Every year athletes that are still in college have to battle with choosing between the risk of going professional in their sport, or risk furthering their education. “O.J. Mayo and Michael Crabtree have been a few of the players that have put their education on hold to test their values in their respective sports. Other athletes like Troy Smith and A.Q. Shipley have put education first, while still reaching the professional level in their sports” (Clary). Athletes have been successful on both routes, however some athletes are left behind that chose the wrong path to professionalism.
Staying in college first secures a future for the athlete, because it has been proven that pro sports are not career promising due to disabling injuries in major
…show more content…
Athletes are human although they have gifts and rare talent in their sport it is normal for them to age and face injuries . In Jack Andrade’s article he states, “Their dynamic talents and hard-earned opportunities so not guarantee long-term success” (Andrade). Andrade’s statement is very logical and realistic when a player is injured and suffers from numerous of surgeries after an repeated injury, like Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls who played one year of college basketball at the University of Memphis before getting drafted his freshman year in 2008. His legendary career seems to be jeopardized due to his knee surgery and frequent knee injuries which is currently leaving him with an inability to avoid this type of injury. The 26 year old suffered a medial meniscus tear in his right knee in February of 2016 fearing he will never regain the form that made him the youngest MVP in NBA history (Andrade). If he continues to play with this injury after his recovery from surgery and continues to put more wear and tear on his knee injuring it again, not only will his regaining of form be derailed his whole basketball career will be. If he would have stayed in college instead of accepting the first overall draft to play for Chicago his freshman year of college at the University of Memphis in 2008, he wouldn’t have to face the struggle of going back to school to find something new to major in while adapting to a new
“Maintaining good academic standing is part of the student athlete culture,” according to women’s head soccer coach Jack Hyde, “It’s part of their responsibility...they embrace it,” he said (Stricklen). “I love football and I wouldn’t want to mess it up by not getting good grades in all my classes,” said Narayan, a student athlete (Given and Tribou). However, more and more student athletes are not finding studying and keeping their grades up a priority. Most student athletes dream of one day becoming a professional athlete, but without good grades, they won’t be able to go to a good college to play for. Being an athlete with good grades also benefits them when trying to get scholarships. Becoming a professional
Throughout the country young men and women are losing their priority for an education. To attend a university should be a highly cherished privilege, and it should be an even greater honor to play athletics for the university. Therefore, the writer supports the decision that the “student” comes before “athlete” in student-athlete. Playing for pay should be considered a job for “professionals”. In the rulebook, the NCAA views college athletes as armatures. This statement sums it up best. When athletes go to college, not all of them go in with the mindset that athletics is going to be their future job....
...make time to study, be involved in college campus activities, work part-time and participate in athletics in order to succeed. Not having to deal with the pressures and status of being a paid professional will allow the student-athlete to focus more on the sport than on all the legalities of the sport. Leaning to set goals and achieve them as a student-athlete will help them become a well rounded individual.
College sports are a major revenue producing industry. Athletic programs and their student-athletes can achieve national recognition and generate millions of dollars in revenue for their university. Colleges use this revenue to invest in players, pay for their education, and provide state of the art training facilities, which are used to improve their athletic performance. As revenue driven colleges begin to prioritize athletics, the emphasis on the quality and standards of an undergraduate education are diminishing. Compromising their academic acceptance requirements, universities have now found that the educational ability of their newly accepted student athletes are inadequate, to say the least (Gurney). The same universities must then spend millions of dollars to provide these athletes with “learning specialists”, who in turn helps them to meet academic requirements and maintain their eligibility (...
Howard-Hamilton, Mary F., and Julie Sina. "How College Affects College Athletes." New Directions for Student Services (2011): 35-43.
“No one blows through money faster than millionaires with nothing to do.” -Unknown. This is true regarding the experiences of millionaires, but is it true with professional sports players? With athletes not finishing college, they don’t get the opportunities they would if they received full education. Arguably, the most educated player in the MLB is Craig Breslow on the Boston Red Sox. He was accepted into medical school before becoming a professional athlete. He had a major in biophysics and biochemistry, which he earned at Yale University. He was asked the question, “Where would you be if you weren’t a professional athlete?” Breslow replied saying he would be graduating medical school or hopefully have already graduated. Professional athletes should finish college before going pro because it secures their future. It teaches the younger generation maturity and the value of knowledge.
