Unprepared Student Athletes

951 Words2 Pages

Athletic programs at many universities across the country have become more and more inconsistent with how they define their athletes. They are called “student-athletes”. Meaning that they are students first, and then athletes. We have reached a point here it can be argued that they are instead more like athlete-students. Despite of the rules and regulations implemented by the NCAA, some student-athletes still receive preferential treatment and extra benefits while in college. Some recruited athletes are not prepared for the cascade of academic college work along with the additional demands that NCAA athletics require. The athletic pressures that accompany NCAA athletic scholarship can leave the unprepared student athlete with little time for …show more content…

Most Americans believe that sports have too much influence over some of the premier academic institutions, and they very well may have a point as high performing football and basketball teams bring home annual revenues ranging in the tens of millions of dollars. One of the main issues is that the governing boards of these universities has extreme loyalty to their sports teams. For example, how can a president of a school step up and point out the corruption that is taking place when his/her boss, the governing board, is doing these corrupt acts. According to a former president at Vanderbilt University, the governing boards “are disproportionately made up of persons whose loyalty to the school is heavily influenced by athletic performance.” Now on the other hand, this does have some positive effects, as good teams bring in more applications for admission, greater alumni donations, and national publicity. But studies have shown that athletics still don’t necessarily bring academic prestige. Most of the top football schools aren’t even in the top 100 according to both Forbes and US News, and often aren’t even in the top 300. The top schools academically are actually getting more endowment money that those who place emphasis on …show more content…

Millions are being spent on high-end facilities and coaches are being paid salaries in the millions. The question of whether schools care too much about the outcomes of their sports is becoming more prevalent in the media. Many people see no issue or harm in players not necessarily focusing on the schoolwork first, as quite frankly sports provide great entertainment and brings in tons of money. But if the NCAA wants to continue to push the agenda that students are first there must be some sort of intervention. The question of rather “student-athletes” are students first always becomes a hot topic during championship runs such as “March Madness” and the newly implemented “College Football Playoffs”. By definition, school should be their primary focus and athletics second, but a 2011 survey conducted by the NCAA found that football and basketball players consider themselves athletes more than students as they spend way more time in their sport than on their schoolwork. This is also reflected in the admissions process as it is a well-known fact that students on athletic scholarships are far less qualified for admission than regular students. As a result of this, the graduation rates of student-athletes is much lower. It’s becoming near impossible to maintain the myth that players are students first, especially with them being on the brink of getting paid to play their

More about Unprepared Student Athletes

Open Document