Idea of Paying College Athletes Essay Example

only balance their academic and social life, family time, possible work life, but also around 40-50 hours per week dedicated to their sport. College athlete must divide their time between classes, practices, homework, additional activities and travelling for games too.

Balancing and time management are not that easy and taking practice to achieve a healthy and stable lifestyle. Succeeding as a college athlete does not only establishes you to excel in balancing and time management but also prepares you beyond the playing field, which leads us to discussing some key benefits of being a college athlete (Van et al, 1995). The great and important thing about college sports is the fact that there are different levels of competition (varsity and club), which allows anyone to compete. These levels require different skill level and commitments hence they all produce similar benefits. The advantages of competing in college sports and being a college athlete are immediate and life- long.

History of College Athletes

The idea of paying college athletes to compete sets back to what is considered to be the first intercollegiate competition. In the 1800`s, football played by college teams was a brutal sport which was enjoyed by many fans. College sports became more popular in the period of 1920-1940. It was a time when commercialism in the educational system was being questioned on variety of levels. Athletes during the early and mid-1900`s were recruited routinely and paid to play; and there were several instances where individuals representing the schools were not enrolled as students.

Other athletes at colleges were given high paying jobs for which they did little or no work. Many schools were still struggling with issue of

offering athletic scholarships by mid 1950's. To serve the mission of higher education, Some university presidents ultimately decided to maintain the principles of amateurism (Smith, 1990). They concluded that it was not in the best interest of their universities to award athletic scholarships, and have remained steadfast even today.

Advantages of Being College Athlete

Academic success; Student athletes graduate at higher rates than college students. Nearly 13000 student-athletes have returned to campuses to complete their degrees in the past decade after finishing their athletic eligibility.

Solid support services; College student- athletes have a substantial amount of support. Whether it`s helping students through emotional slumps to encouraging their academic aspirations, coaching staff and fellow team members add to the already support of professors (Van et al, 1995). Student athletes receive academic support such as state-of-the-art technology and tutoring, and have access to athlete-focused academic advisors in addition to traditional academic advisors.

Fitness and health; Participating in athletics affords the benefits of regular physical activity and also a motivation to learn about and practice good nutritional habits. They also have regular access to world class coachin, facilities and workout equipment.

Open doors and preparation for life; Participating in a college sport actually prepares you for life after graduation and oftenly opens doors enabling you participate in the professional world. The social networks developed through athletics and the team building skills learned while playing a college sport gives college athletes a head-start in business world (Smith, 1990). Been a good team player in college prepares you for a professional setting and makes for an attractive potential employee. It is noted that the business world is focusing on creating a team environment in the

workplace where people work together effectively toward a common goal and a college athlete who has practiced this skill for years, could potentially be an ideal candidate. There is an overwhelming amount of positive impact that the experience of being a college athlete rewards. The level of responsibility, life lessons, connections made and skills learned are proof that you are getting the very most of your college athletic career.

Challenges Faced by College Athlete

The college-athletes feel uncertain in the following areas; personal uncertainty, such as uncertainty about balancing school work and sports and uncertainity about injury; social uncertainty, such as uncertainty related to who actually are their real friends and future uncertainty, such as uncertainty concerning their post-collegiate careers and whether the time they spend pursuing athletics will hurt their career prospects (Van et al, 1995).

The students use several techniques to reduce uncertainty including; seeking social support from friends, family or academic counselors; socializing with friends to take a break from sports and school pressures; negotiating with coaches in an attempt to raise their scholarship; and sometimes concealing their athlete status from peers to minimize the number of people befriending them for the wrong reasons or prevent negative stereotypes (Smith, 1990). Universities can do more to prepare students for life outside of athletics like for example athletics department working with employers to offer flexible paid or unpaid professional internships around student-athlete`s seasons. In this way student-athletes can receive work experience in fields outside of sports.

Should College-Athlete be Paid?

The most important problem is whether or not to pay college athletes for participating in sporting activities. The intensity of the argument to pay college athletes has escalated in

the past few years. In my own opinion, they should be paid due to the following reasons;

There are student-athletes who have to leave school early because they do not have enough money to continue, or to pay their bills and leaving school for a career in professional sports is an easy way of making money. If student-athlete gets paid, they will remain in school and complete their education (Van et al, 1995).

The athletes are also producing revenues not only for the schools, which gives these students scholarships, but also for television networks and the conference in which these schools belong. The equity problem could be solved if all college athletes get paid the same salary for their participation (Van et al, 1995).

The scholarships offered to college athletes do not entirely cover tuition and cost of living. These students can still do what a majority of students do, which is to get loans and some of these student-athletes still do not qualify for such loans, so there is a gap between the money they get and the total cost of attendance (Gardiner, 2002). This gap has caused some intercollegiate teams to provide their athletes with extra compensation.

College athletes don’t have time for jobs. They spend their entire college life on their education and sports. They waken up, go to class, eat then practice, sleep then repeat. They are not provided with any of the normal resources like food and water, at least they should be paid $100 each game.

Conclusion

Despite the strength of the reasons as to why student-athletes should be paid or not, the gap between a full scholarship and the cost of attendance should be

covered by academic institution, especially when a student athlete does not qualify for a loan. Such a policy will go a long way in ensuring that college-athletes are not leaving school to become professional’s athletes because they cannot pay their bills (Gardiner, 2002).

Academic institutions should be able to provide at least that much for their athletes. Ultimately, its a form of payment, but it is not the type of payment that every individuals could advocate for. The schools should facilitate the educations of student-athletes through scholarship grants, but not through a system of salaries dependent on supply and demand, which ultimately detracts a student-athlete from picking and attending a school for the right reasons.

References

1. Van Camp, S. P., Bloor, C. M., Mueller, F. O., Cantu, R. C., & Olson, H. G. (1995). Nontraumatic sports death in high school athletes. Medicine and Science in sports and exercise, 27(5), 641-647
2. Gardiner, E. N. (2002). Athletics in the ancient world.
3. Smith, R. A. (1990). Sports and freedom; The rise of big-time college athletics.