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College athletes struggle to manage their time
College athletes struggle to manage their time
The stress of college athletes vs. other students
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Feeling The Stress
Stress is defined as your body 's way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. Many of the students facing stress are simply unable to cope with the effects. Whether it 's time management, lack of sleep, or even tough classes, college students tend to face stress on a daily basis. For student athletes these stresses can be even more extreme. Frank Lu argues that “College student-athletes are a unique group on campus who may face a variety of stressors and challenges compared to their non-athlete counterparts because of their social environments” (254). Student athletes tend to react to stress in a variety of ways. For some, college is stressful because it is a massive change from high school. For me, separation from
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Miller and Kerr raise legitimate concerns to whether or not student athletes are able to be successful in athletics, academics, and their social sphere simultaneously. Future collegiate athletes must realize the battle they will be in for and expect to have challenges along the way. If time management isn’t consistently practiced by student athletes the amounts of stress they are bound to face will be enormous. This results in the athlete 's ability to complete simple tasks required by coaches and teachers satisfactory near …show more content…
Some of the major stresses faced by student athletes tended to be, lack of time, unrealistic academic and athletic pressure along with mental health issues. A majority of universities are currently doing very little help alleviate these stresses, unintentionally placing the burden on the backs of the student athletes themselves. Current high school athletes need to look at the risks and rewards of becoming a collegiate athlete and make a decision based on what’s best for them. In many cases, the greatest decision made by students was to pursue their dreams and become a collegiate athlete. For some this proved to be their downfall, unfortunately being unable to successfully manage the pressure and expectations of being a student and an athlete simultaneously. From personal experience I can tell you, being successful in both areas will come down to proper time management. Despite the lack of time and even added stress, following my dream to play collegiate tennis has being one of the best decisions of my
Due to the stressful and high pressure nature of this achievement context in academies, the question of how to ensure athletes realize their sporting potential without experiencing athletic burnout has become increasingly important (Isoard-Gautheur, Guillet-Ducas & Duda, 2012). Research into this process has highlighted various factors such as perfectionism (Lemyre, Hall & Roberts, 2008; Gould, Tuffey, Udry & Loehr, 1997) and stress-coping techniques (Coakley, 1992) as being important in athletic burnout, but has also shown certain motivational factors ( ) to play an influential ...
Everyone has experienced some type of stress in their life. Whether it has been from work, school, or troubles at home, stress is stress. If anyone had played sports in high school, you know the challenge of balancing school and sports. Imagine that stress, then multiply it exponentially. Everyone knows that college is a much more rigorous version of high school. The only reason some athletes made it to college is due to scholarships for their performance on the field. If they don’t perform well on the field, that scholarship might get cut. This makes practicing the athletes main priority. However, college athletes have to concentrate on their grades so they don’t drop out of college. These athletes know they may not make it to the pro’s, so they know they have to have a back up plan. This back up plan is called a college degree. So college athletes have to concentrate both on sports and classes. Sounds kind of challenging. This is why I believe student athletes should be allowed to miss classes occasionally due to their sport. Athletes are under much more stress, are required to attend practices and classes, and complete their homework. This is simply impossible to do, at least for a human. I believe that this is an important topic because it affects all college athletes.
1 in 4 people will be affected by mental health issues at some point in their lives. Depression affects 20-25% of Americans ages 18+ in a given year (CDC.) Student athletes are students who go to school but participate in athletics at the same time. Student athletes are at a higher risk due to having different stress factors that normal students don't have to go through during their college or high school athletic careers. Major events would be the death of Madison Holleran.
Potuto, Josephine (Jo) R., and James O'Hanlon. "National Study Of Student-Athletes Regarding Their Experiences As College Students." College Student Journal 41.4 (2007): 947-966. Humanities International Complete. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Playing a sport in college is equivalent to working a full-time job (Thomas). There are rules that allow major-college football coaches to only demand twenty hours of the players time each week (Wieberg). However, studies show that those athletes are doubling those hours per week during the season (Wieberg). Other sports are putting in the equivalent of a full time work week (Wieberg). Some NCAA officials are concerned with the amount of time spent stating that beyond forty hours is inhumane (Wieberg). Most of the athletes compete and do whatever it takes to succeed, so they enjoy spending countless hours on sports (Wieberg). Many athletes even have struggles in the classroom because they do not have enough time to study. Student-athletes at top Division I schools think of themselves as athletes more than students (Wieberg). Less than one percent of college athletes actually make it professionally (Wieberg). That means these kids should focus more on their education than on athletics. In reality, these official...
Howard-Hamilton, Mary F., and Julie Sina. "How College Affects College Athletes." New Directions for Student Services (2011): 35-43.
