Athletic Sports Essay

Do student athletes make the most of their opportunity to obtain a post-secondary education? Do they have the same academic success as those students that are not athletes? Are student athletes just “dumb jocks?” The answers to these questions might surprise you. Much research has been done to dispel the myth that athletes going to college are only there to play sports with little regard to their education. Programs have been created to assure that colleges and universities hold athletes to the same standards as the everyday student. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has decided that the “magic number” to put the “student” back into “student-athlete” is 925 (Hamilton).

Multiple studies have shown that college athletes do not perform as well in the classroom as their nonathletic peers. For example, according to Michael Maloney in the article An Examination of the Role that Intercollegiate Athletic Participation Plays in Academic Achievement, he states that “SAT scores of athletes are, on average, 150 points below non- athletes. Similarly, athletes come to college with inferior high school preparation in academics. Their high school rank is 20 percentage points below nonathletes.”

Literature surrounding athletic participation and its impact on the college experience is well documented (LaForge & Hodge, 2011). Many scholars purport that athletic participation enhances the academic experience, while others argue that it creates a divide between colleges’ missions and student-athletes lived campus experiences. To support this claim, Lawrence, Henedricks & Ott (2007) found in their study that nearly one-third of faculty who responded to their survey indicated that they believed that academic standards are lowered to achieve success in the sports of football and basketball. One question that is often posed by

The NCAA believes “that a student-athlete is a student first and athlete second.” Student-athletes benefit more than from playing a sport that they love. The graduation rate is higher among the student athletes than the general student body. “NCAA studies show that student-athletes enjoy high levels of engagement in academics, athletics and community: have positive feeling about their overall athletics and academic experiences: attribute invaluable life skills to being a student-athlete: and are more likely to earn similar or higher wages after college than non-student athletes.”

Each season college students and fans support their sports team in hopes of a National Championship Title. They purchase season tickets, team clothing, and expensive sports packages from television providers in order to watch their team from afar. This generates a lot of cash for universities and retailers.

Athletics are a big attraction to many students when looking at colleges. When college sports programs have success, research done by Pope and Pope show that there is a boost in applications that the colleges receive from students. “Applications [after] a Championship add 7-8 percent, with a big effect in the immediate year and little effect after one year.” It was found that when colleges have winning athletic teams get more applications sent in from all levels of student and not just athletes. This is found true for basketball and football. Not only increase in applications is found but also found after success in football there is a growth in enrollment, this is not found true for basketball (Getz and Siegfried “What Does Intercollegiate Athletics Do…”). “David Schmidly the president of the University of New Mexico said “One of the most effective ways to market your university nationally is to have a really quality athletic program. It helps recruit faculty, students, and donors. It helps with the image of the whole university.” (qtd. in Getz and Siegfried “College Sports: The Mystery of the Zero-Sum Game.”)

For many students, the college experience is measured by the success of their NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs. Without the experience and athletic performance the student athlete brings, most colleges would not reap the benefit of these significant revenue-generating activities. At best, current NCAA regulations need to be revisited to ensure all avenues are addressed to enable the success of athletic students both in the classroom and on the field or court of play. As stated previously, even though students receive full and partial scholarships determined by their athletic performance, in both instances

The impact of college athletic programs on academics has always been a controversial and contentious topic. It seems that athletic programs have some contemplative effects on academics of colleges and universities. Different people have different ideas about how college athletic programs should be carried on. College presidents, administrations, student athletes, parents of students, and athletic trainers are along with these people who point out different facts about the fallouts of athletics on academics. A bunch of people suggest that athletic programs should be dropped from college system, while another group suggests that athletic programs should be taken care with more advertence. An analysis on the effects of college athletics on

First college students often devote most of their time to whatever sport they play. Some of them only eat, breathe, and sleep sports. Just like

One of the main pressures these athletes face is academics. College athletes’ level of stress is extreme. They have to face double challenges everyday. Aside from having to perform well in their sport, they have to keep a decent grade point average (GPA). Although their classes might be less demanding, college athletes are recommended to choose an easier major so it’ll be manageable for them to balance out sports and school (Eitzen, page 56). Regardless of their majors not being

College football rising to be one of the most popular sports has put a huge price tag on big game tickets. The athletes never see a dime of the millions made off the championships that they grinded a long season to get to. Under the management of the NCAA, there has been a drastic increase in how popular college football is. Today, College football is only second in popularity to the most popular sport in the country, the NFL. What makes the sport so popular is every single state has a college football team to root for and most states have a big-name division 1 team. The large supply of college football meets and equally large demand and the effect of every city having a home town team makes this sport extremely popular. If you look at the top ranked football teams of last year, none are in major cities. In the top five you have: Tuscaloosa, Columbus, Louisville, Ann Arbor, and Clemson. In most of the cities mentioned football on Saturday is king. In these five cities on Saturday night everyone stops what they are doing and watches their favorite team play. The fact that these small towns can have nationally recognized programs plays a role in the popularity of college football. TV contracts also boosts college football’s popularity and increases revenue exponentially. Games that are nationally televised gives national exposure to small town schools. TV are actually what makes schools so much money off athletics. TV networks pay ridiculous amounts of money for the rights to broadcast the schools football team, stuffing the pockets of the university. Marc Tracy of The New York Times writes, “Under the championship playoff format that began this season, ESPN is paying $7.3 billion over 12 years to telecast seven games a year” (Tracy). ESPN and other networks are willing to pay billions of dollars to see college athletes compete without any

Despite the many stereotypes that are connected with being a student athlete, student athletes in general are held to much higher standards by their institutions. Before a prospective student athlete even enters college, they are made fully aware of the academic standings and requirements of the college they choose. Although the academic requirements vary from college to college, the standards are still held high for all student athletes. The transition into college can be exceptionally difficult especially for the

In high school many kids often choose not to participate in extra curricular activities saying that there pointless or that only a certain type of person would do something like play football, or join the chess club. While this type of thinking may get some people through school and through life, can it really be looked at as being a healthy lifestyle? Today sports have proven to be a healthy outlet for students, in dealing with stress in the classroom at home and among their peers.

School-organized sports are organized within a students study curriculum. There is little to no evidence to suggest that schools would allow students to skip their classes so that they attend to their sports commitments. Rather, programs are made to suit both the academic commitments of a student and their sports requirements. There is no denying that a balance may lack at some point where sports competitions may require extra commitment but not to the extent that a student would

The presence of giant pizza companies from its origin, Italy, and from its Western counterpart, the US, in almost every corner of the metro is enough to reveal the Filipinos’ love for pizza. Next to fast-food chains selling burgers, the most patronized parlors are those engaged in pizzas and it makes a potential high-income business. Pizza industry in the country is dominated by Pizza Hut, Shakey’s and Greenwich. Having a strong brand equity in the pizza industry allows a company to gain a significant advantage in the market. Customers in the pizza industry place a high value on the product quality and price of a company. Maintaining a good reputation is very important in this industry for companies because customers will build a relationship with the company and will keep on coming back or ordering from that company if they feel like they are getting a good deal.