High School sports have cultivated enormously in the past years. 16 year old athletes admired by kids their same age, “Sports Illustrated for Kids” magazine covers saturated with talented and showy looking youngsters. One famous sport in particular is basketball. Basketball is not only a sport but also means intense business. In 2006, the National Basketball Association passed a rule which athletes after graduating high school must wait one year and be at least 19 years old before entering the NBA draft. The rule was made to lead high school players into college to help them mature and get an education. It is argued that players straight out of high school who have endless talent do not need an education to enter the NBA draft and become superstars.
During my four years of High School I had only one goal: reach the NBA. I was just a regular kid where not much mattered unless I had something I enjoyed doing. Even though I was not talented enough to reach my dreams, basketball was still my first true love. This message only symbolizes the countless regular kids with the same goal as I did. High School athletes today are extremely talented, some rising up to be stars and some already better than the stars. Which leaves me thinking, why don’t they have the right to jump straight into the pros?
The NBA committee argues that players who attend college for at least a year become more responsible. Texas Tech coach Bob Knight disagrees, “[This is] the worst thing to happen to college basketball since I’ve been coaching.” He thinks players who are forced to attend college for one year will not take it serious. Meaning, now you have a college athlete playing basketball for a year without having to go to class. They become the big men o...
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...letes drafted out of high school. Although the rule may have acceptable reasons, the point intended is not being fully enforced. Players at the age of 18 and younger with extreme talent believe they have the right to enter the draft after graduation, therefore treat college as a pit stop. If an 18 year old can vote, go to war, and be tried as an adult, then he should have the right to enter the NBA draft after high school. Kids bust their tails off to chase their dreams and to have them stall another year is absurd. Anything can happen in one year. If they believe they’re ready for the pros, then the NBA should not put their dedicated hard work on hold.
Works Cited
Alistair, C. (Director). (2005). Through The Fire [Documentary]. United States.
Klopman, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/bob-knight-ncaa-one-and-done_n_1412968.html
In the last ten years many young and talented high school basketball players have chosen to enter the NBA draft. These 17 and 18 year olds decide to skip college, and instead they choose to take a big risk and enter the NBA, hoping to become stars and earn millions of dollars. In many cases, these youngsters’ careers are a failure because they don’t turn out as talented as they thought to be. They end up spending only a few seasons in the NBA because they are not good enough to compete at that level. Many of them have to move on to doing other things, such as playing basketball overseas, doing everyday jobs, or going back to college to earn a degree.
In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, “The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,” (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young Black male basketball athletes, that the value of education appear to be less important in the development of these young men, “According to Sailes (1997), there is an over-representation of Black males in particular sports and an under-representation in other segments of American society. He provides the example of percentages of Black males competing in the NBA (77%), NFL (65%), MLB (15%), and MLS (16%) in comparison to the fact that fewer than 2% of doctors, lawyers, architects, college professors, or business executives are Black males.”, (Robinson, 2004:1). The idea of the attainment of a professional basketball player’s salary in the NBA, without even having to go to school for the time it takes to earn a degree is very appealing to some players. Those with a wealthy, or even upper-middle class upbringing may not view material assets as a priority. In the Black community, we have theorized that money and success play a more important role than education in most households. Although these two seem to go together, one resulting from the other, this does not apply in the sports world. Our research will examine the role that the family value system plays in influencing Black vs. White male athletes to turn professional, as opposed to obtaining a college degree before turning professional.
Small, tall, big, or strong, everyone loves basketball and the excitement that it has brought to people over this long period of time. NBA League originated on August 3, 1949. In 2006, one rule was established and high school basketball players had to sit out a year or attend different colleges or universities to be in shape for the next year to enter the draft. Many amazing and even best players such as Dwight Howard, Lebron James, and even Kobe Bryant. This leads us to a question, if we really need one and done rule when obviously we can see that high school basketball players have the skill to compete on that level.
