Free Essay

Life of a College Athlete

In:

Submitted By bryson0897
Words 859
Pages 4
The Life of a Student Athlete in Another Country
Ever since I was a little boy, I wanted be a student athlete in America. I was just a young child from Australia with a dream. It was all I wanted: it was plan A, B and C. However, this determination and dream blinded me from reality, and now that I am here it is a real shock to the system. It is not all glitz and glamour like portrayed on television and in movies. Being a student athlete in another country comes with a lot of struggles. It is a constant juggling act trying to perform both in the classroom and on the court as well as trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, all whilst being on the other side of the world from my support network, friends, family and comfort zone.
As student athletes, we are always told that student comes first, and it is true that in order to maintain my spot on the team, I have to perform in the classroom first. For the average students all they see is that I am on the basketball team, and the perks that come with that. People do not see just how demanding the lifestyle is: all they see are the rewards that come with being a student athlete, and it creates assumptions. Fellow students assume that everything is handed to us: people see me falling asleep in class and assume that I was up partying the night before, or people see me missing classes for games and think that I am lucky, but they do not see the extra work and time I have to put in to catch up. They do not see that when I get home from school, I have to get ready for practice, and after a two or three hour practice, I then need to finish all my homework, as well as cook, clean, and buy groceries. People are blinded by what they see on television or hear through the grape vine.
The time and money constraints mean that I need to prioritize: I cannot fit everything in, so I need to make sacrifices. Buying groceries and cooking takes too much time and takeaway is the most convenient option. There is no time for leisure, only sleep. As a result I am eating junk food all the time, I am getting little to no sleep, and I have no time to relax and unwind. This is terrible for both mental and physical well being. I go to school hungry, my eyes are sore, my body feels weak, my joints are hurting and to be brutally honest, I am not happy at all. Living like this is just not sustainable, so something else has to give, because sleeping for four to five hours, eating junk food every meal; going to school and practice tired; along with feeling hungry, sore and depressed, just does not work. The next area of my life that is taking a hit is study; I cannot do 48 hours of study, on top of practice and classes and attempt to live a healthy lifestyle – it just cannot happen. A realistic goal for studying is maybe three hours every weekday, which really only works out to be 15 hours Monday to Friday and this is why so many student athletes fall behind. It is definitely not the glamorous lifestyle that people see on television.
Going to college in a brand new country is difficult. Through all of the struggles with time management, money, cooking, cleaning, buying groceries, and the constant expectations of coaches, teammates, and professors, I am on the other side of the world. I am out of my comfort zone, away from my family and friends, and I feel lost at times. Facetime and messages only do so much, and through the struggles, there is nothing I want more than to just be home with the people who I love. This adds to the stress of the student athlete lifestyle and makes my challenges even harder. One way I am trying to adjust and cope with the struggles of being away from home is by talking to my roommate, Hayden, who is also an Australian. Having that constant reminder of home and someone who can relate to what I am going through, helps to relieve stress and gives me someone I can talk to.
Being a student athlete is not, as it is so often represented in the media. Every day is a battle against time and money. As a student athlete, I have to meet the demands of being a college student whilst maintaining the expectations put on me as an athlete at the school. Because of the constraints on budget and time, I have to prioritize and some tasks whether important or not, are compromised. I am juggling all of these competing demands whilst being on the other side of the country away from my loved ones and support network. However through all the struggle though, comes the experience of a lifetime and it brings achievements, moments and life lessons that I will cherish forever.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Work Life Balance; the Fusion of Family, Friends, and Sports Team Commitments.

...Bloom, Nick, Van Reenen, John. 2006. Management practice, work-life balance, and productivity: a review of some recent evidence. Oxford Review of Economic Policy. 22 (4): 457. EconLit. Boston College. < http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org.proxy.bc.edu//cgi/reprint/22/4/457>. The authors of the source found in a distinguished academic journal performed research on work-life balance and its effects on productivity. An organizational point of view is offered. Since most college teams are considered organizations, the source is applicable to the business side of the conflicts student athletes’ experience. The data that is collected and analyzed is from international firms. This perspective provides insight into how work-life balance affects more than the athletes, but the organizations they represent. 2. Bowen, G. William; Shulman, James L. 2001. The game of life: college sports and educational values. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. The source argues that society has developed college athletics into a marketable organization. This argument translates suggests that student athletes can be viewed as employees who have work-life balance conflicts. Their work is associated with their athletic development, and their life is the activities engaged in as students. It argues, agreeing with the Sperber source, that student athletes are more entertainers than students. They are used to earn the college revenue from fan attendance and increased admission applications...

