You are a student athlete who got a scholarship offer to play your sport in college. Congratulations. Do you know exactly what you've signed up for? What if you get hurt? What if you can't keep your grades up? What happens to your scholarship money?
Student athletes have the dual responsibility of school work and sports. A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that the amount of time spent by college athletes (in his ruling football players at schools with large programs) makes them into workers not just students. The amount of time spent by scholarship athletes practicing and competing can equal 40 hours per week or more.
If you think it will be easy to find the time to do your best on the field and in the classroom, think again.
So what is the answer? Read the fine print of your scholarship offer. Take the offer to a trusted professional person to explain it to you and your parents. Do this before you accept it. It will be worth it to understand what your life in college will be like and what could go wrong.
Student athletes have the dual responsibility of school work and sports. A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that the amount of time spent by college athletes (in his ruling football players at schools with large programs) makes them into workers not just students. The amount of time spent by scholarship athletes practicing and competing can equal 40 hours per week or more.
If you think it will be easy to find the time to do your best on the field and in the classroom, think again.
So what is the answer? Read the fine print of your scholarship offer. Take the offer to a trusted professional person to explain it to you and your parents. Do this before you accept it. It will be worth it to understand what your life in college will be like and what could go wrong.