Paying Collegiate Athletes Essay

A college is an educational institution, where students live together under a common set of rules. A college can be said to be a part of the university, which lack degree-awarding powers. Athletes can be said to be a collection of sport events. These sport events involve running, throwing and jumping, and can also be referred to as track or field athletes (Arlott . J, 1975). Athletics is very important in colleges and universities, where its benefits are undeniable. Anyone who is involved in athletics benefits. Athletics as sports teach the college athletes skills and experiences that cannot be taught in the classroom. These same skills are extremely helpful when students are looking for a career. Students who hold positions in the sport’s clubs acquire leadership skills. In sports students participate as a team. They support each other in order to succeed. They are able to learn and practice teamwork, which will assist them in undertaking other activities in their lives. Participation in a sporting event requires the dedication of the participant. Through sport events, students develop a sense of dedication to what they do. The desire to win drives the students to work very hard. They put aside their time and energy to take part in athletics. They later learn how to create desire for something and work hard to attain it. Collegiate athletics are found in numerous countries of the world. College athletics in the United States have the greatest impact and popularity globally. This is due to a large extent of participation. Due to the great importance and benefits that the college athletics offer, sport events continue to grow. There has been a general progression of athletic organizations over time. In recent years, a debate over payment of college athletes has raised concerns. The debate argues whether college athletes should be paid or not. Athletes do not receive any compensation even after the instatement of the collegiate athletics. There has been pressure for college athletes to be paid. On the other hand, another group of people feel that college athletes should not be paid. There are reasons that support the view against payment of college students. More voices are advocating for payment, with convincing reasons. The reasons that support payment of collegiate athletes will be discussed. Implementation of such a move would greatly benefit all the sports participants in colleges. Discussion College athletes need to be paid. One major reason for this is due to the great economic impact that the college athletics create. For example, in the US, college athletics are said to contribute greatly to the American economy. The colleges spend a huge amount of money on their college organizations. The athletes programs in turn generate a large amount of revenue. For example in the sale of tickets and merchandise it would be very fair therefore for college athletes who are major participants in generating revenues, to get a share of it. The athletes who help colleges make a lot of money do not get even the smallest share of it. Some look at this as students’ exploitation. They argue that if colleges benefit or make profit off of student athletes then the athletes should be paid since they helped the college make a lot of profit. In the world over, people believe that one should be paid for the work. Just like an employer, employees are paid according to their productivity. It would be very correct therefore to pay college athletes for their productivity in the sport events. In addition to profits that colleges earn from the sports or games themselves schools officials make a lot of money by marketing their team players. For example in USA, college students J. J Redick and Adam Morrison Jerseys have been sold all over the country, bringing in a lot of profits to the college. However, Morrison and Redick do not benefit from the profits earned. This is because they need to protect their status ( It’s an observation that college officials have no problem making a lot of money for themselves while exploiting ht well known college players. Well known players have their basketball or football jerseys dominate a market. The team officials make money from the sales, while the athlete himself gets nothing â€Å"millions of dollars are made off of video game and jersey sales every year (Jean. M. 2001 ). The players create great marketing opportunities and do not see any money made from the profits. The quality of play in a game is very critical for a future career. Paying college athletes helps in improving the quality of play they display during the major college sports. These games require skills and experience for a player to play well. Students who join professional sport clubs without experience and skills may end up being put on the bench. This limits their ability to gain required experience. This may be as a result of lack of payment if a student plays in a college team. This may ruin the student’s future sports career. By paying the college athletes, the students are encouraged to play for the college teams for a much longer time. This assists them in acquiring the much needed skills and experience for a future career in sports. Some students are very talented and it only requires practice to perfect their skills. This will also improve the college game because skilled players can remain for much longer. It is considered wrong, for schools to make money off of players, while the players do not benefit at all. When the players are paid, the quality of the college games is improved. This is because it becomes possible to keep borderline professional athletes in the involved colleges. The players can get more money at a professional level due to the already developed skills. Games coaches or officials sometimes demand a lot of time from the players in order to practice. This compromises on the time the players would work or maintain a job. Players who need to support themselves in order to make a living find themselves in a difficult situation. They are ton between participating in the games or working. If the players are paid, they can be able to put aside the required time for practice and participation in the games. It would make it easy for players to become committed in sports while at the same time earning a living. Gaming companies are given the right to use school names and numbers by colleges. The companies use these names and numbers at a fee to the respective college. The players have every right to enjoy money that is made by use of their names and numbers in the college. Players work very hard in sports and games (Athletic Journal. 