"Student-Athlete" Response

I still have several of my college sweat-suits. Which is crazy because outside of my own memories of being in college and the paper that sits on my bookshelf collecting dust, the sweat suit is all that I have that represents those 5 Years of my life.

This movie touches on topics relatable to so many women and men that I know. People that had passion for a sport and decided to pursue a dream. People that deserved to capitalize on hard work and effort. I can still remember in a speech class at MBU I wrote about the same topic of paying students, its been a few years since then but I'm pretty sure that I used the Fab Five from University of Michigan and how even to this day they continue to make the school money but never received any of the benefits (If I can find that assignment I will add it to this post).

The NCAA is big business, but it only benefits the universities. The Players are used for four years, given the bare minimum, and then throw away for a newer model. At the same time the coaches of the players keep their jobs for years and years and make millions of dollars every single one of them. Players a sold the glam of the facilities and the families are sold on the promise of an education but access to a building doesn't help your family back home that is already being effected by the system and and education doesn't matter if you are in fake classes that the coaches signed you up for so that you are always available for practice. the system is flawed.

One of the big stats that is shown in the movie is the ratio of male student athletes In colleges compared to those that get drafted from those colleges to play pro basketball or football, a surprising 91,775 students athletes to 303 drafted athletes. That's 91,472 former athletes that have dedicated their time to a game for at least the last 15 years and then are just told to go do something else. This leaves a lot of space to fill which can leave someone lost and confused. The way it ends is almost as bad as the entire process. Take Mike Shaw for example, He gave everything to his school and when he was done they just sent him on his way. He went from college athlete to Struggling to find a job and money to eat and sleeping in his car all within months of graduation. A student-athlete, or an athlete that goes to school, who was never able to build real bonds with professors and advisers. Who was never able to explore the school outside of the gym and the dorms. Who wasn't able to get that part-time job to help with spending money. Who during the summers instead of taking internships to gain work experience was at the gym working out for no money. These players are sold a dream that for most doesn’t have a chance of coming true. There are thousands of success stories, players who played at a NCAA school on scholarship and didn’t make the pros and went on and lived a successful life but there are also thousands that have been left behind with nothing and for this reason the NCAA will continue to be scrutinized until some changes are made. Student Athlete shows real stories and real people. Stories that were happening before the cameras showed up to let the world know about their situation.

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There are 280 million dollar apparel deals in place for big name schools like UCLA

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The NCAA and their rules are outdated, not fit for the times or the people that are effected by them. Like the Constitution...

Heres my idea on how to fix the problem.

Get rid of the term Student-Athlete

this term is outdated,There are Students and then there are Athletes. In college sports players are full time athletes and will never get the same opportunity in the classroom as a non athlete student

Pay the Athletes now that the players no longer have an amateur status pay them what they deserve

Let Athletes be students

After the player is done playing give them a full scholarship to the school so now they can attend school as a student and not an athlete.

There is something that can be done to help these kids and their families, at least something that can be done that's not behind closed doors.