Introduction
The concept of college sports has slowly built a prominent place for itself both in the institutions as well as the young minds of students who pursue sports as one of their favorite passions. In support of this perception is the establishment of sport governance organizations on a national level. Contrary to such establishment, in the previous times, the presence and persuasion of college sports among students was limited to the organization of athletic clubs that were predominantly managed by the students only with barely any resources at their disposal. According to Kamusuko (2012), “Historically, college sports have evolved from student-run athletic clubs to institution-led intercollegiate sports programs associated with national-level sport governance organizations (e.g., the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA], the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics [NAIA], the National Junior College Athletic Association [NJCAA], etc.)” (As cited in Student-athlete wellbeing and persistence, pg.3)
While numerous efforts were directed towards the establishment of such sports governance organizations, the essence of the efforts lied with the maintenance of a desirable balance between the academic excellence of the students and involvement in sports by the students. To ensure that this essence remains intact, the sports governance organizations had to channelize their efforts towards numerous restructuring attempts to reach to that perfect structure that had the latent to assure the sought after balance of academic excellence and sports participation.
The major concerns that were associated with the popularization of the student athletes was the extreme commercialization of the sports organizations due to which the student athletes were being exploited to the core while also ruining their academic years which otherwise would have been stable as well as high yielding for their careers in the future. Most of the institutions were only bothered about the publicity and the yields associated with their involvement in the athletics. As is quoted by Weaver (Change, 2011), “College sports, as played by the top universities, have entered an entirely new era. Television is willing to pay substantial sums for lucrative marquee match-ups each week” (A Game Change: Paying for Big Time College Sports, Pg. 15) Therefore there was a strong need felt for the incorporation of ethics in the methods used to handle the sport’s governing organizations (Kamusuko, 2012).
The another league of problems associated with the sports recognition in educational institutions is the inconsistency of admission criteria for students who were clearly bent towards pursuing a career in sports while acquiring a professional qualification during the process. However, this was not a reason strong enough for the educational institutions to deny or raise a disagreement towards giving an admission to such students who were more than serious about pursuing a career in sports. As a consequence, a few legislative reforms were administered in order to do justice to such issues related to the admission procedures. As observed by Kamusuko (2012), “During the latter 20th century the NCAA instituted a number of legislative reforms to strengthen admission standards for prospective student-athletes (i.e., Propositions 48 and 16)” (As cited in Student-athlete wellbeing and persistence, pg.4).
With such efforts by the relevant institutions, the administrative framework in relation to the smooth functioning of student athletes association to promote the availability of equal opportunities and act against the exploitation of student athletes while ensuring the existence of sports under the purview of academics is made possible. In the following section of the paper, the perception of student athletes, Alcohol use among student athletes shall be further discussed.
Perception of Student athletes and related issues: Though the above discussion emphasizes on how the mere student sports clubs have grown into very formal and well organized sports governing institutions, yet there is something of great concern when it comes to the perceptions of student athletes in the present scenario. Contrary to the pleasant picture as presented due to the presence of the sport’s governing institutions and the existence of legislative reforms, the actual stipulation of student athletes is still considered to be worse. This can be attributed to the conversion of the student sports club generated for recreational purposes to a multi million dollars enterprise. Rather than bringing in some positive reforms in relation to the concerned parties, such conversion had been successful in associating a whole new league of problems associated with the career of students on an individual level as well as the society on an institutional level (Harmon, 2010, p. 26).
Therefore, the college level sports and the student athletes have been started being recognized for the issues related to the college sports rather than the achievements and fair work employed by them in the domain. Since the college sports have been commercialized to a great extent, issues such as cheating on part of the students to pursue short cuts to fame, exploitation of the student athletes to maximize one’s profits, distracted interest levels of the students which eventually showed up a negative effects on their grades and over possessiveness of students towards achieving victory and retaining it at any cost that lead to committing serious crimes by the students. Not only students but also the individuals at institutional level like the staff of the college and the coaches of the students and the staff of the sport’s governing institutions also started committing crimes to ensure maximum personal benefits while causing harm to the other parties involved (Harmon, 2010, p. 26).
It is in the wake of such ill behavior on the part of the students, the coaches of the students and the staff of the sport’s governing institutions that the entire gamut of college sports earned a bad reputation instead of few genuinely interested students who pursue college level sports as a serious passion of their lives. Consequently, there arises a dearth of role models and mentor’s availability for the student athletes. Student athletes face discrimination on the grounds of race, color and academic performance in every stage of their persuasion of college sports. In such situations, the presence of a counselor or a role model as the guiding light to provide adequate constructive supervision to the students to equip them effectively in order to face such discrimination is mandatory. Reaffirming the above statement is Harmon’s observation (2010) “In 1989, Susan Birrell noted that athletics is an extremely racialized and gendered space. A high percentage of student athletes (especially in revenue producing sports such as football and basketball) are students of color, many of whom are labeled at risk because they are underprepared academically” (As cited in Overscheduled and Overcommitted, pg.26).
