A successful student-athlete is like a unicorn: they’re rare and magical in action. They somehow achieve outstanding sports results, stay at the top of their classes, and have a vibrant social life. You can usually find them in one of three places: in class, their athletic location of preference, or the cafeteria. Successful student-athletes often have convoluted concepts of sleep. If they’re not waking up at the crack of dawn for morning practice, they’re pulling all nighters to finish an essay. Somehow, through some miracle, they hand in their assignment on time and run off to a practice somewhere. This situation was common at my previous high-school, which had a high performance program for elite athletes. When I was a grade 9 in the HP program, I was in awe of the grade 12 students who managed to balance their hectic lives so effortlessly. But as I got older, I realized that not all of my fellow high-performer student-athletes were unicorns There’s a word us student-athletes use to describe people who have a normal school day, and don’t play a competitive sport: norms. Perhaps it’s out of some sort of hidden resentment for a “normal” life that didn’t revolve around practice and …show more content…
The hockey players tended to form their own group separate from all the other sports, the synchronized swimmers and speed swimmers formed their own group, and the water polo players preferred to integrated more with the regular students than the other high performers. Regardless, high-performers had a closer relationship with fellow high-performers than the rest of the student body. We usually had lunch classes with the same group of people for all four years of school, had lockers in the same hallway, and probably waited in the same line together for a meeting with the notoriously difficult to find high-performer
Most student-athletes grow up as very innocent lads bedecked with tremendous talents and become very promising in sports. Thus, they become rays of hope for their families, neighborhoods, and schools yet to be determined. Like the lamb in William Blake’s poem The Lamb, they are fed “by the stream & o’er the mead; gave…clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly, bright…making all the vales rejoice.” (Smith 24) Then they are exposed to the life of hard work in which only the fittest survives. This makes them ready for the different challenges in the sports scene.
This semester has been really tiring. It has been really stressful for me lately with all my classes. It is hectic preparing for finals, finishing up end of the year projects, as well as practicing for state soccer. It is not easy being a 4.0 student athlete. It’s probably the most stressful thing for a high school student. Some people think that the athletes have it easy but they don’t. We have to work hard to earn our spot. We constantly have sports as well as school on our mind. It is especially hard for someone who wants to become a college athlete. They are trying to do everything possible to become the best athlete possible. They are in the weight room a lot trying to become stronger. Some may even have more than one sport to go to in one night. Going from the weight room to school to one sport practice to the other and then home to do homework is enough to overwhelm someone. You would think that the work load would start to slim down towards the end of the year but not in Mr. McGee’s Honors English. Of all the texts we have read this semester, my favorites are Carry Your Own Skis by, Lian Dolan Arthur Ashe by John McPhee, and Dreams by Langston Hughes.
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.
Another restraint to college athletes working is a time restraint. College athletes have very busy schedules they follow and when finished with their schedules they are left with very little free time. Student athletes are required to take a minimum of twelve credit hours to start the semester and required to pass at least nine credit hours by the end of the semester. With this standard having to be met, the athletes are spending hours studying and attending class. Besides from studying and attending class the athletes then have to go to practice. Going to practice and participating takes up about four to seven hours of the athlete’s day. After all of this is completed, the athletes are left with only a couple of hours for them to enjoy time with their friends or even to just relax and watch a movie. But, because these athletes are college students and do not receive any money for their commitments they are supposed to squeeze time in for work in. If athletes apply for a job they are limited to only a couple of hours a day to work. Also a large number of jobs request their employees to be available on the weekends.
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...
Throughout school I was never really athletic. While I excelled in all my academic and artistic classes, I barely scraped by in gym class. My parents forced me to join soccer and cheerleading as a child, in hopes that I would find something I was good at, but I would complain about it until, ultimately, they’d allow me to quit. Needless to say, I never really understood the fuss about high school sports. In Amanda Ripley’s article, “The Case Against High School Sports,” she argues that the craze over high school sports may actually be harming American school systems.
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...
For some high school students, sleep is not considered a necessity – but rather, a luxury. Sports, extra-curricular activities, and Fine Arts programs play an important role in students’ lives and require a significant amount of commitment and dedication. Social life aside, some students have taken the additional endeavors of acquiring jobs, participating in volunteer activities, and taking extra Advanced Placement classes. With too many tasks to fulfill in a twenty-four hour day, high school students are forced to substitute for the most essential condition of all: sleep.
Being a college athlete requires, year-round dedication. In order to be a college athlete, one must be willing to not only put time and effort in on and off the field, but in the classroom as well. Student athletes attend between twelve and twenty hours of class each week, and they are required to put in much time with practice, daily and games whenever they are held. College athletes can put in around twenty to sixty hours of practice a week, even during the off-season. After sports seasons begin, almost all of a college athlete’s time is spent dedicated to their sport, while somehow trying to maintain time to study, eat, sleep, and stay healthy. Arguments have gone on for many years about whether or not college students should be added to
The average division 1 football player devotes 43.3 hours per week to their sport giving them 3.3 hours more than a typical American work week. With those statistics, I think it’s safe to say that being a collegiate athlete requires more than a full time job. Trying to keep up with homework and attendance in class poses many challenges especially when the NCAA requires students to miss class for championship games, televised games, or other events that bring in revenue for the school. ...
Some of these students are star athletes and recreation becomes the primary factor in their lives. It has been set into their minds when they were young by their parents and piers. Early in their lives the child is taught the importance of being the best and nothing else matters. The school system now comes to realize how important this athlete has become to the school team and grades are given to keep the student on the team, and problems are just pushed aside.
Student athletes live very busy lives. A typical school day runs from 8:00-2:30, add in a two- hour practice or game, score a part time job, dive into some family time, a grand slam of homework and catch a little bit of sleep. Students are more stressed due to the many activities they are a part of. This issue affects a lot of people not only in this school district, but most other high schools throughout the country. All student athletes exercise more than other children who are not involved in an extracurricular sport. In school athletics, the players are called “student athletes” meaning that school activities come first. There are strict rules for student athletes, not only on the field but in the classroom as well. In physical education
To strive for that goal of graduating college and receiving a diploma, athletes have to juggle many task. They have to attend classes, find time to do their homework, attend practices, and competition games. Learning all these skills so quickly can even have an impact on their education. They can cause athletes to become stressed and overwhelmed. One of the most important skills the athlete does learn is time management. Athletes have to make time for each task and make sure it is done properly. Therefore, student athletes have to learn many adult skills faster than that of a regular
Also containing leadership characteristics helps athletes with their social skills. Worsnop, Richard L. points out “there is a general agreement that the nation’s high schools have performed well as the farm system for college sports programs”. In other words team sports presents valuable life lessons and experiences within a group setting. There are endless situations that could take place between the teammates or with the opponents during the game. The fans or known as the community displays a huge part in the sports world and how they distribute their insight on it. Statistics have shown that “ High school teams command legions of devoted fans locally and nationally” (Worsnop). As shown the community is devoted to all types of sports and they see athletes representation and how they react in certain situations. For example the sports that involve physical contact like football and basketball could get out of