The Life of a College Athletes

The life of a college athlete is not easy. Managing both academics and sports life is challenging. These hard workers sacrifice many things to compete well in their sport, but none of these athletes get paid. Scholarships are given out to talented individuals, but not many of those are full ride scholarships, and that does not really help when many students are troubled with student loans that they are not able to pay off (Or'shaughnessy). I have concluded after reading many articles that I agree with, that college athletes should be paid for their performance in athletic events because they sacrifice much educational time for their sports, subject their bodies to intense training, and bring entertainment to many fans.In order to perform well at events, college athletes must sacrifice much educational time for their sports. This includes waking up extremely early in the morning for practice sessions, and after classes in the afternoon. Morning sessions can leave students exhausted, which may also make paying attention in class difficult. Collegiate student-athletes may spend more than 40 hours a week practicing, leaving little time to keep up with academic commitments (Jacobs). Practice, however, is not the only thing that takes up valuable school hours. Big competitions are also in a college athleter's schedule. Travelling out of town, for sure, is time consuming, taking into consideration the travel time, day of competition, and travelling back. The main struggle for athletes is finding the time to make up that class period and what they missed, especially when they are consistently missing class (Cornick). Missing all of these class periods, college athletes must work harder academically to keep up with those who do not participate in sports.To compete at a high level, college athletes also subject their bodies to intense training.Many, if not all, college athletes wake up earlier than normal students in the morning for a grueling practice session. Tired, groggy, and worn out from either studying or a training session from the day before, these hard workers continue to put themselves in what seems like an agonizing torture. There is a rule and limit set by the NCAA for how many hours a team/athlete can train, but some coaches dont always follow this rule(Unfortunately, coaches may...). Training, however, is not limited to just working out. Eating healthy is also important for hard working athletes. Having a proper diet is crucial to recovering faster for another practice, and being able to compete well. Unlike normal people, these athletes may not be able to eat that much junk food like fast food, candy, or anything related to those because it could slow down their performance. As an athlete at the Division I level, your dietary routines must be aligned with your training and practice regimens to maximize your potential (Below is a ). These athletes obviously have to make many sacrifices, whether itr's dieting or waking up for practice, the life of a college athlete is not easy. Because of the competitive spirit of the future pros, many college athletic events are broadcasted on television and these athletes bring entertainment to many fans. Channels like ESPN produce a lot of money while they give a spotlight to the athletes. Many have also said that college level sports are more thrilling to watch than the actual professional level of the sport. For example a variety of football fans agree that college football brings more entertainment to them than the actual NFL. College football this year has been a better, more exciting version of the sport than the NFL, and viewers have made their relative preference clear (Kilgore). The same can be said also be said for other sports. There is no comparison between college basketball and the pros. Itd be like pitting ice cream against kelp, Seinfeld against The Single Guy or everything to soccer (Chase). These college athletes work for every moment in-game and display their passion for their sport. These collegiate athletes work and sacrifice as much as professional athletes do. After college, some of the athletes may even start playing against professional players. Beforehand, the athletes must go through the college level where they first experience the hardships of being a high level athlete. The harsh conditions of being a college-athlete may lead to some of the athletes giving up on the sport, but with pay, chances of talented athletes dropping out could decrease.

Cite this page