The Basketball Gym At Georgia State

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.

In conclusion, the benefits of sports cannot be denied. There is no doubt that interscholastic athletics in high schools are generally good for student’s mind and health. It is the mental and conceptual area that many use to support the importance of participation in competitive sports, something many can wholeheartedly agree with. It is also the same area that some point to when behavior exhibited by some athletes does not seem to support what is believed they should be learning. As with anything, however, one can only get out of something what one puts in. Athletics also provides social benefits and center on concepts such as cooperation, teamwork, and friendships. All of which can also benefit them in school and the workplace. Physical benefits

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

“Are you fired up?!?” the General yelled. The answer, of course, was “Yes sir, fired up, sir!” This was how we started every year of Dixie Basketball Camp as we came together in the Southwest Mississippi Community College (SMCC) auditorium. It is hard to explain what the Dixie Basketball Camp is all about. Experiencing it is really the only way of knowing. Dixie teaches kids every year the value of hard work along with the fundamentals of basketball. The camp has a unique and special enthusiasm, filled with cheering and chants, many of which have continued for many years and have made Dixie one-of-a-kind. The General, Joe Dean Jr., has been running the camp for over twenty years. He inspires five hundred campers every year to work hard and sweat on the basketball court. Over the past eight years, he has served as a role model for me at the camp. The Dixie Basketball Camp has been a significant part of my life since the fourth grade; I could not help but be upset as I drove away from the campus after my eighth and final year at the world famous Dixie Basketball Camp and Country Club, “Hey!” I was going to miss all of the enthusiasm the most.

A plethora of reasons exist as to why a certain sport might signal importance to a state, but in Indiana, the sport happens to standout on a whole different level. Current Southeast Dubois Superintendent, Rick Allen, commented on why Indiana high school basketball remains superior saying, “One reason Indiana high school basketball is such a standout of a sport in Indiana is because of the community support behind the team” (Allen 2). The era of basketball between 1911-present remains crucial today not only for the big schools’ gyms in Indiana, but also for small towns gyms such as Huntingburg, Loogootee, Tell City, Ferdinand, and numerous others.

As a student enters the gym doors of Smith-Cotton they can see various trophies from our athletic teams, along with our JROTC National Championship banners that hang up from the walls. One can see by the quality of our gym that our sports are a main part of our school, but as one wonders on into the hallways of our school, they can see how dull they are. By the plainness of the walls, there seems to be no life, in the JROTC hallway you see the trophy cabinet full of multiple national trophies and as you venture on you get to see images of what these teams do, along with the bulletin board that shows newspaper articles of the success of the program. But as you continue to walk toward the other side of the classroom, one can only see some bulletin boards that do not have many things on them except for some advertising. Just by observing this, a new student can see that our school has a great deal to do with sports, but what they cannot see is how well this school performs academically. As we walk down the halls you rarely see a student’s work displayed. So one can assume what James Coleman thinks to be correct, that “altogether, the trophy case would suggest to the innocent visitor that he was entering an athletic club, not an educational institution." This is a dilemma among many schools that is sometime not dealt with adequately.

For 150 years, college sports have been an important aspect of American universities and abolishing them would eliminate the benefits that they bring (“College Athletics Programs”). One of the greatest benefits of college athletics is that they bind the school to the community. People who live in a college town love to support their institution and showing up at numerous athletic events displays how far their dedication goes. Not only do college sports attract people who live in the college town, but also alumni and future students. The school’s spirit and unity extends far beyond the

Across the nation, these sponsors uniformly regarded sport as an educational and developmental undertaking (Hearn, Thomas K.). The main premier sports for men are football, basketball, and baseball. These sports help teach teamwork and let people interact with others. This change in the culture of sport is destructive of the aims of athletics as part of the mission of the university (Hearn, Thomas K.). Sports weren’t this advanced when they first started the game.

It is important for the athletic directors and other authoritative figures in men’s basketball to strive for a common goal and establish a better sense balance among those in the basketball environment by changing the contradicting expectations and policies of the NCAA. Some say basketball players have been taken advantage of for far too long and ask “how much longer are universities willing to wait [the] before students see them as a threat and an aid to the issue rather than a source of education and athletic support”? Neglecting the issue has only postponed its significance to emerge as more relevant. By helping address this issue with urgency will allow the players to feel acknowledged and help create a solution for everyone’s benefit to the issue at

Athletes in college receives a lot of attention, through their practices and performance on and off the field.be. They uplift the names of their colleges and give it a name that would otherwise not be acquired. They make their college mates proud of their college, and they may boost enrolment of many others, which would benefit the school. Athletics stand a position to earn a school other benefits, not only to the players but other students too. They may win study scholarships for their school mates by their exemplary performance (Owens et al 20).

As you very well know, Oklahoma Baptist University competes in twenty-one varsity sports at the NCAA Division II level. Every year, approximately 500 student-athletes from all around Oklahoma, the United States, and the globe come to Bison Hill to compete on one of those twenty-one teams. As a member of the Bison baseball team, I’ve been very blessed to meet and play with a diverse group of guys. Over the first couple of months that I’ve been at OBU, however, I’ve noticed a barrier that student-athletes place between their team and other students. Generally, most student-athletes solely hang out with their teammates of the sport they play. Now it’s important for teammates to build chemistry with one another, but at the same time it causes a feeling of division among other students. The most effective way to solve this problem is by putting student-athletes in a position to feel unified with the rest of the university through activities that form and strengthen relationships, student clubs and organizations, and groups that encourage growth in Christ.

When it comes to the topic of college sports, most of us will readily agree that attending college will benefit the students and players lives in the future. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether college sports should be supported or apart of the college experience. Whereas some are convinced that college sports benefit universities in many aspects, others maintain that college universities were built for students to succeed in academics. Although colleges were built for academics and not sports, college sports should be included in universities.

Sports are an extremely important part of the Georgia Southern culture. Every collegiate level sport Georgia Southern offers packs out stadiums and arenas almost every day of the week. Any student who may not have been given the opportunity to play at the collegiate level is eligible to play club sports, which is an excellent alternative.

This spring semester I had the privilege of completing my service learning hours at Asarese Matters Community Center. I chose to conduct my hours of service at this site because I felt like I could relate to the kids that are experiencing a life of poverty with limited mobility opportunities. Most my time spent there I interacted with a majority of the kids through basketball and competitive activities like billiards, ping pong and talking sports. While observing relationships and interactions between staff and youth that attend the community center I noticed the important role that sport and education played in the life of the children. Using my sociological imagination, I would like to explore the role of sport and the interactions and behaviors that takes place during competitive situations, also the role of education and the kids perception on going to college and using sport and education as a way of succeeding and escaping the concentrated poverty of the Buffalo communities. Using the lived experience that I encountered and knowledge acquired in the past, I will try to piece together a connection and express how the macro level expectations of a community to prosper influences the self esteem,behaviors and attitudes among social groups at the micro level here in the city of Buffalo and at Asarese-Matters community center.

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.