College Athletes Nonathlete

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College athletes experience college, in general, from a different perspective than their nonathlete peers. It can be hard to balance the stressful schedule of competing at a high level and completing the work of a full class schedule. Intercollegiate athletes “place too much emphasis in the athletic domain and become isolated from the student body…” therefore they aren’t able to benefit from the college experience as much as their nonathlete peers (Gayles, 2015). There’s more to college than just getting an education. College can also teach important skills such leadership, communication skills, creating strong relationship bonds, money management, etc. If athletes are so preoccupied with going to practice, winning games, completing course work, …show more content…
Sports can teach students very important skills. However, they can become too involved and lack skills in other areas. Take for example the motivation theory, where student athletes become so heavily motivated on their sport that “they enter the university without the same level of motivation in the academic domain” (Gayles, 2015). When there is a lack of academic motivation it can be easy to become overly involved with athletics and fall behind in classes. The problem with falling behind in classes is that athletes must maintain a 2.0 GPA in order to play in the NCAA. If this happens then they lose what has been motivating them in college making graduation seems less plausible to them. During my senior year of high school, I decided to not compete in any of the sports I played because I knew I had to focus on school. In college athletes dedicate more time to their sports than in high school, while balancing a more competitive work load. Even if these athletes are motivated to their academics there isn’t enough time for them to put in the same amount of time as their nonathlete