Unfortunately like all the other sports I am apart of, basketball has its own fair share of injuries while participating during the sport. Unlike soccer, I have not experienced as many sport related injuries, but none the less, I have my fair share. Throughout all four years of high school, I still have to fight and take caution of my weak right ankle. It is because of my ankle that my basketball career has taken multiple catastrophes. For every time I land on my ankle in any that I see as a danger to my ankle, I immediately have to call myself off the court and miss valuable practice and game time. Plus, every time I step foot on any basketball court, i must have my ankle tapped and I must wear a brace. Not only must I worry about if my ankle will finally give out, I also have to worry about pulled muscles, strained back, bruised body parts, sore limbs, and even headaches from getting bashed in the head from an elbow every now and then. Finally the worst injury of all, being dropped dead tired and still having over an hour left in your practice. But after read The Glass Castle, I always think of a saying that Jeannette Walls’s father always told her, “ Things usually work out in the end. If they don’t, then you haven’t come to the end yet.” This saying has taught me that no matter how hard something seems to be, it all will eventually work out in the end and the good times
These types of injuries could take upwards to eighteen months to return to playing condition, and in this time an athlete will often fall behind in the sport that they love. This often causes the athlete to quit the sport they once loved because they can no longer truly compete amongst their peers. I know that there has to be a way to accelerate this process of recovery and get those athletes back on the field. This is where my passion for orthopaedics
The Health and fitness industry have many ethical issues involved which was very interesting to me. I have never purchased a membership at a health club, but from the reading I learned a lot about how they operate. It amazed me that health clubs push their sales representatives to get 200-300 new members a month (Amend, 1992). This is a large amount of people for such a short amount a time, which means some members are not fully aware of the fine print of the membership agreement. Also the reading mentions that more than half of instructors at these clubs do not have valid certification (Copeland et al, 1988),. This is unethical because the members pay each month for the service of a qualified staff member to assist them in exercise and fitness. Safety of the members could also be at risk working out with a non-qualified trainer. Learning how these companies do business make me want to hold off as long as possible to join a gym.
Too many college athletes are given the chance to go into a professional draft that doesn't require the athlete to complete all four years of college and earn a degree. This is a problem because athletes lack the college experience that will get them ready for real life situations as they carry out their sports career. In college they will learn skills and have extra time to be better prepared. Without staying in college for fours athletes won’t see that theres more options for them besides sports. It will be hard for them to see if they have other interests besides sports.
The only reason some athletes make 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 a 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.
Sports specialization among young people is when a child or teenager trains for and competes in only one sport. They work extremely hard year-round in order to become well-rounded in every aspect of the game. They make sacrifices and put their health in jeopardy in order to become the ultimate participant in their sport. One of the many young athletes who is only participating in and focusing on one sport is fifteen-year-old OJ Mayo from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the young talented athlete who is predicted to be the next LeBron James in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This young athlete provides evidence of striving for perfection in this single sport when reviewing his daily schedule versus that of his siblings. He says, “The other kids go home and sleep. I come back to the gym” (Thompson, 2004). He is obviously putting forth a lot of effort in his sport to become successful at an early age.
Forbes, 30 January 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. Gutting, Gary. “The Myth of the ‘Student-Athlete’.”
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.
If a football player is interested in becoming a professional football player, it’s essential to be on a college football team. If a player wants to go to the pros, he should attend a college that puts a lot of emphasis on its football program. If the player shows promise on a college team, that’s one way to open the door to being successful. Players need to learn about the sport, in addition to knowing the rules, regulations, and policies. They should read about the history and about the players of the past (Field 11). It is also imperative that the athlete train to become a professional football player and start out early like youth football leagues (“How…Professional”).