Lutheran College Sports

With younger colleges, emerges new sports programs, like the University of South Alabama (USA), a Division I, Sunbelt football team that started in 2005. As a

College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism.

Sports are prominent in today’s culture more than ever. Almost everyone watches them, has a favorite team, or even competes in sports, but this wasn't always the case. In the early 1800’s, Americans were opposed to sports. Organized sports like the ones that we have today were not common at all. The idea of sports wasn’t even on the radar of most people.

In the early 20th century, the dominant theme in American sport was the spread and influence of “organized team sport” in American culture. Organized team sport gained attention and importance as early as the late 1800’s with the influence of Luther Halsey Guick. Guick viewed sports as a social tool that sped up an individual’s ability to self-govern and thus he pushed for public funded playgrounds in big cities. Guick also focused on integrating team competition into the school system as much as possible; he was incredibly successful in this endeavour and team competition became an integral part of the education system. One obstacle faced in physical education was the need for an indoor sport that could be played during the winter; this posed multiple obstacles in itself. Developing a game that could be played in a small enclosed area and was not rough, proved to be a challenging feat that was eventually overcome by James Naismith. The development of basketball furthered the integration of organized team sports into American culture.

It was this realization that led, then President Teddy Roosevelt in 1905, to call a meeting with college faculty, alumni, and coaches to discuss a reform to the game of football. A meeting that initially focused on the liabilities of football as a collegiate sport led to a series of other meetings with increased input from universities across the nation to discuss the future of intercollegiate athletics, institutional accountability, and its regulation. Ultimately, a committee created to discuss the risks of football turned into a committee that was committed to the regulation of intercollegiate athletics, thus the National Collegiate Athletics Association was formed in 1906.( Evolution of Academic Services dissertation

Some schools with strong sporting traditions reinforce participation in sport. The sports that students are encouraged to participate in can depend on the school’s history and traditions, the facilities and equipment available, and the expertise of the teachers.

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.”)

Today, African American athletes play a strong and predominant role in the football program at the university however, this was not always the case. Less than fifty years ago, the Ole Miss football program was just as segregated as it had been in its early days. As a whole, the Southeastern Conference of the NCAA was the last to instrgarate black athletes with the current white ones (Paul 297, 284). Of the ten teams in the conference at the time, the University of Mississippi was the last to integrate (Paul 287). This integration of the team took place ten years after the University itself was integrated. Not only did the school refuse to integrate until years after other teams had already done so but,

In this article, Amanda Ripley discusses how sports are becoming increasingly important in high school. She shares the view from exchange students and what they see when they come to the United States. She gives an example of Premont, Texas, where the superintendent wanted to eliminate sports. His main reason for doing this was budget problems. They tried this in one school, and that school’s enrollment numbers dropped.

Variations were made to the toughening game of rugby in order to civilize the sport for collegiate competition. Today a plaque in New Brunswick, New Jersey, commemorates the first college game, on November 6, 1869, when Rutgers beat Princeton 6–4 (Branch 5). The world of college athletics was considered unregulated chaos before reform took place in the 1920s. A 1929 study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching titled, American College Athletics exposed the unfair competitive environment of college football (Estler 5). From then on a committee of college presidents, which later developed into the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), would monitor any unfair competitive advantages. Illegal activity that was abruptly confronted by the NCAA after WWII ranged from point shaving schemes to roster sizes of over 300 players with as many as 100 on scholarship (Estler 6). Excessive scholarships caused a larger separation in competition between larger schools and smaller schools that couldn’t afford to offer as many academic scholarships. A fine line was drawn between schools that valued athletic achievement equally to academics and schools that significantly emphasized the latter. Professional football and basketball growth towards the midway point in the 20th century caused the increasing responsibility of the NCAA from promoting college athletics to regulating

Final minutes of the first half winding down, my team was marching down the field with a purpose. Across the gridiron was our rival team, Mayfield, who we had beat the previous year in the state championship game. It was a cold November night and the stage was set, playing on their home field, “The Field of Dreams,” in Las Cruses, New Mexico in the semi-finals of the state tournament. Up 14-0, we had the ball and were trying to score before going into halftime. I was handed the ball for a running play and then it happened. Falling to the ground as if I had been shot, I had completely torn my hamstring. I was in complete shock as I lay on the ground. As the pain

Charles H. Martin wrote a compelling monograph about the journey of segregation in college sports. The book showed readers how the “color line” in college football, specifically in southern football, reflected the traditions and beliefs of southern society. The reader gets a glance into the complete segregation of college sports to the complete integration of all college sports. In the beginning, African American students could not play sports on all-white teams and they could not go to the same schools at white students or even drink from the same water fountain as white students. The reader gets to walk through the history of the integration of college sports with Martin to eventually see full integration.

There has been amplified debate on the treatment, education, training of the college athlete. To avoid exploitation of athletes, “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set bylaws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition” (Schneider n.p.). Intercollegiate athletics have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Currently, intercollegiate athletics generate tremendous amounts of revenue, remarkably in football and basketball. College sports in America is a

This study deals with high school athletics and their long-term effect in the lives of those who participate; it also deals with the positive and negative aspects of athletics during high school, and the treatment of those who participate. This study was conducted with qualitative data obtained from five personal interviews with previous high school athletes. These five people come from a range of places, ages, and experience. Conclusions are that participation in high school athletics is a contributor to a better social life and experience during high school. Good friends and influences are obtained through the pursuit of high school athletics. The long-term effects

Sports programs have been an integral part of all schools. They support the academics of the school and therefore foster success in life. These programs are educational and help produce productive citizenship. They help students experience and build skills that may help them in their future, like interpersonal and time management skills. Education may kindle the light of knowledge, but sports help to maintain the proper physique. Sports are also an important means of entertainment and a use for energy after long hours of study. Sports increase a student’s performance not only in the classroom but also in their life.