people
Athletes under pressure students under scrutiny
The life of student athletes
Kansan file photo
A KU football coach yells at team members during a practice several years ago. Football players and other athletes are not only under intense pressure to win, but also are asked to maintain a 2.15 GPA and be a role model for other students.
athletic performance academic worries career hopes
By Sara Bennett Kansan staff writer
KU fans rushing headlong into the annual basketball frenzy may forget that the student athletes they admire so much are just that — students.
Student athletes face pressures and choices that their nonathletic peers cannot imagine. They are under constant pressure to win. They are expected to be role models. They have to keep up their grades while maintaining grueling schedules.
Yet student athletes often are expected to be above the failings of their fellow students.
"Athletics represents the ideals of good character, hard work, fair play and integrity, so athletes tend to be held higher than the rest of society, and I'm not sure it's fair," said Dan Gerdes, staff consultant at the Peak Performance Clinic at Robinson Gymnasium. The clinic, which opened this year, offers counseling and career development services to student athletes.
"Athletes are still people who function in society." he said.
ATHLETE
THE STUDENT IN STUDENT STUDENT
"Sometimes we have games on the road, and we'll get home at 2 or 3 in the morning," he said. "Then you'll have an 8 o'clock class and afternoon practice."
Stereotypical student athlete could be considered a contradiction in terms. Richard Scott, Little Rock, Ark., senior, and starting forward on the basketball team, said 20 hours a week of practice, road games and appearances often leave little time for classes.
But the time management required of athletes may keep them from becoming stereotypical "dumb locks."
Richard Lapchick, author of the 1989 book, "The Rules of the Game, Ethics in College Sports," said the typical student athlete performs academically as well as, or better than his or her fellow students.
Greg Gurley, Leawood senior and a reserve guard on the basketball team, said his busy schedule gave him the discipline to do well in school. Gurley, a business administration major, was on the 1993 Big Eight Academic Honor Roll.
"I get more accomplished by having less time than if I got out of class and had nothing to do," he said. "Having a structured life is helpful."
Lapchick said athletes in sports like basketball and football are most likely to do poorly in school because dreams of professional glory often take precedence over academics.
"Millions of America's youth surrender their opportunities for meaningful education because they have bought into the dream that they will beat the 10,000-to-1 odds of becoming pros," he said. "Too many waste their shots at education by pursuing eligibility and not educational skills."
William Arnold, assistant professor of sociology, said athletic scholarships often give students from lower socioeconomic classes educational opportunities that they might not be able to afford otherwise. But those athletes sometimes are less prepared for college than their peers. If they don't take responsibility for getting good educations, they will be unable to play professionally and risk ending up where they started, he said.
"If they're not good enough for pro sports, they're having to look for jobs, and some haven't really taken care of their job-related skills." Arnold said.
In "Rules of the Game," Charles Farrell, 1869 president of Sports Perspective International,
said that these issues came to light in the 1960s and 1970s when the exposure and money offered by television stations hurtled football and basketball into the spotlight. Many schools allowed athletes to cheat to remain eligible, he said.
In 1981, the NCAA adopted rules requiring athletes to make progress toward degrees and tightening requirements for academic eligibility. In 1983, it adopted Proposition 48, which required minimum graduation requirements of high school athletes. The NCAA also forced its member institutions to be more accountable for their sports programs.
Two years ago, the NCAA passed a rule requiring athletes to meet the minimum graduation GPA of 90 percent of its member institutions by their third year of school. That average is around 1.8.
At KU, athletes are asked to maintain a 2.5 GPA, said Paul Buskirk, assistant athletic director for Student Support Services. Buskirk said most athletes meet this standard, and academic assistance is available to those who have trouble.
Men's basketball coach Roy Williams said he expected his players to be as committed to success in the classroom as they were to success on the court.
"When I go to homes to recruit, I tell them I'm concerned with two factors," he said. "The first is academics, the second is basketball."
THE WHITE-HOT SPOTLIGHT
Whether paid or not, when an athlete steps onto a court, track or playing field, he or she steps into the spotlight.
"For an 18 to 20-year-old, that can be a lot of pressure." Buskirk said.
"You can't do some of the things other students can do," he said. "We can't be seen drinking, so most players prefer to stay at home and not go out."
Being in the spotlight means extra responsibility. Students athletes often find they are expected to be role models whether or not they feel qualified for the job.
Scott said that athletes often don't have the freedom that other students have.
"It's not all glamorous and being on TV," Gurley said. "I'm in a fraternity, and I'd like to just go to parties and sit around and talk to my friends
The student athlete's performance also is under constant scrutiny.
The pressure to win can be a healthy part of sports, driving athletes to push their limits. But, taken too far, that pressure can lead to problems like drug abuse and eating disorders.
without everyone and 'their brother coming up to me and asking, 'Why did you lose tonight?'