However, what this argument does not take into account is that athletes have an abundance of pressure put on them that most non-athletes don’t ever experience. Hence, the saying, “go hard or go home”. A recent study emphasizes this fact as McClatchy notes, ”The researchers monitored mood levels of 465 collegiate athletes over three years and found 6.3 percent of the athletes met the criteria for clinically significant depression and 24 percent were considered ‘clinically relevant’ “ (2016). Studies like these prove that athletes are not blind to the idea of depression, but rather experience this disorder themselves. Anxiety has a huge role in depression. As sportsperson, there is constant effort to become an awe-inspiring player. As the stakes of the game raise, so does the anxiety. Some want a scholarship, some want to show off what they offer to a team that got a scholarship, and some are professionals. Regardless of whether it's grade school sport or a professional sport, failing at personal goals one set is down right depressing. Kearns and Hwang state that, ”While it’s not clear whether the source of challenges to a student-athlete's mental well-being is the same as those non-athletes, collegiate athletes are known to encounter unique stressor that the general population doesn’t have to deal with, such as the demands, relationships with coaches and missed scheduled classes” (2014). Pressure is something everyone experiences. However, athletes experience some of the same pressure that of non-athletes and then some. Being on a sports team is demanding to time and the idea of being “superior”. In athletics, coaches are everything. For example, If a coach likes how a person attributes as a team player, then that person will get a chance to shine. However, if the coach is not very fond of one, then the chances of opportunities are not very
All college students sitting in classrooms today face challenges that can impede their success. A challenging course schedule, competing demand for the student’s time, and college readiness are all factors that can hinder a student’s performance in the classroom. Moreover, these challenges also have the ability to impact the student’s overall student development. While most students share a common set of stressors, there are certain groups on campus that face pressures and challenges that are not shared by the majority of their peers. Student athletes are such a group. Joshua Watson (2005) noted the positive benefits of participating in intercollegiate activities, but also noted that such participation can lead to issues of “maladjustment, emotional illness, and psychological distress” (p. 442).
College athletes are a busy bunch. In a USA Today article by Steve Wieberg, a study found that college athletes spend anywhere from 36-48 hours on their sport alone. These athletes also spent 30-45 hours on academics (Wieberg). With only 168 hours in a week, more than half of these students’ weeks are spent on mandatory athletic or academic activities. Additionally, many of these students participate in volunteering, extra study sessions, clubs, etc. These students also must budget into their schedules time to eat, sleep, shower, clean, and socialize. With all of these commitments, the actual recommended sleep amount o...
“All I have to do is pass: A discursive of student athletes’ talk about prioritizing sport to the detriment of education to overcome stressors encountered in combining elite sport and tertiary education.” Psychology of Sport & Exercise. Mar 2014, Vol. 15 Issue 2, p180-189. Web.
A student athlete faces adversity on a daily basis. With facing adversity a lot of times comes stress, and with stress anxiety can start to become a huge factor on how the student athlete performs. When speaking of performing, that’s on and off the field tasks. Student athletes are known to have many responsibilities. A problem many student athletes face is managing all their responsibilities while not feeling overwhelmed. Once the pressure of trying to manage all the responsibilities a student athlete might have begins to weigh down on him or her, that’s when one with anxiety can start to lose the “it” factor that allows them to perform.
National Health Ministries (2006). Stress & The College Student. The University of Illinois at Chicago. http://www.uic.edu/depts/wellctr/docs/Stress%20and%20the%20College%20Student.pdf
College students, especially freshmen, experiencing stress is normal, but it a concern that should not be taken lightly. It is easy for situations to spiral out of control, or for freshmen to feel like they cannot complete the next four years if things stay the same. It is important for students to keep in my mind that it is never too late to try one of these coping skills, and it is never too late to ask for
For decades there has been a debate on student athletes and their drive to succeed in the classroom. From the very beginning of organized college level athletics, the goal to want to succeed in athletics has forced students to put academics to the back burner. In spite of the goal to want to succeed over a hundred years of attempts to check limits of intercollegiate athletic programs on colleges' academic standards still seems to struggle to this day. This brings to surface one of the most asked questions in sports, “What effect does college sports have on academics and economics?” Herbert D. Simons, Derek Van Rheenen, and Martin V. Covington, authors of “Academic Motivation and the Student Athlete” researched the topic on whether athletics and academics benefit each other. Bryan Flynn, the author of “College Sports vs. Academics” poses the question “Should institutions of higher learning continue to involve themselves in athletic programs that often turn out to be virtual arms races for recruiting talented players who bring big money and prestige, but put academics to the back burner?” Although both authors agree that sports have an impact on an athlete’s academics, the focus of their argument differs.
Playing a sport whether its basketball, soccer, football or any other of your interest can be thrilling, and accelerating. Not only can it be fun yet physical exercise is good for the mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, as an athlete one must keep in mind that playing any sport, injury is part of life and inevitable. Research has proven from time to time that severe injuries in sports can trigger psychological mental health issues, affecting them in their athletic performance.