Collegiate Sports Ruining Students One Day At a Time

What takes more time than a part-time job, is found on almost every college campus, and has the potential to steal your healthy body right from under you? …That’s right, it’s college athletics. Student-athletes on the collegiate level are continuously battling to remain eligible, looking for new advancements in treatment to ensure the fastest recovery, and using the money from the university for their sports career rather then education. In the end is it really worth all the risks in order to deliver that National Championship or March Madness to the avid sports fans?

Eligibility Crisis

 Let's start by looking at the education, or lack of education, that student-athletes receive. The NCAA, which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association, was founded in 1906 to install rules that every college team across the nation must follow. In order to remain eligible,

"All Division I and II student-athletes must earn at least six credit hours each full-time term to be eligible for the following term. In addition, Division I and II student-athletes  must earn a 2.0 cumulative grade-point average after earning 72 hours to remain eligible."

This sounds like a great requirement to keep athletes motivated to achieving a degree. However, there is controversy over whether or not college administrations stick to the requirements, or rather make exceptions to ensure that top athletes are on the field/court competing for their school. In an article written by Jean Boyd, I learned about the struggles that academic advisors are battling to ensure that their players are competing. Although she said 82% of student-athletes graduate, it usually takes six years for them to accomplish this goal, which is two years more than if they just focused on their academics. She also mentioned the fact that in 2011, the graduation rates went down yet again, which has been the trend for the last few years. 

I would also like to argue that the NCAA requirements do not push athletes enough, especially with only a requirement of six credits per semester. That is equivalent to two classes, and for all we know they could both be online and don’t require any attendance to a classroom setting. However, this problem of low eligibility numbers among student athletes may soon be solved with the new system called the academic progress rate. The NCAA has installed this system to compare colleges based on both academic and athletic performance. According to an article published by the Sports Journal: 

"The APR provides an up-to-date measure that can be used to evaluate the academic success and the academic culture of collegiate sports teams at a given point in time. It also allows comparisons to be made between teams playing the same sport throughout the country."  

Nebraska’s pride and joy, the Huskers, can comparatively be found in the middle, but among the top schools in the last four years are Indiana, Missouri State University, and Northwestern. Maybe now academics will become more of a focus for institutions since they will have to compete in that category in order to have successful rankings. I’m tired of hearing that the time commitment required on the field or court often pushes academics to the back burner. That is the main reason we are in college isn’t it?

            

Doctor, I'm Hurt Again

In addition to battling eligibility, student-athletes are always searching for new advancements in treatment of injuries to get them back on the court/field as soon as possible. Physical therapists and athletic trainers have continuously been working with athletes to ensure a fast recovery, but too often then not, they push their bodies too far and don’t allow enough time for the injuries to heal. This can cause many problems down the road, with the most common being head injuries from concussions. With improper treatment, concussions could potentially lead to neurological problems and even Alzheimer’s disease. Due to the culture of our current sports, athletes have a tendency not to admit head injuries. 

To counteract this, in July 2012, Nebraska passed the Nebraska Concussion Awareness Act as an attempt to reduce the number of athletes that suffer from concussion mistreatment. Although this will not eliminate all brain injuries, the new method has taken a giant leap in ensuring the safety of athletes. There are three primary components to the Nebraska Concussion Awareness Act including educating the athletes, coaches, and parents, as well as removing an athlete from the game at the first symptom of a concussion. In order to return, the player must have a written consent from a licensed health care professional.

Concussions are the most serious long-term injury, but collegiate sports also increase the potential for a break, tear, or dislocation of a muscle group. With time in the gym and weight room taking up the majority of an athlete’s day, an injury is bound to occur because they are pushing their bodies to the maximum strength and endurance routinely. According to Dr. Tarek Souryal, M.D., there are between 250,000-300,000 ACL injuries among athletes per year. A technical surgery can fix this, but because of the torn ligament there is an increased risk of developing arthritis due to the absence of cartilage that is supposed to cushion your joints. The tear happens in a split second and recovery time is usually between six months to a year. Unfortunately, we don’t have the technology yet to guarantee a return to peak performance. Many former athletes today are haunted by their past injuries and in my opinion, my health for the next sixty years of my life is more important than a four year sports career in college.

            

Money Hungry

When you ask any college athlete if scholarship money is the reason they are competing, 9 times out of 10 it’s a YES.  According to the NCAA, Division I and II colleges provide more than $2 billion in athletic scholarships annually to more than 126,000 student athletes. These scholarships can range from full-ride scholarships providing money for room and board, tuition, and textbooks to just a tuition or part tuition scholarship. 

I’m all for helping pay tuition to ensure a quality education for students, but what grinds my gears is that education isn’t the priority for these scholarship recipients. The NCAA only requires 6 credits per semester meaning almost all the scholarship money is going towards room and board and not education. Scholarships have become less of a gift for educational purposes and more of a tool for competitive recruitment. The NCAA typically consists of large schools that have a lot of money tucked away for their athletes who can easily be swayed by a coach or institution that offers the biggest scholarship. For the best athletes with many recruitment options, the facilities and offered degrees become minor details once money is discussed. The motivation turns from getting the best education for their future to getting the most money for their talent. 

In a study performed by the University of South Alabama, researchers compared the intrinsic motivation (inherent satisfactions), extrinsic motivation (only to reach a goal), and amotivation (no motivation) between scholarship vs. non-scholarship track and field athletes as well as male vs. female. They found that women non-scholarship athletes had the highest amount of intrinsic motivation, meaning they performed the sport for their own enjoyment. Oppositely, male scholarship athletes had the highest level of extrinsic motivation, meaning they were only motivated to reach a goal. This proves that scholarship athletes look at their sport more as a job than a hobby or enjoyable activity. In other words, scholarships don’t necessarily motivate athletes to perform better. This also shows that although full-ride scholarships are a good motivation to attend the school, they don't necessarily increase the motivation of athlete's to perform better for the college or university they are attending.  

On the contrary, these scholarships have allowed several students to attend college that wouldn’t have had the money otherwise. Additionally, involvement in college athletics has benefited individuals leading to easy employment and a steady career to provide a substantial income. As an employer, you know you will be hiring a driven and goal oriented individual, a resilient leader who has faced adversity, and a good communicator who possesses time management. The NCAA even has a specific site designed for businesses seeking employees that were previous student athletes. They match resumes to categories of jobs for easy access as an employer. This shows that the NCAA is focused on more than just delivering college sports; they also emphasize the importance of a degree and career after the student athlete’s years of fame.

            

Although college athletics have been a popular form of entertainment with about 33.4 million viewers for the national football championship game this year, most sports fans don’t understand what they are putting the athletes through in order to deliver these games. It’s more than what you see on the field or court. It is practice everyday that is extremely hard on the athlete’s bodies which often causes excessive injuries. It is missing class and putting their education on the back burner in order to deliver you an exciting Saturday night match up to watch with your buddies. It is two billion scholarship dollars that hardly promote any education, but rather guarantee teams the best players so they can continue their legacy. According to the NCAA, only about 1.2% of college athletes go to the professional leagues to be paid, so what about the other 98.8%? Is it selfish of Americans to expect college athletics to continue even though we are hindering several student-athletes’ future careers? I had been a three-sport athlete all throughout high school so I by no means am against playing sports, but I think these are important questions to consider next time you tune in to ESPN and cheer on your favorite college teams.