Post by FUBAR on Apr 18, 2024 17:19:30 GMT -5
So you say real students just shouldn't go to big schools? But be careful, because some of the small schools only offer 1-2 sections of certain classes. I know a VB player who had to take Bio lab on league match days. She missed every other lab for road games and failed the class. So what? She should have gone to a bigger school?
That's not exactly what I was implying. There is no right to be able to do everything you want to do at the exact time you want to do it. There are probably very few "perfect" academic/athletic situations out there and more people who want them than spots exist. Those who don't get the "perfect" spots have to figure out how to best balance their goals - that's adult life. Like you, I've coached dozens of players who had similar difficulties as your example. They all have to find an "imperfect" way of making it work.
So if we make it too hard to be a student-athlete at a big school, and we make it too hard to be a student-athlete at a small school, where do student-athletes go? And will there be enough opportunities for them? Why are "athlete-students" in college at all?
It's hard to be a student-athlete, even when it's relatively easy. I used to make an argument for de-coupling college from sports. I can argue for both sides.
BTW, when I mentioned 10 hour bus rides, I was thinking of a mid-major and a western D2. Being a student-athlete is never going to be easy but there are certainly ways to make it easier.
Thank goodness, I've only had to endure one 10+ hour one way bus ride in my life! But I've lived in places where that is the norm for other sports besides volleyball. I've lived the life of a student leaving campus before classes start on Wednesday and returning to campus on Sunday for all conference road matches - before you could turn classwork in online. It wasn't ideal from an academic standpoint, but we made choices in life and ours was to make that schedule work so that we could compete at the level we wanted to.
It's pretty unbelievable that there is any chance of getting an education while playing on a semi-pro/fairly high level sports team. The "perfect" educational-athletic situation probably will be very hard to find for most people, but there exists a wide range of possibilities. I don't think athletes who want a particular education are being exploited, they just have to prioritize what's important.