You’ll cheer them on, you’ll want them out of the game, you don’t understand what it took to get them there, and you’ll sit next to them in class on Monday. They are the athletes on campus.
I've heard a lot said about athletes; “they're babies," “they get so much special treatment," “they're not anyone special," “they're stupid," and plenty more. Some of these things are true, and some are false.
“They’re babies”
No, not really; when you hear an athlete complain, it’s not because they feel entitled, it’s because they are students AND athletes, not just regular students, having essentially two jobs. In a Pac-12 Conference report that was obtained by CBS, it was stated that the average athlete in the Pac-12 spends almost 50 hours a week on their respective sport. Managing that on top of being a full-time student can get tough. The only thing that maybe qualifies as an athlete “being a baby” is the fact that nap time can be so essential just to maintain all the duties they have to do.
Special treatment
The special treatment that athletes get isn’t really that special. What is considered special? Tutors and private study areas? That’s because athletes can get so behind in school because of all they do. The “cool gear," well, everything they get can and will get ripped up when they work out with it. Granted, there are some cool shirts every so often, but you can chalk that up to a perk of the job they work. Really, anything that is “special” they don’t request, it just comes with the territory of working a job.
"They’re not anyone special"
You're right, they're not, and they don’t claim they are either. Athletes don’t proclaim themselves to be better than anyone on campus; they're just placed on a pedestal by their classmates and the media. In fact, every athlete always wonders, in the back of his or her mind, “I wonder what it would be like to be a normal student.” No extra things to do, just school, sleep, and fun. Then this phrase will pop into their heads, “must be nice." So you're right; they're not anyone special, there's no need for a pedestal. Athletes are students too, so treat them as such, even though there are some days when they wish they could step into your shoes and see what college is actually like.
"They're stupid"
Personally, as an athlete, I despise this remark the most. While there may be a few athletes that make bad decisions, the same could be said about normal students. On my team, there are future engineers, bankers, lawyers, and doctors. You're stereotyping us when you say we are stupid. A captain on my team last year graduated with a 4.0 GPA. My team GPA? It’s sitting at a 3.0. You may say we take the easy classes, and that’s false; we have to take the same classes as normal students to graduate, and yes, most of us will graduate. My current coach's graduation rate hovers over 90 percent since he has been at the university. So yes, we graduate as well.
Just quit
You might say just quit or stop complaining, but that’s not in our nature. That’s not what got athletes to play at the next level. College athletes don’t quit. The love of our sport is why we put our minds and bodies through more rigors than an average student.
You’ll cheer them on, you’ll want them out of the game, you don’t understand what it took to get them there, and you’ll sit next to them at class on Monday. They are the athletes on campus. And now you might take the time to understand them a little bit better.
