Thomas Taaffe 4/8/23 The Cost of Being a college athlete Sports and education are two aspects of student life that are often seen as being in conflict with one another . As a college athlete, sports can provide students with valuable physical and mental health benefits, as well as opportunities for personal growth and character development. Some student athletes may struggle to balance their athletic commitments with their academic responsibilities. Both sides of education disiplin given by the articles "Perceptions of Intercollegiate Athletic Programs" and “Branding the Role of Value of Intercollegiate Athletics” by Randolph Feezell, as well as the personal experiences of athlete Jonathan Horton, as described …show more content…
The article highlights the exploitation of college athletes, who often generate millions of dollars in revenue for their universities but receive little compensation and face significant barriers to academic success. The demands of sports, such as long hours of practice and travel, can make it difficult for student athletes to prioritize their education and may students will start to fall behind their fellow classmates and not have a chance to pass the class or even graduate on time. Additionally, the article notes that many student athletes come from disadvantaged backgrounds and lack the resources and support systems necessary to excel academically. When given an opportunity to compete in college as an athlete many of these kids forget that they still have to participate in school and coming from their background as struggling students itll be even harder for them to learn in the college environment. If they struggled from elementary to high school there is a little chance that they will be able to be above average in college and without the money or help given by the school it makes it even worse. Overall, the article suggests that improving academic outcomes for student athletes will require addressing not only individual challenges but also broader systemic issues within college …show more content…
Athletic programs often require athletes to devote significant amounts of time to training, practice, and competition. This can leave little time for athletes to focus on their academic responsibilities. As a result, some athletes may struggle to keep up with their coursework or may have to sacrifice participation in other extracurricular activities in order to make time for their sport. Pulter notes that some student-athletes may face additional challenges related to their socioeconomic background. Student-athletes from low-income families may not have access to the same resources and support systems as their more affluent peers. This can make it even more difficult for them to balance the demands of their sport with their academic
College sports are a major part of American culture. College athletes devote hours upon hours a week to their sports training, but unfortunately, sports can take up a lot of time and distract from other important activities. This can harm academics, as athletes have to balance sports and academics, especially at a college. Participating in sports is almost like working a part-time job and having to balance school too which can be difficult to do, and focus may be rendered on one task and not both. Furthermore, athletes will be on scholarships too, which is why college athletes should not be paid.
Most high school athletes across America share one common aspiration: play their sport at the next level in college. For a select number of fortunate athletes, that dream becomes a reality when they commit to a school and sign their letter of intent. But are they really fortunate? College athletics are oftentimes not as glamorous as one would think. The transition to college is not a walk in the park, but add a rigorous summer conditioning program, two-a-days everyday, and the pressures of coaches you have yet to impress, and you have a recipe for disaster.
The author suggests that because not all college athletes are on scholarship, many of them still have to be employed to be able to pay for their college. Therefore, the author argues that while playing a collegiate sport, a full time job in itself, many athletes have to work another job on top of it. The article suggests that with compensation, this problem, along with many other problems including ending corruption and increasing motivation to play, can be
Their leadership skills and exceptional academic accomplishments, however, are usually disregarded or undervalued because sometimes they are viewed as assets to the university for their athletic abilities opposed to their academic abilities. The term “student-athlete” implies that college athletes should prioritize their education in addition to athletics. In practice, a lot of athletes are forced to put their sports commitments above their academic commitments, which could potentially defeat the whole point of the term “student-athlete.” This could occur in an environment where students are seen and treated more as athletes than students could stem from athletes being encouraged to prioritize their sport above academics. An outcome of putting too much emphasis on athletic performance and development than educational or personal development, this could deprive student athletes of the benefits of attending college and receiving a college education and contradict the original meaning of “student-athlete".
A lot of sports recruits come from the inner city, country or a humble environment. Going to college is a completely new and different experience. A large portion of players are trying to adjust in the classroom and feel inferior in more ways than we care to realize. Many of the students at major universities in the United States typically come from families that have incomes that are above the national average. These players are asked to come to the college’s where they are not socially equal but they are expected to feel good about the situation and themselves.
