized nutrition offerings and access to online college courses. It targets athletes who need to improve their skills and/or mature physically and personally. Once the athletes have completed the program, they are in better position to earn a scholarship to help achieve their goals, academic and athletic.

Roy Booker -- a Portagveville, Missouri, native -- operates SEMO Prep. He finished his collegiate athletic career at Southeast Missouri State University and still holds the school's single-season scoring record. He played professionally overseas for many years and is now imparting the knowledge he gleaned here and abroad to the next generation of basketball players.

Shortly, he said, SEMO Prep will include a soccer program, too.

Prep schools are becoming more common, with the biggest programs in the country training thousands of young athletes each year. Some of them follow the SEMO Prep pattern, serving as an athletic training program with an academic support aspect. Others, though, function as diploma-issuing schools featuring elite athletic programs. Either way, the young people are receiving specialized, high-caliber training not available through traditional high schools.

SEMO Prep is an interesting program, and Booker is an impressive thinker, leader and businessman. We look forward to seeing how the school grows, and we wish its "graduates" success on and off the court.