Is Emily A Successful Soccer Player?

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).

Athletes are giving it there all both on the field and in the classroom. College athletes are brought to the school on scholarships to play sports. These athletes are giving it there all going back and forth from classes, to the weight room, to studying, and to practices. But they mostly spend a lot of time practicing rather than going to classes. ““These young men are laboring under very strict and arduous conditions, so they really are laborers in terms of the physical demands on them while there also trying to go to school and being required to go to school.” Says Robert McCormick (2011, Kenneth J. Cooper). What Robert means is that these students have a huge amount of work load on them while also being required to go to school at the same time. These athletes aren’t like every other students. Even before the school year starts, athletes have to come to schools weeks early. Having a summer off is what normal college students have

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.”

Waking up before the sunrise is a daily routine. Early morning film sessions, class, then practice, which dominates the day. There are few moments in between for food and socializing, but the life of a student athlete is anything but ordinary. Sleep, eat, practice and school are all an athlete knows, and with the pressures of campus life it becomes even more difficult. No time for much of anything, let alone getting a job. Like most students, these athletes need money, but do not have a spare moment to work. Without any source of income, athletes are put at a major disadvantage. Their full-time job is athletics, in addition to rigorous college-level courses. The possibility of becoming a professional athlete and making millions

After graduation, college athletes receive additional benefits, even if they are not part of the admittedly tiny group of athletes with the skills to play professionally (McCormack 21). Status as a former star athlete, or even an ordinary one, can open many doors in the professional world, especially in fields like sales and marketing. People enjoy associating themselves with athletic performers, especially those from their own alma mater. In addition, many colleges have developed special programs to help former athletes return and – if they have not received their degree, as many do not – complete their education ( 22). These programs make it a relatively simple process for a former college athlete to obtain his or her degree. More and more colleges are providing programs to help former athletes in a variety of ways, with the focus on helping them earn a degree ( 25). Some of these programs are still available to

College athletics have become popular over time over the past few decades. Student athletes need to be determined, committed, and focused. The biggest trait needed by the athlete is dedication. The amount of dedication needed to be a student athlete could be overwhelming. Between classes and workouts could exhaust even the best athlete mentally and physically. Students athletes should be proud to get free education and play sports, but education should be valued more than sports . As an athlete, time management is the key to surviving. Athletes need a balance, maintaining at least 40 hours of practice a week, 30 hours a week of class time, and getting some sleep into their schedule too. Maintaining all of these aspects deserves some more credit, more than just a free education. The NCAA can afford to pay athletes, the NCAA makes about 12 billion every year. The NCAA money comes mostly from TV and marketing and makes up less than 10% of all college athletics money. The rest comes from school ticket sales and student fees from the school itself. The NCAA since 2006 profit have doubled since time has gone by and is still increasing from tournaments and school funding. Athletes play an active role in the promotions of these activities,

Many athletes spend lots of hours dedicated to their sport of choice. They do this by practicing in their free time, team practice, team meetings, and traveling. Then, they have to study for their classes. This to me is like working a full time job with a heavy load ofn classes you have to attend to and do well. Dave Anderson stated, “College athletes spend an average of 43.3 hours per week dedicated to their sport” (Anderson 1). Also, Anderson stated, “This means that college athletes have to work 90 hours per week just to remain in school on their scholarship. This is the equivalent to working two full time jobs with a side job on the weekends just to pay their bills” (Anderson 2). Sports can put a lot of stress on a student’s school work achievement goals. People should know that college for student athletes demands a lot out of them and basically drains them physically as well as mentally. This is based on all the time they spend on sports and

(Ackerman, V., & Scott, L. (2016, March 29).) Athletes are exposed to incredible resources in college that other students do not receive without having to pay. Most athletes can get a tutor for little charge to keep them eligible and also receive full access to health professions to keep them healthy to pay. About 67% of athletes graduate with their degree and also throw into athletes that enter professional sports leagues, they are often better off after college than non athlete students. (Ackerman, V., & Scott, L. (2016, March 29).)

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

Most college athletes spend most of their time practicing or studying. College students sometimes have to get jobs to help them pay for school, or to even help them live on their own. College athletes, however, don’t have time to get a job because they are either studying or practicing. On top of going to class, the students also have to have time to do homework and attend group sessions.

They have to take the time out of their day every day to be involved in their sport, whether it is practice, weight lifting, or games. They need study time outside of practice so they can succeed in their classes. If they were to get a job, it would cut out of their everyday study time which would more than likely cause them to get bad grades in their class and keep them from playing their sport. Let’s say a student athlete gets a job, but they have to work late at night because a normal college athlete will condition or weight lift in the morning then go to class until about three or four pm, has practice, and sometimes a mandatory study hall. The athlete would go through the next day exhausted because they are up late at night working to make money so that they can provide for themselves. If these student athletes were to make money from their performance, other than scholarship money, they would have more time to study and be provided

The typical Division 1 athlete devotes a whopping 43.3 hours per week to his sport- 3.3 more hours than the average work week (Smith). In addition to this, the athletes have to deal with waking up far earlier than others to lift, followed by going to classes and ending the day with more practice. They are then expected to be able to perform academically the same as everyone else. Student athletes are also expected to hold themselves at a higher standard than others simply because they play a sport. Many coaches monitor the social media of the athletes to make sure they are not putting their athletic career at stake by going to college

Athletes are sometimes overworked because coaches and colleges think they need to practice all the time. College athletes go through grueling practices, meaningful games and practice over 40 hours a week (Kahn). These athletes spend too much time practicing to work on actual college class work. Athletes are more of an employee than a student with the amount of practice they have. These players do not have enough time to do it all. “the schedule is akin to a full time job, with 40 to 50 hours a week devoted to football-related activities”(He). Football players, whether it is practice or not, spend way too much time doing football activities to get homework or other school related things done. Sports are a big part of these kid’s life but it should not be their entire life. Athletes will have nothing to fall back on if colleges work them so much with practices and not enough with school. Having all of this practice time may not help them prepare for the real life after college. All that colleges would have to do is have the sports teams focus a little bit less on practice time and maybe a little bit more on actual school. College students need to be prepared for life after college and practicing all the time does not

Success is a very sought after aspect in our society. Everyone strives for the nicest car, the largest home, or the most exciting job. However, Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, discusses how the path to success is not simple and it has a lot of factors that play into it. Being on a sports team throughout school or being a “student-athlete” may be one of them. Student athletes learn concepts like teamwork, hard work, and persistence—all of which are critical parts of the average adult career. The sports that these children and teens participate in fuel their competitive drive that can only help them in the workplace.

Instead of feeling pressure to conform as a student at the University of Georgia, I have found that being in college has made me value the importance of a higher education more so than I ever had before. During high school, my primary goal was to play well enough to receive a football scholarship. At that time, my focus was not on academics. However, since I've arrived at the University of Georgia, my entire concept of the value of a college degree has slowly changed. Rather than seeing just football in my future, I can now picture myself as a football player with a college degree. Consequently, instead of having a negative impact on my personal growth, college has helped me broaden as a person.