Words: 2680 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Analysis: Should College Athletes Be Paid

...Should College Athletes Be Paid a Salary? Being a college athlete is not only stressful but it is also a tiring job to maintain. Being an athlete comes with a huge amount of responsibilities, and with having responsibilities they tend to get in the way of having time to do anything else. On top of that it is harder for college athletes to maintain a job outside of school . Since most college athletes are busy maintaining their studies such as what they are majoring in and their sports, it makes it harder for them to fulfill their goals when they are student athletes. The only student athletes that have that support are students who come from a wealthy family which provide them with money to spend, however most athletes are not that fortunate, which is why colleges should pay their student athletes. College athletes should be paid not only because they are filled with dedication and determination towards school...

Words: 1681 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Essay On College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

...With the growing scandals in college sports many questions have erupted. These scandals have helped many athletes live, however, if caught the players could be severely punished. They put their bodies and health at risk for the university, by becoming a college athlete they take away their freedoms also they eliminate their chances of living a normal college life. Ever since the fab four were caught taking money for various items many other scandals have been stopped. Many top D1 college athletes are being paid or selling their items for money. These actions go against the NCAA rules and stipulations for the players. College athletes are adored...

Words: 1684 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Should College Athletes Get Paid Essay

...Why Should College Athletes Get Paid? Athletes are very important and strong and they always show it to their best ability. They are really hardworking and they show great help to the NBA/NFL. College athletes are hot topics of the universities nowadays. Athletes work for the challenge and competition. College athletes should be paid because their life is on line, great athletic skills, and, if they have really good potential and smart, lastly, they have to give support for the families. Even when College athletes are on the court or either on the field the game is in the players hand. When players play their lives are always on the line. In thought when they are playing the sport anything could happen. Some athletes have knee injuries and anything. Anything can happen when playing sports. Universities are big in names and it's really important to have the mind set and concentration of the game. To conclude hardworking athletes are the best athletes and when choosing your life over somethings that means it's very important. When athletes are playing the sports, they...

Words: 593 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

...asked when college athletes should turn pro, the late, famous actor, Will Rogers, said, “Not until he has earned all he can in college as an amateur.” Whether we like to admit it or not, the student-athletes attending a university are indeed amateurs. With their future coming near, it is important that the students get the most out of school as they can and that they not rush the process. Although many critics believe that college athletes are being exploited by not being financially compensated, not paying athletes will allow them to benefit from their additional advantages, gain from the learning experience of college, and allow all college athletes to be treated more fairly. College athletes should not be paid because they already receive fair compensation through several additional benefits in...

Words: 844 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Should Collage Athletes Be Paid

...income. Further proof of the entertainment might of college football is the fact that we saw the BCS games spread out over a full week, which included four games shown in prime time, including three on non-holiday weekdays Players have an absolute right to be envious and feel exploited. The age-old rationale that the student-athlete's "free education" is equivalent in value to his athletic labor doesn't wash anymore. It's not equivalent. The national average graduation rate is 55 percent for Division I-A football players, according to the federal government's calculation. However, many of the biggest programs struggle to meet the average. Here are a few examples: Texas, 29 percent; LSU, 37 percent; Florida, 42 percent; Alabama, 47 percent; Ohio State, 49 percent; and USC, 52 percent. Clearly, a significant number of football players aren't receiving the benefit of the bargain of this "free education." The mandatory and "voluntary" workouts are often at odds with obtaining that "free education.” (1 & 1.1) Athletes have been pouring their hearts out day after day, Week after week putting their health at risk playing these sports. Television contracts and shoe deals the athletes endorse for the college is really big for the collage, An athlete plays the game simply because he loves it. There are certain colleges where athletics are a key source of their income, and that’s something that attracts other athletes to their college. For some universities hey rely on...

