#3 The Classroom

As mentioned in the first blog, “What is a Student-athlete”, “Student” does not come before “athlete” in “student-athlete” for no reason. School is the primary focus of a student-athlete, meaning that a lot of time effort and energy will be spent on academics. In fact, the majority of time and resources should be spent on school. However, the “athletic” part of “student-athlete” is not much different than its counterpart. With little contemplation and many comparisons, it is blatantly obvious that the student life is entirely paralleled to the athlete life. Furthermore, it is much easier to say that “a student-athlete must work hard to excel in the classroom,” as it is to actually do it. Some student-athletes have not learned the importance of academics simply due to their upbringing and/or the culture they have been exposed to. Succeeding in school is vital and will help any athlete to reach higher potentials both on and off the field.

Before discussing the larger results of success in the classroom it is important to understand the smaller and more intricate effects of a prosperous academic career. No student can ever achieve academic success without qualities such as discipline, heart, grit and desire: all highly desirable qualities in life.  Although many believe that some students are intrinsically smarter than others, all people have the same compatibility to learn. There are no such things as superior and inferior minds, only superior and inferior hearts. A student who does not care to learn will never be able to learn. Much like an athlete who does not care to get better will never improve. For a student to apply themselves fully to learning they must desire knowledge and educational growth. Learning was never created to be strictly restricted to the classroom, rather the classroom was created to be strictly restricted to learning. With that being said, all Humans should have an instinctive desire to learn. Unlocking this passion will allow a student to excel in the classroom like an athlete who has the passion to improve on the field will excel on the field. Once a student becomes passionate for their education they must then execute this passion into a successful academic career. This is where discipline, grit and integrity become involved. Learning is not hard, in fact, it was Plato who stated “Mathos, Pathos”, or to learn is to suffer. The ironic truth behind this statement is that no student-athlete can ever dare to disagree, because all athletes have suffered in order to get better. This means, however, that learning is difficult and will bring forth temptation to quit, cheat and be lazy; no different than any sport. A student must display enough integrity enough to get their assignments completed on time and correctly regardless of how late they must stay up to do it. They must have the discipline to study for a test even when there is no one keeping them on task to do so. The practicing of a better education will form the virtues of discipline and heart. By doing so the student will become a more disciplined and harder working athlete.

A more tangible reason for athletes to excel in the classroom is based off the fact that less than 0.1% of high school athletes make it into professional/semi-professional athletics. That means that the “student” half of a student-athlete is statistically likely to be the half that will make a successful career. Another reason to focus on the classroom is college recruitment. High school student-athletes who thrive in the classroom will receive more scholarship and be able to extend the options of colleges they can attend. This will improve the chances of a student-athlete playing at the collegiate level. If a student-athlete can receive scholarships from academics they can thus afford to go to more expensive schools as well as become a more desirable player. College coaches desire smarter athletes because they learn quicker and are more reliable on and off the field as well as a cheaper investment due to the fact that they will receive scholarships their academics. This financial difference alone will influence coaches at schools, that may be slightly above a player’s skill-level, to recruit said player, because of the smaller risk or investment made into that player as well as the greater possibility of acquiring a well disciplined and motivated player on the roster. Becoming a better student will make a student a better learner. Just like practicing a sport makes it easier to play, the more someone learns, the quicker they will be able to learn. Athletes with better grades excel mentally, on the field making high IQ plays, heads-up plays and quicker reads/decisions. This inevitably will give any athlete a large advantage on the field.

Students and Athletes really do not differ all that much once examined. They contain the same process to achieve a goal. They only differ in the content of that process. In fact, developing better skills as a student, a student-athlete will develop skills as an athlete as well and vice versa. These skills will create a better Human that can thrive in their future and have better odds to continue their athletic career at the collegiate level, something that around 10% of student-athletes do and better odds at achieving success in their careers after school.