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
High school sports are approached with clashing opinions. Some of these opinions are positive, and supportive of athletics. “Athleticism, among many activities, offers teens a physical outlet to exert their troubles, anger, emotions, and other feelings” (Chen 1). This can be observed in nearly all of the football players in Friday Night Lights. This can also be noticed in the world today. “Athletics help high school students understand their own abilities and talents” (Chen 1). This piece of evidence is very accurate when describing high school athletes. Sports can make a high school student humble. As can be seen by the preceding information, high school athletics can have a positive impact on a student’s life.
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.
Gatz, Margaret, Michael A. Messner, and Sandra Rokeach. Paradoxes of youth and sport. Albany: State University of New York, 2002.. 12-13.
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.
Donovan, John. "NBA on Shaky Ground as Owners, Players Fight Over Money." CNN/SI. June 24, 1998
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...
"Michael Jordan." UXL Biographies. Detroit: U*X*L, 2011. Student Resources in Context. Web. 26 May 2014.
Although many youngsters fail in the NBA, there are a few high school players who have had, or do have a successful career in the NBA. Some of these are, Moses Malone, Kobe Bryant, Tracey McGrady, and this year’s most valu...
Hughes, Grant. "NBA Age Rule More Harm Than Good." Bleacher Report. N.p., 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Jordan, June. "Nobody Mean More to Me Than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan." Harvard Educational Review 58.3 (1988): 363-74. Web.
College athletes are manipulated every day. Student athletes are working day in and day out to meet academic standards and to keep their level of play competitive. These athletes need to be rewarded and credited for their achievements. Not only are these athletes not being rewarded but they are also living with no money. Because the athletes are living off of no money they are very vulnerable to taking money from boosters and others that are willing to help them out. The problem with this is that the athletes are not only getting themselves in trouble but their athletic departments as well.
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?
The following case is a review of Juwan Howard, a star basketball player playing for the Washington Bullets. The case study details the ins and outs of the high stakes world of professional basketball and the deals and huge money that is the main focus of owners, agents, players, the players union, managers, and the NBA league every year during draft and free agency.
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.