Some people think that the life of a college athlete is easy. I mean many of us have scholarships to help pay for our education, we get to leave class early for games, and we get to travel for free. Anyone that is or personally knows a collegiate athlete understands that there are no short cuts, it's not easy, and we bust our buts everyday to be our best. Being a college student is tough but being a colligate athlete is even more challenging.
Yes, some of us collegiate athletes are lucky enough to have earned a scholarship to help pay for college. Can you blame us? Why wouldn't we? Regular students apply for scholarships and this is our way of applying. We work hard in the gym, on the field, or on the track to get better to help pay for our education. We see the value in getting a higher education so we use our God-given talent, work ethic, and drive to get that education. We break down our bodies at practice day-in and day-out for the game we love that just so happens to be the reason some of us can afford a college education.
On the issue of "skipping" classes for games, we still have to do the homework, we still have to take the tests, and we still have to get the notes from lecture. If anything, it hurts us missing classes but it's something we can't avoid. It's not like we get a free pass for the day or get to completely ignore our responsibilities. We are held to the same, if not higher, standard as any other college student.
It is true, being a collegiate athlete you have opportunities to travel. Tournaments can be held in Disney or Chicago and we get to visit these places for "free". Most of the tournaments colligate teams attend are paid for by fundraising or taken from the team budget. Our fee for traveling to these places is playing our game. We go to practice for three hours everyday, we run the sprints, and we study hours of game film. We might not being paying money for our trips but we pay in hard work.
Lastly, we are held to a higher standard. We are the face of our college, we represent our school on and off the court, field, or track. There's pressure on student athletes. There's the pressure of keeping a certain GPA, pressure of performing well, and the pressure of being a role model.
Being a collegiate athlete is not a breeze, it's not a cake walk, and it's not getting a free pass on "skipping" classes. Pushing our bodies everyday in practice and giving it our all in games takes a toll. There are days we want to sleep in, days when we don't want to go to practice, and days when the homework seems to pile up around us. But we wouldn't trade being a collegiate athlete for anything. We have the ability to play the sport we love and the opportunity to achieve a higher education. We have the drive to win and get better. We aren't handed our education because we are athletes, we have to work for our degree.
