By Jasper Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: May 8, 2013
In Canada we have a university athletics system that is set up to offer a platform for athletes to compete while obtaining an education. Often these athletes are given scholarships to help cover the costs of their education, to make it possible to commit the necessary hours to training instead of a part-time job. This arrangement is set up to allow the athlete to complete a degree, to build on their athletic prowess and to help them move onto success in the real world. In an ideal world under this system the athlete plays their chosen sport for five years, completes their degree and uses their experience to find a successful career and contribute in our society.
The success of this method of university athletics has come under fire by critics for many years. The commonly-used term “student-athlete” that is used to describe the athletes who compete and attend school at one of our various post-secondary schools across the nation has become a running joke for those who believe that most athletes who compete at our universities are there to simply play their sport and have no desire to be in class.
This criticism is not without merit. There are valid reasons to criticize the appointment of scholarships to students who may or may not have any interest in actually attending class. Is there any point in giving scholarships to students who will never complete their education?
On the surface it is an illogical act. It is the equivalent of throwing money down the drain. This is not to say that athletics are completely devoid of scholars, as a large number of athletes at UFV are well on their way to achieving their degrees and moving onto very successful careers. But having been around university athletics for several years I have seen firsthand the contradictory atmosphere that comes with university athletics. Attending class and writing papers often get pushed onto the backburner to go get another training session in, or to attend competitions. All too often athletes finish their five years of eligibility and walk away without anything close to a degree or, worse yet, walk away mid-career because they have no interest in completing upper-level classes. In a worst-case scenario the athlete will end up walking away without completing any academic or athletic goals.
Despite this, the system stays in place year after year with no real talk of change. Coming from the perspective of a student athlete, I would vouch for the current system for a single reason – it provides hope and an opportunity for athletes to see that there is life beyond his or her respective sport. University sport is the last opportunity for many athletes to transition their success in their respective sports into success in the next stage of life.
While the number student athletes who walk away from their university experience without a degree is all too often the focus of the argument surrounding this system, what is often overlooked is the number of students who may never have achieved a post-secondary education if not for the opportunity presented by Canadian universities. The success of this system should not be defined by the number of dropouts, but by the number of students who make it through their education and graduate.
This system, with all its flaws, still works. It provides hope and opportunity for young men and women across the country who may have never received this opportunity otherwise.
