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Christopher Saucedo

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1302

11, November 2022

Students Athletes being Role Models

Most people believe that being a college athlete is easy going or just fun and games.

However, not everybody can adapt to a new environment so easily or associate themselves with

people as quick as others. The author van Ren’s explain that to a better support student-athletes

in their stressful dual careers, it is important to identify the determinants of an optimal dual-

career balance (van Rens, et al. 42). For some students, it does come easy because they enjoy

interacting with people, but not everyone is the same, unfortunately. At times it is more difficult

for student-athletes to involve themselves in an environment full of students since they do not

know how to associate themselves outside of sports and for a few of them it just is not their cup

of tea. Blakewood, Pascale say that intercollegiate athletic experience requires the student-athlete

to participate in at least 20 hours of athletic-related activities per week, whereas their studies

often require that much time or more (Blakewood, Pascale. et al). There is no research required

to dictate the fact that non-athlete-students have more free time to involve themselves in a

universities’ community and meet new students every day, to add on, being a colleges athlete is

more like a job than it seems. The reason for that is because every athlete has to have a time

management for their classes and practices and mandatory meetings outside of practice time.

Although, many people believe that Student Athletes get the most benefits just because they play

some sports, what a regular student does not know about a student athlete is that they have to

take some required credits so they can be eligible to play their sports regardless. Antshel M.
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define that most universities have programs that are specifically designed to assist the college

student-athlete in successfully managing academic demands (Antshel M. et al. 310).

Several Students say that it is more difficult to start a conversation with an athlete than a

regular student that is involved in the colleges. However, for Students Athletes it’s easier to talk

between them because they already know most of the other sports and they can get involved with

every different sport. The researcher Chen talks about the Physical educators and sport experts

would agree that athletic participation brings numerous physiological, psychological,

educational, and social benefits to the participants (Chen. Et al. 176). Also, some students’

athletes have more communication with regular students since they have more years than a

transfer or freshman athlete, so what this does it’s that they created a linkage between that person

and the regular students. Pascale explain that “over the course of a student-athlete’s career, the

athletic portion of their dual role takes on more importance than the student role, also Student-

athletes feel most like students when they are engaged in academic tutoring or spending time at

academic centers for athletes, and most like athletes when on the field or while wearing athletic

gear on campus.” This means that student Athletes have two different lives at the same time

when they are on and off the field, they have to switch their language, and everything that have

to deal on the field with can be something bad for the classroom. At the same time when they

wear that gear from their universities they feel like if they have to make the difference in that

institute.

As it was mentioned earlier, student athletes basically live a double life. However, that

does not exactly mean what it sounds like. It could be very easy for people to assume that
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universities allow student athletes to get away with whatever they please. Kaiseler explain how

University student-athletes are a unique population who are required to balance a myriad of

demands and challenges associated with their academic and sporting life compared with their

nonathlete counterparts (Kaiseler. Et al. 288). That is wrong though, by double life it means they

have to work twice as hard as a normal student in order to succeed. Student athletes not only are

expected to exceed in their own sport but in the classroom as well. They have to go to study hall

for a set number of hours each week, which normal students do not. They are expected to be role

models at all times, what this means is that the jersey never comes off. Regardless of if they are

in season or off season, these kids are expected to be at their best behavior on and off the field

because at the end of the day, they never know who is watching them. Children grow up

dreaming of being in the position that these student athletes are in, these children are influenced

by every step these athletes take. Children for the most part do not care how or what they do in

order to get somewhere, however, whenever they pay attention to these athletes for a few

minutes their entire perspective of things changes. Student athletes do not cut corners, they do

not take shortcuts through the grass in order to get to the café. Student athletes will walk the

entire way through the sidewalk because that is how they were educated and that is how they

make a difference on the youth.

There are many other ways as to how they are role models as well. A huge piece of a student

athletes’ life that goes very unnoticed is the fact that they do countless of community service

hours. Student athletes have to put in the same number of hours as regular students and most of

the time end up doing countless more because it allows them to be seen by the community. Once

the community sees that they are out there working hard in order to improve it, the community

for the most part will come together and show an endless amount of support at their games. That
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is another way as to how these kids influence and inspire people to not only better themselves

but those around them. Sachs L. talks about how helpful is playing sport, specifically in the

student-athlete population, sport participation has been shown to both hinder and improve the

mental health of athletes (Sachs and Tierney 337). Sometimes, certain university clubs need help

promoting an upcoming event or setting it up and for the most part, their head will turn towards

the student athletes for help. The reason being is that they are known to be reliable, dedicated

and influential. If people, see them passing out the flyers to promote the event they might figure

they will be there and it will encourage them to attend.

There are many ways that student athletes are capable of being role models and these are just a

few. These are definitely some of the most noticeable ways leading them to be the most

influential towards the community and defining them as role models. For some student-athletes

it’s a very difficult to represent something since they are under pression and they think that if

they do something wrong it will change everything of what the people of their school,

community, country, etc., say’s about them. But at the end of the day, every single day, someone

admires other people just because they do something that they can't, also because they are

extraordinary people that do more things than a regular student. College athletics is an honor and

a privilege to be a part of, and it can provide a lifetime of memories. It keeps you busy and out of

trouble, but it can also keep you extremely busy and make you feel as if athletics is a job, leading

to burnout. The most important piece of advice for a college athlete is to prioritize their time and

practice good time management.

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Work Cited

Antshel M. Kevin. et al. “The Role of Athletic Identify in the Relationship between Difficulty
Thinking or Concentrating and Academic Service Use in NCCA Student-Athletes.”
Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 2016, 10, 309-323.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2015-0028.

Brand Myles. “The role and Value of Intercollegiate Athletics in Universities.” Journal of the
Philosophy of Sport, 2006, 33, 9-20. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=s3h&AN=21369202&scope=site&custid=s9609537.

Chen Steve. et al. “The Effects of Sport Participation on Student-Athletes’ and Non-Athlete
Students’ Social Life and Identity.” Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 2010, 3,
176-193.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Steve-Chen-14/publication/287646298_Journal_of_
Issues_for_Intercollegiate_Athletics/links/56a54b7008aef91c8c14f3e0/Journal-of-Issues-
for-Intercollegiate-Athletics.pdf.

McGuire C. Lindsey. et al. “Temporal Changes in Depression Symptoms in Male and Female
Collegiate Student-Athletes.” Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 2017, 11, 337-351
https://doi.org/10.1123/JCSP.2016-0035.

Pascale Blakewood Amanda. et all. “Graduate Student-Athletes: An Examination of Identity

Roles and Transition.” Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 2021, 14.1, 94-114.
https://doi.org/10.17161/jis.v14i1.13220.

ven Rens, Fleur E.C.A. et al. “Well-Being and Performance in Dual Careers: The role of
Academic and Athletic Identities.” The Sport Psychologist, 2019, 33, 42-51
https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2018-0026.

Kaiseler Mariana. et al. “The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Life Stress in Student-
Athletes: The Mediating Role of Coping Effectiveness and Decision Rumination.” The
Sport Psychologist, 2017, 31, 288-298 https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2016-0083.

Karagiorgakies Aris, and Blaker R. Emily. “The Effects of Stress On USCAA Stuent-Athlete
Academics and Sport Enjoyment.”  College Student Journal, vol. 55, no. 4, Dec. 2021,
pp. 429–39. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=s3h&AN=154915741&scope=site&custid=s9609537.