1987). They commit their time to rain and play at the expense of doing their homework. Though they may balance between the two their fellow classmates who do not participate in games have more time to study than the players. They dedicate their time and energy in ensuring high quality games. Any hardwork and dedication that a person portrays need to be appreciated and recognized. Paying college athletes would fit so well in recognizing the student’s efforts in the growth of the game. In addition, to recognizing their efforts, players require to be motivated in doing their training and playing. Motivation encourages players to be determined even when they lose in a game (Charles. E. 1954). They keep on the faith and hope that there is always room for improving their skills and quality of the game. Motivation is a great ingredient towards success of players. Sometimes players may lose miserably to another team. The players may become discouraged to play since they may seem to believe that there are no benefits in their participation. The sports officials thereby step in to encourage them and train them to rectify former mistakes that they committed in the past matches. The players require more than just words in order to keep working on their skills. The need to motivate college students to work harder and improve their skills boils down to some way of rewarding them. One of the best ways to reward and encourage players would be by paying them. Any game event exposes the players to risks. One of the major risks that players are exposed to is injury. Players when in the pitch are involved in defending their team against losing while at the same time maximizing their chances of winning. This demand some form of aggressiveness to succeed. Aggressiveness means quick movements, tricky play (skills) and effective defense actions. When a player is doing all this, accidents may occur that lead to body injuries. These injuries may require intensive medical attention and may be very expensive to pay for the medical services. For example some players get fractured bones, broken joints and tissue damage. Some may even have their body organs impaired. Medication and healing of such body ailments may be too expensive for the players especially where no medical cover takes care of such accidents. The medical expenses may become an economic burden to the player and family. Paying the players, would therefore play a very big role in easing up of such a burden. It makes it easy for students to get the right medication if injured. Any college trains students on how to acquire skills and knowledge and apply them. Teamwork creates a spirit of working together towards success. This spirit is built by organizations and sport clubs in a college. The sport teams and clubs give the students a spirit to be one to work together and to support each other. A good example is the support students give their own team when playing. There is cheering and encouragement from their fellow students who are spectating. Winning a game gives the college students a spirit of victory or conquering especially if the team wins against a well re-known stronger team. This kind of spirit need to be maintained and encouraged in colleges. Maintaining the quality of game through players in order to keep this spirit burning needs a sacrifice. A sacrifice on the sports organization’s or officials may clearly translate into paying of the players. The spirit lives on. Colleges appreciate and recognize good players during the sports events. College students spend a lot of money on ticket in order to go and watch their own team play as well as showing their solidarity with the team. College athletes encourage community participation. The community that surrounds the college joins students in major sports events and offers their support. The community identifies the college team as belonging to them. Students’ parents come in big numbers to support their children in the sports events (Patricia. A. 2007). The students and the community are able to interact with each other, which creates good relationship between the students and the neighborhood. This promotes harmony and peaceful living in and outside the college. Supporting college athletes consequently results to support of community participation. Paying athletes is the greatest form of support that the players can get. Lack of community participation affects the relationship of students and the community itself. Community participation also encourages community service. The students are able to develop community service programs and later undertake activities that help the community in which they live in for example, cleaning exercises, organizing community programs funds rising and even providing support to disaster victims. This is a great way in which students can show support for the community. As earlier stated, community service will be developed in students, if they have a chance to interact and identify the needs of the community. Interaction through events offers a chance for the students to create a good relationship with the community. One way to encourage community service will be through support of college athletics . Paying the students/players may be just one of the effective ways to support athletics. Sometimes an argument is given that college athletes get scholarships. Therefore they have already been paid for their participation and efforts in games. However, other students benefit from scholarships without necessarily participating in the games. Paying college athletes will be a great way to promote justice in the student fraternity. Players feel that they have a right to be rewarded for their efforts. This may even encourage talented students who are discouraged to participate to change their mind and utilize their talents in athletics. In conclusion, college athletics are very important. These games should be given the seriousness they deserve. The players on the other hand need to be motivated for their hardwork and dedication. They deserve to be rewarded. Exploitation of college players by the officials or companies need to be stopped. All these measures require payment to the players and players will feel that justice is done to them. The spirit of college athletics will continue growing and so the future career of players.