Student Athlete Discussion 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).

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

Academic success is important for both high school and college athletes. To be eligible to participate, athletes must maintain a certain GPA. Student athletes that don’t make school a priority, not only miss out on playing time, but also fail to prepare themselves for the next step in their life. For high school athletes, that means prepare for college while for college athlete, it means preparing to enter the workforce. Although, both high school 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

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.

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

student-athlete is a lot of work because, for football they have to wake up every morning to do

Imagine that you are a full-time college athlete; your daily routine would entail an early wake up and a practice. After your morning practice, you have to go your classes for the day. Then, since you are crunched for time and do not have much time in the class room while on the road, you have a tutoring session. Lastly, you have another practice and a weight lifting session that could end at 10 o’clock or later at times. Players also have to work hard on their own time to keep their spot in the lineup. Athletes follow this schedule the whole year. With all of an athletes’ time being put toward their sports and studies, they do not have time to hold even a

College athletes put a lot of their time into the sport (43.3hours per week) and they still have school to worry about as well.

About 750 million dollars was made in television rights in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, in 2014. This 750 million dollars was not given to the players that played in those games, but the coaches and their colleges (Pallack). Athletes in the NCAA have many aspects they have to monitor: the possibility of getting hurt, expenses, and their time. Around sixty hours is how many hours a college athlete spends practicing and playing basketball (Majerol). College athletes are just like professional athletes but at a lower level, so college athletes should be paid to play a sport because of their hard work, passion, responsibility, and commitment.

This notion is not applicable because athletes are encouraged “not to take courses that might require real effort or interfere with the primary reason they are on campus” (Nocera par5). Athletes are pushed toward taking classes that are not demanding as to not interfere with their eligibility. These steps taken by athletes are not beneficial to their future educational path. Athletes are viewed by colleges as a way to make money from sports. After an athlete's eligibility is up, they are tossed aside, often with little knowledge because they were encouraged to take easy classes in order to fit their busy schedule (Nocera par24). If the NCAA wanted to treat athletes as students, they should implement ways for them to be able to attend actual classes that will challenge them. Universities should adopt a six-year scholarship program in which athletes receive two years of free schooling after their eligibility runs out (Nocera par26). Because not all athletes will go on to play professionally, they need to be able to rely on other skills. The six-year scholarship will allow athletes to gain knowledge to help them get a career in the

An anonymous individual once said, “People don’t play sports because it’s fun. Ask any athlete, most of them hate it, but they couldn’t imagine their life without it. It’s part of them, the love/hate relationship. It’s what they live for.” The quote continues saying, “It’s who they are. It’s who we are. We are athletes.” An athlete is an individual who trains to compete in a sporting event. However, there is a fine line distinguishing an athlete and a student athlete, or at least there should be. A student athlete, where student comes first and shows the balance of a full time student and a full time athlete, is an

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

Despite a tendency for institutions to be lenient with college athletes, as they enjoy the benefits of full-time-student status, they must be held to the same standards as non-athlete students. Every institution has an obligation to set attendance rules; students who attend these institutions have an obligation to abide by them, however, in actuality, professors chose whether or not they’re enforced. This may cause significant problems between other students targeting a player, rather than who is responsible, the Professor. Although institutions want their students equally treated, diversity is well accepted. Existence as a college athlete contributes to diversity as well as a substantial amount of favoritism. Issues arise pertaining to