The Pros And Cons Of Athletics And Academics

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From an outside perspective, athletics and academics appear to be completely separate, and in some cases competing fields. This idea is supported by athletes such as Cardale Jones, Ohio State’s former third string quarterback who led the team to a National Championship title at the end of the 2014 season, who as a redshirt freshman posted on Twitter saying, “Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.” The tweet went viral before Jones was able to realize how badly it would affect not only his, but also his team’s reputation. It encouraged the common idea that athletics and academics are in competition with one another and do not have the ability to work together …show more content…

He stated, “There are a lot of guys who have the ability to run and throw, but they probably can’t process and pick up the information.” “I don’t think it’s going to be based on your athletic ability. It’s going to be based on your ability to process and diagnose information,” (Cardale Jones: An Urban Legend, 5). This proves that through his time and training at the university, he has gained a level of respect and understanding for the relevance of education in athletics. He fully believes that his chance being drafted into the NFL will be focused more on his ability to process information than his ability to throw or run the ball. This supports my claim that athletics and academics are not in competition with one another, but are, in fact, nearly one in the same. Through information gathered from research online and in scholarly articles, along with an interview with an expert in both fields, a coach and teacher, one may begin to see a synthesis between these two fields that was not as apparent …show more content…

The top five characteristics that are common in both fields include: drive/determination, discipline, dedication, time management skills, and goal oriented thinking. The importance of determination and drive is explained by saying, “You have to be driven to improve every day. You can 't be satisfied with your last performance,” (13 Qualities of a Great Athlete in English, 1). Although this explanation is

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