Third Draft

The collegiate career of a student-athlete is very different and at times difficult when compared to your average college student. We have rules and regulations to live by until we graduate to keep our “amateurism”, we have to balance between classes, homework, lab hours, and practice but the list doesn’t just stop there, that’s just the off-season. Competition season involves that already listed along with traveling and competing here and there around the States. They go the extra mile to provide the public’s entertainment in person and broadcasted nationally on television. “The athlete is the most available publicity material the college has. A great scientific discovery will make good press material for a few days, but nothing to compare to that of the performance of a first-class athlete” (Gregory). Seems as if these “amateurs” are doing what the professionals do but just aren’t getting a paycheck for it. They sure do put in the time and dedication as them and follow nearly the same rules and regulations set by the NCAA that the MLB, NCAA, NFL, NHL, and other professional sports organizations also have. All NCAA athletes are required to be a full-time student and get “x” amount of study hall hours every week and the set amount of hours change when your sport is in competition season and when it is your off-season. On top of that our coaches are given a set amount of practice hours through the NCAA for every week. For track we have 8 practice hours to use during the off-season and a max of 20 during competitive season. There are also GPA and academic hour minimums we must meet to maintain our eligibility to continue competing. As a student-athlete (in college) your sport becomes your job. It’s the little things like this that people don’t take into consideration when they , for some strange reason, believe student-athletes have it easier than regular students. A student-athlete has to work harder than the average student not just to compete but to make good grades and balance athletics as well. College athletes should indeed be paid, we have all the reason too. We sacrifice and push our bodies to the limit for our own personal achievements but also for the general public. The sports fans, the staff, the children, the alumni, the list can go on and on. Athletes draw the crowd in to watch for their entertainment which then becomes the schools profit. Not ours, the schools. We put in the work. We’re the ones that go out there and compete. We’re the ones that can put our school on the map so other athletes will want to come when they graduate or finish their junior college years. We’re the reason why you’re selling (Texas A&M for example) merchandise with a certain player, like Johnny “Football” Manziel, number on it. It’s almost unfair how universities gain free publicity and boost in their sales thanks to the talents of their players. There should be some way to compensate. Sure some athletes are thrown a little scholarship money but there’s a misconception that every athlete that’s on the roster is given a full ride. That would be the ideal thing to happen but it’s very slim to none. Most athletes have to use their academics to get more money for through other scholarships through and outside the school. In other words student athletes don’t just get a free pass. You’re most likely just going to get books, room and board, and/or food and you’re lucky if you can get two of those three