hase
Sports
Aggie Basketball
vs St. Mary’s
Wednesday, November 28,1984/The Battalion/Page 7
G. Rollie White 7:30 p.m.
Main
an
119
My
sage
s
tza
38
<5
ding
LIMITED
st Oak Mi
764-09M
ting
»g
tions
on
?
Student-Athletes
Sports addiction hinders academic concentration
A&M student athletes face the dual pressures and triumphs
of succeeding on their team and in their academic studies.
By KEVIN INDA
Reporter
“I get out of class at noon, eat, go
to a football meeting at 2 p.m., prac
tice, eat dinner and eventually get
back to my room about 7 p.m. Then
1 have to study,” says Craig Stump,
A&M’s starting quarterback. “It’s
really tough because I don’t have a
lot of time.”
That type of statement typifies
what it’s like to be a student-athlete.
Student-athletes face more prob
lems than just a lack of time. They
are expected to perform on the play
ing field as well as in the classroom.
Improper academic counseling in
dealing with this type of pressure
can result in both academic and ath
letic failure.
Student-athletes have their per
sonal views as to what it’s like to be
both an athlete and a student. The
major problem that arises within this
group is the development of role-
conflict, says J. Steven Picou, a socio
logist and former student-athlete
who teaches a course on sports socio
logy at Texas A&M.
“The problem essentially is how
you integrate the two roles,” Picou
says. “You integrate the two through
career choices.”
When a scholarship athlete comes
to college, they feel they have made
the minor leagues. This reinforces
the fantasy choice of being a profes
sional athlete.
“There are a very limited number
of athletes in professional sports,”
Picou says. “You have got a better
chance of being in an automobile ac
cident, or getting cancer, or even
getting hit over the head by a mete
orite than becoming a professional
athlete.”
When some athletes make it to
college on a scholarship, they feel
they need to invest more time in ath-
tetics because it’s their career choice.
No one tells them it’s really their fan
tasy choice.
“If a kid comes in to college to
play football and he tells the coach
he really wants to be a physician and
he might be late to practice because
he has to study, the coach will per
ceive that person as not having a
commitment to athletics and proba
bly will not play him or even cut
him,” he says.
Picou says when athletes enter a
university, they should get career
counseling within the academic
branch of the university.
NCAA Proposition 56 — relating
to Division I teams — which went
into effect this year, specifies that
students on athletic scholarship must
declare a major by the end of their
sophomore year.
“The spirit of this proposition is
that we have to get people over in
the academic arm of the university
where they can start thinking about
their future,” he says. “It’s common
knowledge that many student-ath
letes take 180 hours of nothing and
they don’t have 10 hours in (any)
one degree.”
With college serving as a minor
league or professional sports talent
pool, even the college athlete who
isn’t starting feels he can make it in
professional sports.
“You have all these one-in-a-zil
lion examples of walk-ons who made
it in the pros,” he says. “These col
lege athletes who don’t start try to
walk-on and if they don’t make it
they’ll go back to the weights and try
next year.”
Picou says athletes are affected by
a de-socialization factor created by
sports. When an athlete has been
successful or glorified in a role, they
put more and more effort into that
role.
“It’s almost like a drug because
they get hooked,” he says. “The
problem is how to get them un
hooked.”
Picou cited cases of athletes mak
ing 360-degree turns in academic
performance after a career-ending
injury.
“When an athlete has an injury
that is life threatening, he knows his
athletic career is over,” he says. “U-
sually their academic performance
goes up, and you have a different
erson performing an academic ro-
Picou says an athletes’ academic
performance improves because play
ing professional sports is no longer
feasible.
The key to being both a student
and an athlete is to have a separate
Career that is unrelated to sports.
“I see the whole problem in terms
of role-conflict, in terms of
guidance, and people realistically
getting assessments of their chance
for filling that glamour (pro sports)
occupation,” he says.
The bottom line for student-ath
letes at A&M is to be able to get a de
gree, says Jackie Sherrill, Athletic
Director and Head Football Coach.
“We make ways and means
through our athletic counseling
service to give them all the support
they need to progress toward a de-r
gree,” Sherrill says. “We also try to
involve the academic community to
give us support.”
Sherrill says the student-athlete
faces more pressures in their college
career.
“The student-athlete is a unique
type of person,” Sherrill says. “Not
only does he carry the responsibility
of a student, but he also carries the
responsibility of an athlete. The
pressures are a lot greater than a
regular student.”
Trying to mix social and academic
life with athletics is the student-ath
lete’s biggest problem.
“You get an athlete who comes
out of high school into college and
all of sudden he tries to study like he
did in high school and it just doesn’t
work,” he says. “It’s the first time
these athletes have been away from
home and the demands as well as the
peer pressure are greater.”
NCAA Proposition 48, 49-B and
56, which deal with creating stan
dards that promote academic prepa
ration of prospective high school
athletes, will benefit the current ath
letic system.
“These propositions will help us
because we are pretty much along
those lines anyway,” he says. “We
have a committee made up of fac
ulty, assistant deans and so forth
who review possible incoming ath
lete’s transcripts to see if they are ad
mitted or not.”
Once incoming student-athletes
are admitted to Texas A&M, it is up
to Don Hunt, academic counselor
for the Texas A&M athletic depart-
See ATHLETES, page 8
What's The Holdup?
Are You Waiting
for
"V ■— , • - \
Christmas?
THIS IS THE LAST WEEK.
Junior Senior & Grad Class
Pictures for The Yearbook ARE NOW
Being Taken At The PAVILION
Through Friday Nov. 30th