Life In Balance

If you have been paying attention to collegiate sports, you will undoubtedly notice that more and more athletes are competing for their second and sometimes third college or university.  Being curious about this trend, I opened the NCAA site that lists the guidelines for transferring and eligibility. 

I’m not qualified to evaluate these guidelines in terms of fairness.  I will say, however, that a student athlete might want to consult a lawyer to make sense of the rules and exceptions to the rules regarding transferring.  But obviously many students have figured out how to move from school to school, playing their sport at each.  Consider how collegiate players are now introduced by commentators:  “John Smith is starting for University X this year, played for University Y last year, and University Z the year before that.”   

Even as there is a good case for college athletes to be paid, given that their efforts bring in millions of dollars, there is also a good case to be made for giving athletes the freedom to transfer schools.  Sports programs with losing records will never receive the media attention that winning programs attract.

My concern with the new transferring rules lies in the word “student” in the “student athlete” title.  I don’t deny that my concern stems from my career in collegiate education.  Even in a small college, it’s obvious that transferring students face particular challenges.  First, there is the question of how many hours of credit will transfer over from one school to another.  For example, it’s not uncommon for a transfer student with fifty-six earned credits from one college or university to discover that her or his new school won’t accept all fifty-six hours.

Second, there is the question of a transfer student connecting with a college’s or university’s history, traditions, and atmosphere.  Take an athlete who over a four-year period plays volleyball at Purdue, Clemson University, and Florida State.  Which university does the athlete identify with?  Which university can that athlete truthfully say she graduated from? 

Third, I wonder how important academics are for athletes who move from one college or university to another.  We are past the days when athletics at major universities was a secondary part of a student’s life.  That leads me to wonder if athletes who are transferring aren’t viewing going to class, completing assignments, and taking tests as the cost they must pay to play their sport.  Even worse, there are athletic programs that give athletes personal tutors who do more than tutor or place athletes in academic programs that offer little challenge and rigor.    

The NCAA admits that only a minority of athletes will, upon graduation, turn professional in their sports.  Even the majority of those who become professionals won’t maintain that status for more than a few years.  After graduation or a brief professional career, the majority of college athletes will be left with what they learned in the classroom.  

Athletics can certainly teach important life-long lessons, but athletics will never offer a complete college education.  The challenge for student-athletes is balance, to be as much a student as an athlete.

So, if you hear of an athlete transferring to another college or university because the new school has a better biology or pre-law program, let me know.  You’ll make my day.