Words: 1979 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

College Stress

...Stress: In Collegiate Student Athletes Most students who graduate high school go on to continue their education at a College or University. Students who are talented enough also play at sport at their college. With the overwhelming workload that student athletes face in college, along with their commitment to sports can cause an immense amount of stress in their life. Stress is an emotional or mental strain put on the body and mind from demanding circumstances. As opposed to the traditional college student, student athletes have more pressure on them. About 400,000 student athletes participate in athletic games each year, and thousands receive scholarships to do so (Stern). Setting aside the stress that every student already faces when transitioning from high school to college, being a collegiate athlete on top of that just makes it more difficult. Stress is so powerful, it can become the sole thing that can cause an athlete to quit their sport, causing them to lose their scholarship or even drop out of school. Several occasions an athlete’s performance is negatively affected by the stress that is put on them. Being relied on heavily by their school, parents’ expectations to succeed in school, and by coaches and teammates to perform well in their sport, can be too much on a student athlete. All the stress that the students face also has proven to be very unhealthy. Most people also do not realize that student athletes in college have a greater risk of depression...

Words: 1481 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Why A College Athletes Should Be Paid

...many hours on average a college athlete practices per year. A full 44.8 hours a week, more than how much time you spend at your job or at school. To help you get an idea, you work on average for about 40 hours a week and you go to school for about 35 hours a week (5 days in school week). If you take about 2,329 hours every year to play a sport or to do anything then you would want to get paid for it so you know that it could help you in the future right? Perfecting the sport might help you get to the state teams but while spending all of this time practicing and going to school, I doubt you have time for a job, getting paid for being on your college team might just help you out. However,...

Words: 1187 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Bo Knew Football and Baseball, and He Didn’t Major in Either One of Them.

...become a professional athlete, most of them have a favorite athlete that they idolize. When children are very young it is important to encourage them to dream, and to pursue their passions. But there comes a time when it is not in the child’s best interest to mislead them into thinking they actually have a chance at becoming a pro athlete. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (2013), only 2% of college athletes are talented enough to play at the professional level. Logically thinking, this means that 98% of student athletes should be preparing themselves in college with a back-up plan for life after collegiate sports, right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. In fact, some people actually support the idea that student athletes should be able to major in the sport they play, and not study for a major that would be more beneficial to them in life. Student athletes that enter college directly after high school lack life experience, and they need guidance when making such decisions that will impact their life so dramatically. It is in these times when we should push students to their limits in order to make them grow to be the best they can be, not let them take the path of least resistance and settle for mediocrity. Allowing student athletes to choose their sport as a major may be the obvious choice for some, but doing so would actually hurt them instead of benefitting them. If we truly care about the futures of student athletes we will encourage them...

Words: 1895 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Paying College Athletes

...The Controversy of Payment to College Athletes Michael H. Rubin University of Maryland Baltimore County Abstract The benefits of allowing college athletes to accept regulated payments are examined through surveys’ and facts. Several possible techniques and systems that can help aid student-athletes’ through the rest of their college career and life are discussed. This topic addresses anyone who is involved or interested in college athletics and aims to end the exploitation of NCAA athletes. It will be proven that the majority of the student body, players and several coaches all agree in the payment of some form to student- athletes’. The University and the NCAA are worried about losing revenue and tainting the NCAA’s name. Throughout this study, many issues are addressed, involving the pros and cons of allowing student athletes to receive their share of the large amount of revenue received. Included are interviews from college level players and professional level players, as well as a survey of an unbiased group of college students. All of this research emphasizes that these athletes deserve to take a small share of this multi-billion dollar industry. Keywords: university, college, athlete, compensation, corruption, payment, student, NCAA, money, sports, salary The Controversy of Payment to College Athletes In several recent events, there has been a reoccurring trend in college athletics involving student athletes being paid money or given other incentives to...

Words: 3451 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Paid to Play

...the collegiate athletes do is worthy of being paid to play their respective sports. Collegiate athletes should receive a minimum salary yearly for the hours of training, and how much they bring in revenue for their colleges and universities. Professional athletes today make an outstanding amount of money for running around, jumping, tackling, and knocking people out. The “minimum wage” for a professional athlete would be around one hundred thousand dollars per year, which in many cases is a healthy amount compared to other working citizens. Do these athletes receive too much money for what they do? Are they worth the millions of dollars they make for playing sports? There are many different arguments for these questions, but one question that should be asked is, how many of these professional athletes skipped out on going to college for a few years to better their education, just to make the big bucks? Some would say they can go back to school if they choose to leave early or in the early 2000s not attend college at all, and go straight to the professional leagues, but if given the opportunity to make millions of dollars and have all the luxuries they can get their hands on, what is the point of wasting time that they can be partying and having a marvelous life, and decide to take college class instead? Is there a way to entice the youth that going to college instead of going to be a professional athlete is actually worth it, yes! The proposed plan was for colleges to pay up to...