As student athletes, sports take up a majority of their lives, it prevents them from getting other jobs that may
As the NCAA revenue continues to climb, pressure to pay student athletes is growing(“Why college athletes deserve compensation” 1).Former NFL player Michael Bennett told ESPN, “Heck yeah college athletes should be paid(Reasons Why Student Athletes Should Be Paid” 2).He says “NCAA gets paid, Rose Bowl gets paid, everybody gets paid except the people making the product(“Reasons Why Student Athletes Should Be Paid” 2). There is an extreme amount of attention brought to curtain sports around the world, and that is Football, and Basketball(“Why College Athletes Should Be Compensated” 1). These sports alone generate Billions of dollars every year for just such a short period of time, and this revenue that is being brought in from not only these two sports, but the other sports that other 4-year universities may have, is not being used in the right ways(“Why College Athletes Should Be Compensated” 2). The money that is being brought in every year seems to never find the student
Depending on what sport you play some student athletes play multiple sports in college. Students are sometimes able to take some classes for free which means free credits to go on your college resume. Even though the free credits are nice to have and good to take advantage of, it means more homework and time spent in the classroom (Arnett 1). There is already so much stress on college students if they are just there to do their studies, and then throwing sports and practice into their schedules makes it very difficult for students to succeed. Balancing work, school, and sports is so difficult for students to do and succeed in all 3 (Dellenger 1).
Out of high school, many students receive scholarships to follow their passion of playing sports; these college athletes take on the responsibility of being a leader to their universities and their team. Student athletes should view playing sports as an addition to completing their studies, not a replacement. Many believe student athletes should solely focus on bettering their “game” in order to make it to the professional sports league. While this is important, student athletes should also be expected to go above and beyond with their actions in and out of the classroom. College athletes should be held accountable for their education as well as their behavior, by both them-selves and their coaches.
All the time, hard work, scheduling, effort, dedication, and more. When you are in college playing a sport there are a lot of sacrifices that have to be made and time committed to that sport. College athletes spend most of their day training and practicing to get better, which leaves them very little or no time to do other things they enjoy. According to the article “This Study Proves Just How Much Time College Athletes Spend On Their Sports”. “40-hour work weeks are the norm in most professions.
This notion is supported by Dr. Daniel Gould, who believes that “Children who participate in sports have increased educational aspirations, closer ties to school and increased occupational aspirations in youth” (1). People against the funding of high school sports think that parents and society are placing more emphasis than ever before and, “[P]ressures athletic personnel to deviate on winning from the athlete- centered educational and personal development mission” (Gould 1). However, athletes strive to do better in class. Michael Lorenc, a high school basketball coach believes that “those who seem to have an overwhelming schedule where they’re playing maybe multiple sports, and high academic schedules, they tend to do better than those who don’t do anything extracurricularly” (Gray). Balancing sports and school makes athletes put more effort into keeping up grades while playing the sport they love.
While other students have time for jobs, athletes won’t be able to between school, practice, and
“The culture of college sports may inhibit some student-athletes from seeking help to address issues such as anxiety, depressive symptoms, burnout, the stress of team or individual expectations, and the everyday stress of dealing with relationships, academic demands, and life away from home” (McQuade, 2021). The demand on student-athletes is tremendous. The need to perform in front of hundreds of thousands of people in order to bring success to their school’s name does not allow much room for relaxation. These sports teams require many hours throughout the week to practice and prepare for games that will be nationally televised. This extra time commitment causes student athletes to lose study and social time.
Did you know that depending on the sport, students who play sports in college most likely have less than a 2% chance of becoming professional athletes? At middle schools, high schools and colleges across the country, everyone is arguing over whether or not students with failing grades should be allowed to play sports. In my opinion, a good education is so very important for our country’s youth, especially the athletes. Not a lot of kids are good enough to play in the top college sports programs in the country. But even those who are, still have an astonishingly low chance at making the professional leagues.
Athletes who play football or basketball are at a higher risk of career ending injuries. These two sports are the hardest on an athletes body. Only one out of twenty-five college athletes go pro, so why put your body at risk when you don’t receive anything for doing that and your chances of going pro are slim? A lot of these student athletes are stressed out because of schoolwork participating in a college sport. This is just another reason that these athletes deserve to be