Did you know that there are roughly 550,000 male high school basketball players, 15,000 are good enough to make it to play college basketball, one third of that or 5,000 play well enough to make it to division I which is the highest in the NCAA basketball league, and only around 348 go on to play one game in the NBA. On the other hand there are rare cases of players having extraordinary talents and making the jump from high school basketball straight to NBA without any college experience. The debate on this topic is two sided, the first being that the jump from high school to the NBA should not be allowed and the second being that they should be able to do what they want.
College sports teams will only put the best athletes in the games, because at that level, winning is the number one goal. Second, Dave Heun, a columnist and editor for Source Media, writes, “In no other facet of life are we guaranteed 'playing time' just because we have been part of a program”..” Giving all players equal game time is unrealistic and not present in college and professional sports, as playing time is earned based on skill and work ethic in practice. Not all college athletes are given time on the field or court, so giving equal time to players in high school will put false hope and expectations in athletes’ minds. Overall, giving the same amount of playing time to athletes is not accurate to advanced
This influx of young players is not only hurting the player, but it is hurting the league and college sports. The NBA is now becoming filled with talented but immature players. College sports is losing it’s top athletes, sometimes after one year of college play. The players are also not graduating. This hurts because when a basketball player does not make it in the NBA, he has no degree to fall back on.
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....
College basketball has gone from amateur competition to multi-million dollar tournaments and will continue to get larger and larger. The student-athlete is no longer a student and has become more and more of an athlete. Admissions are loosened and deals are made in order to get the best basketball players in the land. Athletes who are not students are criticized when they leave for the pros even though they are probably doing the right thing by not perpetuating the myth of academics and athletics. College basketball has become a multi-million dollar industry whether schools will admit it or not and the student athlete is the one getting played.
Basketball was created and has been played since December 1891 (Griffiths, 2010), it is a game of skill and talent that is enjoyed by fans all over the world. There are numerous leagues, but the two main leagues are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NCAA is considered amateur where the players are not paid, and the NBA is considered professional where players make millions of dollars. In order for the NBA to get their players they draft from the NCAA, but the rules have changed several times over the years that have permitted players to enter the NBA. The current rule states that NBA players must be one year removed from high school or 19 years of age (Article X, 2008), this rule is considered by many needing the most change.
Paul Dietzel, former head coach of LSU, once said, “You can learn more character on the two-yard line than anywhere else in life.” Ever since the beginning, not only children but also college athletes have been playing sports for the love of the game and have used it as a way to grow character, teamwork, and leadership. Although when playing for a University an athletes job is to bring in profit for the school, this is not why these young men and women have continued with these sports they love. It is usually these students passion, a way for them to express themselves like others have art and music. The question has been up whether these college athletes should be paid for their loyalty and income for the University but by paying these students more than their given scholarship, it would defeat the purpose and environment of a college sport versus a professional sport, cause recruiting disputes, and affect the colleges benefits from these school athletics.
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...
...ame all crossed paths as college kids. Building on collegiate stars gave pro basketball an identity. It allows players to develop better due to the superior coaching staff in colleges. Staying in college will also let players develop a valuable following, which benefits the NBA.
“African Americans have just as amount of chance of becoming a professional athlete as he or she winning the lottery”. This so called goal of theirs is unrealistic and is highly impossible. There are so many sports athletes but majority of them are of a different c...
Herbet D. Simans, Derek Van Rheenen, and Martin V. Covington focuses their argument on academic motivation of student athletes and what drives them to want to succeed in the classroom as well as on the court or field. Although Flynn also focuses on academic motivation of student athletes, he also discusses how colleges tend to spend more money on sports related necessities for the students instead of towards their education. Flynn’s argument displays how colleges are basically a business...
Sports are often identified to have positive influences on many individuals. The sports industry is growing worldwide, especially the basketball industry, which is regarded in second place behind football. The global prevalence of basketball is unquestionable, especially among the young. Basketball is a dynamic team sport that involves a pattern of alternating, active, and skilled movement activities. There are compound demands that require a mixture of individual skills, team plays, strategies, and motivational aspects.