Words: 961 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

College Athletes Should Be Compensated

...College Athletes Should Be Compensated For many colleges and universities athletics programs are a major source of revenue for its institutions. These institutions rely on their athletes to keep the notoriety and popularity of their institutions name. Since, college’s athletes are supposed to be the best at the sports they play, why are they not being compensated? Some might say a student athlete’s scholarship for a free education is compensation enough. However, there are some that say the amount of money institutions make from its athletes is so great that student athletes should be given a kickback. Student athletes should be compensated for the time and performance they give to help their college and universities uphold their reputations. Certainly, both sides of this debate have made very compelling arguments in support of their views. There are those who believe that college athletes should be compensated somehow or be given a stipend for extra money to cover the costs or living that are not provided with their scholarships (Nocera No pg.). Most college scholarships fall on average about $3,500 short of the total cost of attending college each year (Nocera No pg.). Many student athletes come from low-income families and rely heavily on athletic scholarships to get them into a quality school (Burgett No pg.). Although student athletes are given a full scholarship to their school of choice these scholarships do not provide the money necessary for entertainment, travel expenses...

Words: 1489 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Stress on College Student-Athletes

...Stress amongst College Athletes & Non-Athletes Jeff Bennett University of Mount Union Abstract Athletic participation and academic stress has been a challenging topic and one that has made many question about. With all the extracurricular activities that students have, they don’t realize that their stress could be affecting them more than they may know. This study examines the stress level results amongst 10 college student athletes and 10 non-athletes. The results present a rare finding regarding stress amongst the students. Stress has become an on-going issue that has affected the college satisfaction of a student. Many people don’t realize that they have stress and it’s affecting them in some sort of way or some may know they have stress but don’t want to take any type of action towards getting help. Possible explanations for the findings and implications for stress amongst athletes and non-athletes of the University of Mount Union are provided. Introduction Stress has been a rising issue concerning not only college students but also college athletes. With all the extracurricular activities the students take on in college along with the academic part of it have led to very high stress level. Controlling time and having an organized schedule is the main fix to this problem. Whether you’re a college athlete or just a normal college student, everyone has stress or has experienced stress. The purpose of this study was to figure out whether or not there is a significant...

Words: 1088 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Why Athletes Should Be Paid.

...of it is over going home to house full of unpaid bills and a refrigerator that is empty. For many college athletes today this is a very real scenario. Student athletes from colleges across the country dedicate their whole lives to a sport and receive no compensation from the NCAA for their hard work. The NCAA, or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, regulates and controls all activity that has to do with collegiate sports. The NCAA is also responsible for resolving all complications in collegiate sports but is often ridiculed by many for neglecting the issue of paying college athletes. While some do believe that athletes are already compensated enough, others agree that these athletes deserve payment. This topic has sparked debate throughout the country and that is why currently the NCAA is working hard to find a solution. There are many reasons that student athletes should be paid, including: the NCAA and the rest of college sports is a multi billion-dollar industry, student athletes have no time for work to support their very active lifestyle, there is high injury risk that comes with playing competitive sports, and finally the added incentive for athletes to stay in school and the overall competiveness would rise making the collegiate athletics more enjoyable. First off, the NCAA and all of college sports is multi billion-dollar industry and the hardworking athletes deserve some compensation for their dedication to their sport. Games, tournaments, jersey and memorabilia...

Words: 3435 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Coleege Atheletes Pay Them Now

...Many revere the student athlete. Almost like a celebrity, their many fans cheer them on in a role that many have trained for most of their life. However, outside of a scholarship, which provides the necessities of a college education, such room, board, tuition, and books. The college athlete cannot receive any other compensation. Although a free education is a wonderful gift, whether it is from an Ivy League university or a small community junior college, one must question if it is truly compensatory enough for work the student does and even more importantly for the revenue, said student brings in. College athletes should receive compensation not only because of the large amount of revenue student athletes generate for the university but also for the familiarity and marketability, they bring to the universities brand. The main concept behind college athletes not receiving any money is an effort to keep the amateurism definitive. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has a set of regulations, which define what exactly an amateur athlete is. In fact, every student who plans to compete in NCAA related activities must register to receive certification ensuring the student is indeed an amateur. The website states that 180,000 student athletes apply for said certification and more than 90% instantly receive their certification (NCAA, 2012). One would think with such stringent guidelines that students would receive more than just a scholarship. Whereas, many think that...

Words: 1252 - Pages: 6