Student Athlete Discussion Essay

Some people who have never participated in extracurricular activities may ask, “What is so different between a student-athlete’s day compared to an average college student’s.” According to Richard Sherman, a former Stanford University student-athlete and now professional football player, student-athletes have mandatory lifting in the morning, meetings, and practices throughout the day during the season (Richard Sherman Student Athlete Education” 00:01:14-00:01:26). An average college student doesn’t have this time commitment. They may be involved in many organizations but the organizations don’t meet every day, which is a big difference between the two schedules. A study done by Penn Schoen Berland showed that “on average

Students in college have to balance many activities: school, friends, work, health, and everything in between. Being a student athlete adds a whole new workload. Not only do student athletes have to balance class, studying, and homework, but they also have workouts, meetings, events, games, and of course, practice. Not even mentioning a social life, a student athlete 's daily schedule is already packed full. Typically, a student athlete wakes up, goes to a workout that is followed by classes, then another workout, and finally time for studying and homework.

While high school student-athletes invest a lot of time and energy into their sport, the collegiate lifestyle brings a new level of difficulty that many incoming freshmen can find intimidating and overwhelming at first. In addition to being under more pressure to perform on a larger, more competitive stage in front of a more expansive audience, they must also deal with the every day challenges that normal college freshmen face: homesickness, transitioning into a more demanding academic workload, and creating a new social network. College athletes have to have their routines extremely time focused, and make time management essential to their daily lives.

The bang of the head, the crack of the bone, the tear of a muscle, are all things that high school athletes put themselves at risks for. Every time a high school athlete steps foot on a field, rink, or court they put themself in a risky situation. Although the risk may be there, athletes achieve many valuable lessons throughout high school sports. The valuable lessons promote self-confidence, socialization and team spirit, as well as decreases stress. While playing sports, athletes are at excessive risks of being injured. Although high school athletes have a risk of being injured, the benefits of high school sports programs outweighs the physical risk because of its benefits to teenagers mental health, benefits to teenagers physical health,

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

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

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence” (Vince Lombardi). Collegiate athletes have the best chance of success in college, because they constantly get pressure from the coaches to get good grades, won’t have any debt after college because they are on full scholarship and playing sports helps builds social network.

Before high school athletes totally rule out trying to play sports in college they need to consider the similarity and differences between high school and college sports. As young children, most high school athletes started out dreaming about being a sports star and making it into the professional. If these dreams are given up because college sports seem out of reach or too difficult, they will never know where they could have ended up. College sports can seem like a big step from high school sports but in the end they have many similarities.

The schedules that coaches are requiring their athletes to follow are rigorous to say the least: Wake up, morning practice, study as a team, classes, practice again, study time as a team, lift weights and then off to bed at a specific time. Where is there time to sit and watch Netflix? Where is there time to talk to fellow classmates? Are colleges and universities pushing their athletes too hard in order to make money instead of allowing them to balance school and participate as a student

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,

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

The NCAA claims it is protecting the principle of amateurism by not paying collegiate athletes and therefore not treating them as professionals. It is true that collegiate athletes are not technically professionals, but those participating in the NCAA are required by their coaches and school to put forth a professional effort for the sake of winning. The training schedule begins before classes even start. A fitness packet is given to the recruit the summer before his/her freshman year, and the requirements are expected to be completed so that when preseason starts, the athlete is very fit. Once preseason starts, also before classes, the athletes move onto campus and start very rigorous two-a-day practices. A combination of early morning training sessions, fitness tests, hours of play, and physical and mental focus are

Many People think that the collegiate sports are just a form of entertainment for them and the players but the players think of these sports as a job. The NCAA is the National Collegiate Athletic Association and it is the center of making all of the rules for collegiate sports. They decide on if student athletes are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act or not. Student athletes do not get enough recognition and seen as students or entertainment but not as employees. Although some people do not believe student athletes deserve the recognition of being employees, others know they should because these students fall under the title employee from the requirements placed by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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

Many incoming student athletes face problems with being out of shape when they first start their season. Many will claim that they will start to get in shape when they begin practicing and once they get used to it. It could be true for some student athletes, but they will find themselves struggling throughout the first couple months. Why not start off the season already in shape by eating correctly. Diet will be one of the most important lifestyles in a student athlete’s life. A lot of new collegiate student athletes will not know that eating three meals a day will help them throughout their whole season as well as their pre-season. I believe that all student athletes should consume at least three meals a day while keeping in mind what they are eating. Not only is it important for them to eat three meals a day but it is very important for all student athletes to consume the right amount of water everyday.