An Opinion in Favor of NCAA Athletes Receiving Pay Checks for their Hard Work
You wake up at 5 am, go to a two or three hour practice, depending on the coach’s mood this morning. Then you shower and rush to make it to class just as the professor is about to close the door in your face.
You have class all morning like the rest of the students, and when noon comes around, instead of relaxing and enjoying a nice meal like everyone else on campus, you head back to the weight room for lifting or to the track for a second session of crucial practice.
The afternoon flies by and before you know it, night has creeped in and taken over. It is midnight already and you still find yourself at the library trying to cram in last minute studying for your 8:30 am exam.
By the time you meet your bed once again, the night is half over and the clock reads 2:30 am. Three hours disappear and you find yourself restarting the cycle all over again.
For those athletes on campus, I’m sure this sounds absolutely normal, but for those non-athletes, welcome to your classmates’ never-ending torture.
College athletes work harder than most of us realize and the sad part is, that aside from the few fans on the sidelines, they don’t get much recognition for their dedication.
Some athletes do receive generous athletic scholarships, but others are not as lucky and do not even receive any money for their athletic ability.
Those athletes privileged with scholarships, are not guaranteed the same amount every semester. If a NCAA athlete does not follow his/her coach’s desires, his/her scholarship can easily be taken away without discussion, at which point they can wave bye-bye to their dreams of ever hoping to reach professional level.
Let’s be realistic, chances of making it pro are less than 10 percent for most sports. So what exactly would be a fair way to reward these exhausted ball players? Money, of course.
So what if they’re in college? The work these college athletes are putting in and the hours they are spending sweating, competing, and most importantly, getting hurt, deserve some type of reward.
College students have a reputation for always being broke, especially athletes who do not have the time to work even if they wanted to.
After all, there are only 24 hours in a day and with 16 of those taken by practice and class, where is a $7.25/hr. job supposed to fit in?
NCAA athletes risk their health every single morning they wake up; whether it is at practice, conditioning, or at actual games, athletes are constantly risking injuries that could permanently ruin their athletic careers.
The more dangerous a sport is, the more zeroes a pro athlete’s paycheck has. Therefore, it is only fair that at least one zero makes it to a NCAA entertainer who is putting in almost the same, if not more, amount of determination and effort.
I’m not saying give them a six-figure check, but some type of compensation that would at least make up for the part-time job they cannot have would be nice.
Athletes do more than just run from one side of the court to the other, they do more than just sweat and entertain us on a Sunday afternoon.
They leave their hearts in the game and that is something that should be accounted for, just like it is beyond accounted for in professionals.
PHOTO COURTESY of Jim Reme