From the perspective of the Peak Performance Clinic, Gerdes said the key to dealing with competitive pressure was helping athletes cultivate identities separate from sports.
"The athletes that have a clear sense of who they are will probably be able to withstand those pressures," he said. "But if my performance equals my worth as a person, I'll also do everything I can to maximize my performance whether it's ethical, legal or whatever."
Former KU basketball player Scooter Barry is overcome with shyness during Media Day activities in October, 1987.
Gerdes said the Peak Performance Clinic helped athletes explore avenues for success other than sports.
"The particularly gifted athletes, the superstars, have been so reinforced that sometimes their identities get wrapped up in sports," he said. "It's very difficult to take advantage of other opportunities. We try to show them other things they may also be good at. We create greater degrees of freedom so they can grow in other areas."
BIG EIGHT BEHIND BARS?
Occasionally, athletes err and get in trouble with the law. While such cases are far from the norm, the media has made it seem that the Big Eight is plagued by athletes gone bad. Kenny Drayton, a former KU football player who was convicted of 13 crimes including sexual assault, rape, armed robbery and sodomy, caused alarm on campus when it was announced he had escaped from prison and might be headed toward Kansas. Former KU basketball players Terry Brown and Sean Tunstall have had brushes with the law. Athletes from other Big Eight schools like Missouri and Colorado also have been in trouble.
Do athletic pressures make some athletes more susceptible to crime, or is more attention given to those who get in trouble?
"As a society, we seem to revere athletes or people who participate in athletics, be it professional or collegiate," Buskirk said. "When something happens in those people's lives, it gets more publicity and gives the impression that these events are more frequent. Personally, I don't believe there is something inherent in athletics which causes people to get in trouble with the law."
MAKING EVERY EFFORT
Buskirk said coping and adjustment skills are key to dealing with the pressures of college athletics. To help student athletes develop those skills, Student Support Services started a program called CHAMPS, A Life Skills Program. CHAMPS stands for Challenge Athletes' Minds to Promote Success. The program is held in seven weekly sessions at the beginning of the school year. New athletes are divided into discussion sections led by fifth-year student athletes who address issues ranging from sportsmanship to drug abuse to personal relationships.
Although student athletes face challenges that are different from those faced by nonathletic students, they are still students. Like other students, they are responsible for handling the pressures of their chosen academic fields.
"KU is a course in life in four years that can take on many pictures," Gerdes said. "We try to teach self-responsibility without holding their hands, but some students grasp that self-responsibility better than others. When it comes to making appropriate choices, choices and decision making are the athletes' responsibility."
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
NIGHTLIFE
Benchwarmers Sports Bar & Grill
1601 W. 23rd St.
Frank Allison and The Odd Socks, 9 p.m.
Thursday
Left Over Salmon, 9 p.m. Friday
S.T.I., 9 p.m. Saturday
12th and Oread
Extrovert, 9 p.m. Thursday
Crap Supper, 9 p.m. Friday
Deb Girnius and The Merge, 9 p.m. Saturday
The Crossing
Dos Hombres
803 Massachusetts St.
Full Moon Cafe
814 New Hampshire
Eight Men Out, 10 p.m. Friday, free
BU3 Massachusetts St.
Tim Cross, 8:30 p.m. Thursday, free
Daryl Lea, 8:30 p.m. Friday, free
Las Cuatro, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, free
The Jazzhaus
926 1/2 Massachusetts St.
Dah-Veed, 9:30 p.m. Thursday
Dah-Veed 9:30 p.m. Friday
5-8, 9:30 p.m. Saturday
Rick's Neighborhood Bar & Grill
623 Vermont
Chubby Smith and His Orchestra, 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, $3
The Bottleneck
737 New Hampshire
137 New Hampshire
Rev. Horton Heat with Hell Cat Trio, 10 p.m.
Thursday, $6—advance tickets
Young Johnny Carson Story with Room Full of
Walters, 10 p.m Friday, $4
Billy Goat with John Brown's Underground, 10
p.m. Saturday, $6
Granada Theater
1020 Massachusetts St.
1020 Massachusetts St.
Dance Night, 8 p.m. every Thursday
Lawrence DJ Jam, 8 p.m. Saturday
'80s Night with D.J., 8 p.m. every Wednesday
Hockenbury's Tavern
1016 Massachusetts St.
Water from Boulder, Colo., 10 p.m. Thursday
$3
The Presidents, 10 p.m. Friday, $4
New Riddim, 10 p.m. Saturday, $4
Acoustic open mike, 10 p.m. Sunday, free
Flint Gray, 10 p.m. Wednesday, $3
Free State Brewing Co.
636 Massachusetts St.
Free State Jazz Quartet, 7-9 p.m. Friday, free
See CALENDAR,Page 14
1000W 250V 4A 1600W 250V 4A