{"id":490,"date":"2014-02-05T18:57:06","date_gmt":"2014-02-05T23:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/?p=490"},"modified":"2014-12-15T12:32:31","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T17:32:31","slug":"student-athletes-separate-but-equal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/?p=490","title":{"rendered":"Student Athletes: Separate But Equal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Life must be lived as play.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n

-Plato<\/em><\/h2>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n

Maybe by this point you\u2019re tired of people telling you how special you are.\u00a0 Or maybe you\u2019re still basking in it.\u00a0 Either way, that\u2019s going to be a part of your student-athlete life for the next few years, and there\u2019s no getting around it.\u00a0 You are special, you will be treated as though you\u2019re special, and yet your goals are probably the same as every other \u2018regular\u2019 student (unless you plan to be a professional athlete or Olympian).\u00a0 You want to graduate with knowhow and skills to begin a career and become a thoughtful, well-functioning citizen.<\/p>\n

But you\u2019re not like \u2018normal\u2019 students because you have expectations, obligations, and special treatment that they don\u2019t have.\u00a0 You have team meetings, training, practices, meals, travel, games, community-relations events, and aches and pains that can\u2019t help but dig into your academic time.\u00a0 Everyone associated with NCAA athletics will tell you that there\u2019s a good reason you\u2019re called a \u2018student-athlete\u2019 with the student part first and academics as the priority.\u00a0 When you\u2019re immersed in a weekly regimen of \u2018team time,\u2019 however, it may be hard to focus on your life outside your sport.\u00a0 And when you\u2019re showered with special stuff (special course registration, special meals, special gear, special travel, special opportunities in the community, special status, etc.), it might become hard to stay grounded and maintain perspective.<\/p>\n

So, it might be beneficial to remember our mantra<\/p>\n

Know Thyself.\u00a0 Have a Plan.\u00a0 Assume No One Else Cares.<\/em><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Know Thyself<\/b><\/h3>\n

In high school athletics, you were a \u2018big fish.\u2019\u00a0 It may take you a while to get back to that stature at the college level.\u00a0 Or, you may never get back there.\u00a0 Is school your Plan B?\u00a0 I would recommend making it your Plan A.\u00a0 This does not mean to abandon your athletic dreams.\u00a0 Keep them alive, continue to perfect your skills and perform at your best level, and ENJOY this wonderful experience that only a small number of college students get to enjoy. \u00a0\u00a0But before school begins in the fall, please spend some serious time thinking about your life after athletics.\u00a0 Put all your athletic plans aside TEMPORARILY and consider who you are and who you wish to become WITHOUT athletics.<\/p>\n

Remember that you are the one who\u2019s still in control of your own destiny.\u00a0 At least in terms of planning for your present and future.\u00a0 You made an agreement with your institution that you would partake in their athletics program, but their part of the bargain was that they would educate you.\u00a0 What kind of education do you want?\u00a0 What do you want to do with it when you\u2019re done?\u00a0 Go back and review some of the advice contained in this book and see if you can find a way to find your bliss apart from your sport.\u00a0 This should help drive how you approach the academic side of your life for the next few years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to remember that there will be multiple sides to your life over your college career.\u00a0 You might play the role of a campus leader and an ambassador for your team and your school.\u00a0 It\u2019s healthy to consider how others might view you and how you\u2019d like to view yourself in this capacity.\u00a0 You could start by reflecting on how you acted back in high school when you were a celebrated student-athlete.\u00a0 Were you a good student, teammate and person?\u00a0 Were you a good role model?\u00a0 In other words, did you find a way to transcend being identified only by the sport you played?\u00a0 Were you able to be something else first?<\/p>\n

I sat next to a Heisman Trophy runner-up in one of my marketing classes.\u00a0 He and I exchanged small talk and class notes and, later in life, when he became a college football coach, he sent my son some fun autographed memorabilia to inspire him as he began his young football \u2018career.\u2019\u00a0 This guy was a true Big Man On Campus, but he allowed me to see him as simply a nice, humble guy by the way he carried himself.<\/p>\n

One of my son\u2019s friends, Conner, who\u2019s going on to play Division I baseball, proposes this outlook for a student-athlete to maintain proper stature and perspective:\u00a0 \u201cStay focused.\u00a0 Stay smart.\u00a0 Stay humble.\u201d\u00a0 These are wise words, and you\u2019ve probably heard something like it from your coaches, parents or recruiters along the way.\u00a0 But it\u2019s time that you begin to interpret them in terms of your own outlook and your own behavior.<\/p>\n

Have a Plan<\/b><\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s keep this simple\u2026 and harsh.\u00a0 Tomorrow you blow out your knee and end your athletic career.\u00a0 What\u2019s your plan?<\/p>\n

Sorry to be so blunt, but this is the best way to figure out if you have truly thought through your plans.\u00a0 I\u2019d recommend reflection on what your goals are, who you want to be, as a person, as a student, and as an athlete.\u00a0 Treat them all separately at first, and then combine them into one larger plan.\u00a0 Of course, what you do over the next few years as a student and an athlete will help forge who you can become as a person, but it\u2019s always good to start with the bigger \u2018person\u2019 picture, knowing that your days as a student and as an athlete will eventually fade away.\u00a0 So, begin with \u2018Who do I wish to become and how do I want people to see me?\u2019 and work your way back from there.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re done planning who you wish to be as a person, you can use what you\u2019ve read in this book to plan what you\u2019d like your student life to look like.\u00a0 Then, once you\u2019re done with that, move on to your athletic life.\u00a0 Revisit \u2018The June Question\u2019 to think about what you\u2019d like to say after your first athletic year.\u00a0 Or aim higher and consider what you\u2019d like to be able to say when your college athletic career is done.\u00a0 Once you\u2019ve reflected on these matters on your own, be sure to share them with your coach, parents and others who care about you.<\/p>\n

After laying out all this planning, it\u2019s important to return to the fact that your life as a student-athlete makes you special, and that will require one more bit of planning:\u00a0 your social life.\u00a0 The easy way to do it would be to meet your teammates and do whatever the team does.\u00a0 If that\u2019s the extent of what you\u2019re looking for from your college experience, then stick with it.\u00a0 But because you\u2019re special, you have the unique opportunity to carpe more college than most.\u00a0 Consider how you\u2019re going to meet your dorm mates.\u00a0 Of course, you\u2019ll spend a ton of time with your teammates, but what if you planned one day a week to stroll your dorm halls and say hello to people who aren\u2019t on the team?\u00a0 What about Bulletin Board Bingo?\u00a0 With your busy team schedule, it\u2019s going to be tough to find time to experience all the great cultural offerings on campus.\u00a0 But if you have a plan, you can do it.\u00a0 Are things a little lighter for you off-season?\u00a0 Why not plan to do some Bulletin Board Bingo then?\u00a0 You might even be able to combine that with meeting dorm mates.\u00a0 To the best of your ability, and in terms of what your schedule will allow, try to reach out and away from your athletic culture as early and as often as you can.\u00a0 That will make for a richer overall college experience, and you\u2019ll be able to say, in a way few others can, that you really Carpe\u2019d College!<\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 For planning purposes, try to utilize the entire year to fit in all that you\u2019d like to accomplish.\u00a0 Consider that you\u2019ll be swamped while your team is in season, but when out of season, you may find time to squeeze in some of this other stuff.\u00a0 Week to week, you\u2019re simply not going to be able to fit it all in, and you won\u2019t have nearly the time luxuries that other students have.\u00a0 However, over the course of a full year, you will.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s all about what you\u2019d like to be able to say at the end of the year.<\/i><\/p>\n

Assume No One Else Cares<\/b><\/h3>\n

Simply apply this part of the mantra to your athletic life the same way you\u2019re doing for your student life.\u00a0 It\u2019s your job to run your life, and you need to care about it more than anyone else.\u00a0 Of course you should rely on coaches, professors, parents, teammates and tutors, but you\u2019ve got to rely on yourself more.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier in this book, it\u2019s not that your teammates or fellow students aren\u2019t nice people.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that they have themselves to worry about.\u00a0 If you decide to break team rules and get suspended for a few weeks, I\u2019m sure a teammate will gladly step in and take your starting position for game day.\u00a0 If you forget to tell your professor about your team travel plans, it\u2019s unlikely anyone else will.\u00a0 And, even if your team offers some formal communication with professors, having a special travel schedule gives you a built-in excuse to talk to your professors and get to know them better.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve already addressed why that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

And, again, I\u2019m sorry, but what if you blow out your knee and end your career?\u00a0 Is there anyone who will care more about your next move than you?\u00a0 (NOTE:\u00a0 A friend of mine earned an athletic scholarship to a Big Ten football program with a stellar academic reputation.\u00a0 He blew out his knee before his first season without playing a down for the team, and his career ended.\u00a0 The school, however, honored his scholarship until graduation.\u00a0 So, you see, assuming no one cares is not meant to make you cynical and jaded; it\u2019s designed to help you plan for the worst while hoping for the best.\u00a0 It\u2019s about having YOU in control of your journey even though there are a whole lot of uncontrollable factors that can come into play.\u00a0 If you have planned in this way, good things can fall into place even after some setbacks.)<\/p>\n

What if you want to be something more than just an athlete?\u00a0 What if you want to have friends outside your team?\u00a0 What if you want to go on to grad school?\u00a0 What if you want to do philanthropic work in the local community or abroad?\u00a0 What if you want to be a head coach some day?\u00a0 What if you can\u2019t afford to be charged with a crime because your future is riding on your college experience?\u00a0 What if you want to be nice to everyone?<\/p>\n

All of these answers must reside with you.\u00a0 And you can lay the groundwork with some deep self-reflection and a good plan that begins your first year.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll have a unique opportunity to have a much more rich college experience than most.<\/p>\n

Seize it!<\/p>\n

(NOTE: \u00a0This blog entry is taken from Appendix I of Carpe College! Seize Your WHOLE College Experience<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Mike Metzler)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Life must be lived as play.\u201d\u00a0 -Plato \u00a0 Maybe by this point you\u2019re tired of people telling you how special you are.\u00a0 Or maybe you\u2019re still basking in it.\u00a0 Either way, that\u2019s going to be a part of your student-athlete life for the next few years, and there\u2019s no getting around it.\u00a0 You are special, you will be treated as … Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":497,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carpecollege.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}