Also, it has been observed that students who exhibit their enthusiasm towards sports are mostly thought of as academically weak students who either have no interest in studies or do not want to work hard to gain good grades in their academics. Pursuing a serious sports interest and academic perfection together is a very hard-hitting task to accomplish which, a student really needs to be determined and motivated enough. Such motivation can spring only from the support of peers or mentors who know exactly which phase of sports or academics needs to be emphasized at which stage so as to acquire success in both sports as well as academics. Harmon’s (2010) following observation echoes with the points noted above “misperceptions of student athletes as dumb jocks or academically under motivated individuals have led to a lack of support for one of the most diverse student populations on college campuses today” (As cited in Overscheduled and Overcommitted, pg.28).
Another important aspect of the lives of student athletes is possessing effective time management skills. As student athletes, they owe their time to various relevant parties such as coaches, peers, friends, academics staff and athletic staff etc. To be able to strike the ideal balance between their academic and sports career, the student athletes need to ascertain the exact time allotment towards the various aspects of their sports as well as their academics life that they can afford with ease while achieving success in their careers. This observation is again affirmed by Harmon’s (2010) following observation “In working with student athletes, I have begun to understand how regimented their schedules are, how quickly they have to learn time management skills, and the amount of responsibility they have to their teammates, their coaches, and the athletic staff, in addition to being a student. I learned that athletes are not lazy; they are genuinely tired, even those making the very best choices with their time” (As cited in Overscheduled and Overcommitted, pg.28).
Alcohol use among student athletes: As per the observation made by Frye, Allen & Drinnon (2010) “The use of alcohol has become a major problem in colleges and universities throughout the United States. Studies have found that at least 40% of college students report heavy episodic (binge) drinking”. (As cited in Alcohol Consumption among Athletes and Non Athletes in Christian Colleges, pg.313).
According to Kamusuko (2012), “the success of intercollegiate athletic programs depends on combined efforts made by the whole institution to make the overall college experience for student-athletes a success. Institution-based programs (e.g., career counseling, personal counseling, nutrition, diversity, gambling, alcohol and drug guidelines, sexual orientation, personal development, and leadership) can and do make an important contribution to student athlete wellbeing (NCAA 2009-2010 Division I Manual, 2009). As such, student-athletes’ perceptions were sought regarding their awareness and/or use of these institution-based programs” (As cited in Student-athlete wellbeing and persistence, pg.19).
Also there is a need of providing greater exposure to the student athletes as observed by Kamusuko (2012), “The quantitative data indicated that respondents were generally satisfied with the athletic department services and supports, but were less enthusiastic in terms of level of satisfaction regarding exposure to life-skill programs outside athletics (e.g., nutrition and drug/alcohol seminars/ workshops)” (As cited in Student-athlete wellbeing and persistence, pg.17).
As observed by Frye, Allen & Drinnon (2010), “Intercollegiate athletes are a group whose alcohol consumption has been studied extensively. It has been reported that athletes drink a larger amount and participate in heavy episodic drinking more frequently than non-athletes” (As cited in Alcohol Consumption among Athletes and Non Athletes in Christian Colleges, pg.314).
Therefore the concerned universities need to provide the students with disabilities with reachable and centralized academic sports services so as to encourage their participation in sports while also excelling in the academics.
According to Weiss in (Supporting Student Athletes with Disabilities: A Case Study, p. 164) “A Learning Assistance Program with a Learning Specialist who is knowledgeable about disabilities and instruction can work within these academic support offices to provide the support and progress monitoring necessary to help these students transition successfully”.
Conclusion
Having made an in depth observation of all the relevant studies in relation to the life styles and obstacles that are commonly faced by student athletes, the following conclusions can be drawn. Any student athlete needs to have the right amount of focus and the perfect guidance so as to build a strong support and motivation system for him which ensures his success in the field of sports as well as academics. No matter how many negative factors exist in the process of sports commercialization, all that a student athlete needs to make sure is stick to a very organized way of life while having a proportional share of every significant aspect of his academic as well as sports life.
Whether physically challenged or not, whether is accustomed to drugs and alcohol or not, the appropriate amount of mentoring and guidance can work wonders in the life of a student athlete. Such suitable guidance provided in the right time and in accurate sum can lead to a successful and blissful career of a sports athlete. As the underlying requisite that is essential to achieve success in any walk of life lies in adopting the right thing, in the right time, in the right amount. Too much of anything is destructive in nature.
References
1. William S. Frye, Bert Allen, & Joy Drinnon. (2010). Alcohol Consumption among Athletes and Non Athletes in Christian Colleges. Journal of Research on Christian Education, 19, 313–324.
2. Margaret P. Weiss. (2010). Supporting Student Athletes with Disabilities: A Case Study. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability 24(2), 161 – 163.
3. Noël Harmon. (2010). Overscheduled and Overcommitted, The lives of student athletes. Wiley InterScience, 26-29.
4. Karen Weaver. (2011). A Game Change: Paying for Big-Time College Sports. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 14-21.
5. Kamusuko, S. D. (2012). STUDENT-ATHLETE WELLBEING AND PERSISTENCE:
