Professional High School Athletes Today's athletes are bigger, stronger, and faster than ever. A man can run 325 feet in less than ten seconds. A man can jump fifty inches vertically off his flat feet. There is an instinct in everyone that makes him or her wonder, "how do they do that?" or "I want to be like that!" These athletes are breaking boundaries every year, setting new standards and higher bars. These athletes are also getting younger… much younger. This causes much debate on how young is too young to be the best? Is it possible to be too young? Is it unconstitutional to hold them back, from their highest potential? Are we ruining a child's life, by holding them back with, of all things, school? This is the topic at hand today, and a very controversial one at that. By the time we reach the end of this paper, the truth will be known that, the fact that knowledge and education last longer than any amount of many and athletic ability, clearly shows that it is a very wise decision to stay in school, before pursuing their professional dreams. Let us first discuss where most of a child's peaking potential begins. High school athletics is known to be some of the most competitive and demanding set of athletics in the world. Not only is the person to handle any and all schoolwork they are assigned, but also their dedication to their sport(s), social life, work, and family. This is a lot of pressure on a kid 14-18 years old. High school sports are supposed to be secondary to academics, and this is true in most cases. What happens if your school relies on its football program to bring in its revenue? Is that a case for debate? There has been an ongoing debate about weather or not athletes are treated mor... ... middle of paper ... ..., 2001. wysiwyg://78/http://www.ihigh.com/0,1773,2_7_0_39263,00.html Sivasubramanian, Raj. "High School to NBA? Bad News…" Georgia Tech News. May 15, 1998. http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/nique/issues/spring1998/may15/eds.html Trenkle, Andy. "Go Pro, Young Man." Daily Illini.com. Tuesday, April 17, 2001. http://www.dailyillini.com/apr01apr17/sports/stories/column01.shtml Wahl, Grant. "Ahead of His Class." Sports Illustrated. February 18, 2002. Wetzel, Dan. "He's Ready Now, but James must Wait for Hoops Riches." CBSSportsline.com. January 16, 2002. http://cbs.sportsline.com/b/page/pressbox/0,1328,4851404,00.html "What is an Amateur Athlete?" Gball At Center Court. http://www.gballmag.com/ccamateurism.html Zollo, Rick. "Ricky Davis: Getting His NBA Degree." SportsJones. August 24, 2001. http://www.sportsjones.com/sj/183.shtml
Growing up in America sport is a vital part of everyday life. From childhood to adulthood some aspect of sport pertains to virtually everyone. As a child one is looking to find a hobby so they play sports. As a parent fathers look forward to coaching their child’s little league team. And as tens and young adults sports are an opportunity to become a “somebody” and do something amazing. The general perception in high school and college is that athletes have it all. If you’re good at sports then you don’t have to worry about schoolwork or popularity and essentially you have but not a care in the world; you are invincible. Although it is great to see some succeed and become professional athletes many others do not have the same fate. The fate of these athletes, which happens to be the majority, is what drives my opinion on college sport.
Your dreams of being someone may not turn out the way you think they will. The documentary Hoop Dreams is a story about two boys from the ghetto that want to play in the NBA. Arthur ¨Man”Agee goes to Marshalls and William Gates goes to St. Joseph’s which are both situated in Illinois, where their dreams of becoming a pro basketball player vanished. Both of the boys face obstacles that are outside of themselves. Arthur´s family struggled with money, education, and pressure from others hurts him. Also, William struggled with balancing his family with basketball, the pressure from others, and education.
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.
As the years flew by at Michigan State, Johnsons’ dedication to the game began to pay off and was now suspected to be a future great in the NBA. After college, Johnson was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. He had finally made it, and was ecstatic to get the chance. “I l...
In the top countries, students do not play sports in high school. On the other hand, school is to educate students not to score high on an “international math test” (Sato 1). In the article The Case for High School Sports, Sato explains that in other countries if someone wants to play a sport they are taken at a young age and thrown into a habitual training facility. The students academics come second to their life of sports. This is exactly what happened to a famous soccer player, Lionel Messi. He first started playing for Barcelona when he was
Hughes, Grant. "NBA Age Rule More Harm Than Good." Bleacher Report. N.p., 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Livingston, Bill. "Young NBA Players Learn on the Job." The Plain Dealer 17 December 1997: D1
Davis, S.. (2011, Sep. 21). Hoop Thoughts. Sports Illustrated p 1-2. from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/seth_davis/09/21/Branch.rebuttal/index.html. Web. 12 Mar. 2014
Does it make sense for an academic institution to run a multimillion dollar entertainment business, which is what college football and college basketball have become? Does it make sense for these institutions to pay the student-athletes who participate in these football and basketball programs?
Flynn, Joe. "Kobe: NCAA Not Teaching Players." Bleacher Report. 22 Jan. 2014. 27 Apr. 2014
Brennan, Eamonn. "Men's College Basketball Nation Blog." . ESPN, 27 Aug 2012. Web. 15 Jan
Unfortunately, it is a sad fact that many of these talented players are not receiving degrees either in their desired field or simply in general. The NCAA began recording the graduation rates of student-a...
When applying to University there are multiple steps which lead to many frustrations and stress. Everyone from the top student to the student who is forced to apply, deals with these frustrations. In my experience, I threw things, abused my computer, and my eyes may have watered from the frustrations of course. Not only is the process hard, filling in every form, obtaining letter of recommendation, but the four years that you spent trying to come up with the information you are providing was hard.
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
So, considering that high school sports do give kids an opportunity to expand socially, keep them in shape, and healthy, an opportunity to make many friends, and a shot at getting a scholarship, and making it to the professional level in their sport. But long term, the negative effects are more in the sense it could damage a student permanently, from an academic level to a physiological level. Also, most of the positive things people would argue aren’t guaranteed to happen or isolate them from the negative effects. But when it comes to the negative side, a student would need to go through some of the stages, maybe not all, but for sure some. To sum it all up, high school sports are more negative on a student than positive, even though people tend to see only the positive things that can come from them.