Student-Athlete Model: Sports Culture in Universities

The college career of a student-athlete is a multidimensional opportunity in their life that results in a dual growth for the student-athlete. They face the challenge of striking a balance between playing sports and pursuing a college education. At times, these roles can come into conflict.

The conflict is created because playing college sports is a privilege earned by maintaining academic eligibility and prioritizing academic rigor. Students often enter college with high expectations for themselves, but become overwhelmed and have to reconcile the conflict to succeed in sports and the classroom.

The sports culture and pressure on student-athletes vary within each unique university culture. At large universities that generate large amounts of revenue through sports, such as Florida State University, the demand for sports success is much greater. Typically, at the highest level, the pressure on the student-athletes is focused heavily on preparation, training, and competition. 

Mid-sized universities, namely Division II schools such as West Chester University in Pennsylvania, offer scholarship sports but generally don’t rely on sports revenue. This shift in the sports culture often allows the student to maintain a greater academic focus.  

At a school that doesn’t offer athletic scholarships but still offers athletics, such as Washington University in St. Louis, the sports culture may entirely depend on academic success. Student-athletes must maintain their studies to hold the academic scholarships to attend school and play sports. 

What is the Student-Athlete Model?

The Student-Athlete Model is the all-encompassing experience of simultaneously playing college sports and pursuing a college degree. Student-athletes face intense pressures that exceed those of the average college student’s career due to this challenging double role. 

What is the Student Athlete Model
What is the Student-Athlete Model?

Nowadays, student-athletes have to work even harder to maintain their schedule, body, diet, sleep, and mental health. Continual advances in sports science cause consistent pressure on student-athletes to train at the highest levels that science will support, often to the detriment of academic studies. 

The demands placed on student-athletes are comparable to those of professional athletes. Student-athletes are training and performing at the professional level, except college athletes have to play to earn their education, rather than any form of compensation.

Being a student-athlete can be a stressful experience, but the students willing to undertake the challenge learn invaluable lessons. They often experience great success later in life due to the lessons learned in the college-athlete environment. Learning to manage dual roles provides significant life experiences and transferable skills, such as time and stress management, teamwork, communication, performing under pressure, and healthy wellness habits.

What is Sports Culture in Universities?

The sports culture in universities is the amount of tradition, fanfare, attention, budget, and pressure on sports and sports success existing within the institution and its surrounding community. The sports culture can influence the social agents around the athlete, such as coaches, teammates, faculty, media, social media, and peers. 

What is Sports Culture in Universities
What is Sports Culture in Universities?

When an athlete faces pressure to succeed at sports, many of the high expectations often come from the social agents in their environment. In more intense sports cultures, the student-athlete may face demands for uncomfortable publicity such as attention from national media or viral social media. 

How Does Sports Culture Affect the Student-Athlete Model?

The sports culture can be different in each institution. Schools with a heavily ingrained sports culture that emphasize sports success can create a high-pressure environment that can drive the student-athlete away from academic pursuits. 

Due to advances in exercise science, sports psychology, sports nutrition, and general wellness, modern college athletes have a more demanding schedule than ever. Schools that generate substantial sums of sports revenue expect athletes to dedicate most of their time to these new training and testing techniques. They want the student willing to sacrifice anything to keep the competitive advantage. The social agents surrounding the athlete, such as coaches, teammates, and the media environment are also to blame for the anti-intellectualism mentality of these institutions. Students should have the opportunity to excel in both regards.

How Can Sports Culture be Used to Train New Athletes?

Organizations can program some aspects of the sports culture to mitigate the potential disillusionment of new athletes, such as college freshmen or transfers. Schools can offer support services such as career counseling, peer counseling, and academic support strategies, such as tutoring and mandatory study times. 

Universities can also integrate student-athletes into the campus community and help them bond with the student body to foster the student experience. Athletes should not be set apart from the student and should have the opportunity to view themselves as college students.    

Athletic Insight

Athletic Insight Research

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

The Athletic Insight Research team consists of a dedicated team of researchers, Doctors, Registered Dieticians, nationally certified nutritionists and personal trainers. Our team members hold prestigious accolades within their discipline(s) of expertise, as well as nationally recognized certifications. These include; National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT), American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA-CPT), National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), International Sports Sciences Association Nutritionist Certification.