Monthly Archives: March 2014

Changing Attitudes

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While many students may choose to come to a school based on the academics, when athletes choose which school they would like to come to, it often comes down to who is offering the best scholarship, who has the best team, or which school has the best success rate for their teams. The decision of which school has the best academics rarely comes into the minds of athletes looking to play varsity sports.

Due to the fact that many athletes would rather go to a school with a successful team that they can play on rather than the success of their academics, the true purpose of going to college, which is to get an education, is lost.  Students who have chosen to go to college specifically for their athletic career and future as an athlete rather than for their academics have even made this obvious, an example being an Ohio State student, Cardale Jones,  tweeting that he chose to go to Ohio State to play football specifically, and does not understand why he should have to attend classes.

His tweet reads: “Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come here to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.”

In an article reviewing Jones’ tweet, it mentions that he is a third string quarter back, so maybe instead of focusing on playing football, he should think twice about his outlook on attending classes.  (especially with the horrifying grammar in his tweet).  The question becomes, if Jones feels this way, does this mean that other Varsity athletes view their priorities in college as such? The answer is not always clear. There will always be the students who think that their athletics are the most important thing to focus on in college, and others that would rather make sure that they are getting a adequate education.

Taking a look at Ivy League students, it seems to many that one of the easiest ways to get into an Ivy League school, is to become very good at a sport. This could simply be because what originally brought the eight Ivy League schools together was a sport, football. As mentioned in an article titled “Who the Heck is Getting into Ivy League Schools”  the author mentions that these colleges that began as an early athletic conference, have now evolved to the most challenging universities to attend.  For athletes, who also have grades that can get them into Ivy League schools, this becomes easier.

Schools, though, tend to help their students who are in Varsity athletic programs at their schools. This is done through tutoring help, and required study sessions. The only thing, though, is that this is not available for both club sports and Varsity sports. Varsity athletes at Penn State, for example, are required to attend study sessions for a certain amount of hours each week, whereas club sports are not.

Due to this, Club sports athletes (who may be spending equivalent or even more time practicing) must be able to manage their time even more than the Varsity athletes, and if help is needed they must seek it out themselves rather than being required to do so. Our school, Penn State is a perfect example of this.

So, does this create the problem of Varsity athletes slacking back in class like say, Cardale Jones, Simply because they are required to attend study sessions? Or is is the complete opposite, and the study sessions that the athletes are required to attend bolster their ability to succeed in their academics as well as their athletics?

 

Breaking the Bank

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Being students in college, money is something that starts to concern most of us. College is expensive enough without having to pay for extraneous items that we simply want to have, or paying to play a sport or join a club that we find enjoyable.

One thing that seems to be a reoccurring discussion in the topic of sports in college is dues. 

For Varsity Sports at most colleges, there are no dues, since a large amount of the athletes playing on that team have been recruited and/or offered scholarships to play for that school. Although a few schools recently, such as Old Dominion University have mentioned that student fees are what help to keep sports programs funded, if you would like to read more about this the article is here. 

For club sports, though, dues are necessary. This is because club sports uses different facilities than the Varsity Sports and the school rarely gives funds for their equipment. Another reason club sports must pay dues is because the money that each member pays goes towards the team competing and that specific member’s ability to compete with the team.

While dues are a good amount of money for most, (I pay $390 to be on the crew team, and that will increase next year when I am on Varsity) paying for other things such as gear for their team costs a good amount of money too, although certain things are free for Varsity Sports that are not the same for Club Sports.

Recently I spoke to Kirsten Gochnauer, a midfielder for the Penn State Varsity Field Hockey Team about spending for her sport. Something that stood out to me that was different between her sport and club sports is that while they do not have to pay dues, they are still given equipment for free, some of which is kept and some of which is returned. Gochnauer mentions that the equipment she is given is “used for four or five years and then replaced and must be handed in at the end of the year.” This can include jackets, game gear, and travel gear. However, sticks, sneakers, turfs, as well as practice gear are allowed to be kept at the end of each season. The more fun gear, though, such as backpacks and extra clothing must be purchased by the players.  This can average around $200-$250.

So not only are the Varsity sports players not paying to play for their school, but they are also given equipment and gear to use for free as well.

This may not seem extremely different from the club sports teams at colleges, but simply the fact that the uniforms for certain Varsity sports as well as equipment is already paid for can make a large difference. For example, paying dues already does a good job of putting a dent in parents’ and students’ wallets, but when the time comes to purchase uniforms and practice gear (or just extraneous gear to wear for fun) this can become cumbersome. Varsity sports simply have more of a luxury when it comes to spending for the sport, while club sports seem to get the short end of the stick and pay for the facilities and gear that they use.

So, is this fair? Should sports that are higher ranked and labeled varsity sports get the luxury of not having to pay for their sport as well as using the equipment and gear for free while club sports pay an average of $800-$1000 a year to play a sport? If this isn’t fair, (which I believe it is not) I wonder what would fix this – enacting a set of dues for Varsity sports, or ridding all sports of dues in general.