Balancing College and Sports
According to the New York Times about 430,000 students are involved in athletics overseen by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics each year. With so many athletes in college there is a large problem with many students not being able to balance college life and sports. Athletics in college are usually considered extra-curricular activities and can take up a lot of time so many universities have to have programs specially designed to help the student athlete. These programs, along with extra studying, unaccompanied and with groups, tutoring, and taking earlier classes can help the student athlete maintain the balance between their school work and their athletic career.
Spend More time studying
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Because student athletes are, in fact, students, they will have to make time in their busy schedules to study. The average college student studies around 10-13 hours per week, which is less than two hours per day. Considering a student athlete wants a balance between school and sports, they have to spend the same, if not more, time studying than they do playing their sport each day. For example, if an athlete has a two hour practice one day, they need to study for at least two hours that day likewise. It is a known, correlative fact that the more a student studies, the better they will do in that class. Although it will cut into a student’s social life, the results from this extra studying will be better than satisfactory
Get tutoring
Study groups can be helpful for many students, but others may need more one on one help. Therefore, universities can have learning labs with tutors that are available everyday that student athletes can use. Schools that have large athletic programs can have accommodations for their athletes that allow them to make up work and lectures from missed classes, or if they just need extra help on something such as an important paper. For instance, Millikin University has an a building called The Office for Student Success which includes a peer tutoring program, a math and writing center, as well as numerous web resources for student use. These extra student services would allow for balance between sports and classwork and are an easy solution to athletes missing classes.
Why do College athletes need more?
![Picture](/uploads/1/8/2/3/18239359/152950.jpg?419)
Because student athletes are, in fact, students, they will have to make time in their busy schedules to study. The average college student studies around 10-13 hours per week, which is less than two hours per day. Considering a student athlete wants a balance between school and sports, they have to spend the same, if not more, time studying than they do playing their sport each day. For example, if an athlete has a two hour practice one day, they need to study for at least two hours that day likewise. It is a known, correlative fact that the more a student studies, the better they will do in that class. Although it will cut into a student’s social life, the results from this extra studying will be better than satisfactory.