Chapter 11, entitled “Sports: Play and Transformation,” relates to college level athletics in many ways. Pollack teaches this chapter in many different sections, explaining the ways that sports can transform young people. All of these potential transformations can be applied to college athletics.
First, Emotional Expression. At the college level, the best athletes have been cultivated to play each other in one of the most competitive arenas available. Because everybody is “in the same boat,” the young men and women on these collegiate teams have a great opportunity to express their feelings towards each other and the present situation, especially during the first year of college. It is very frightening for 17 and 18 year-olds to go to college, and athletics allow for them to relate to each other, make some friends even before school begins, and have an outlet for their frustrations.
This fact also applies to the second section, Friendship and Affection- Teaching Connections. When I went to visit St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia on a recruiting trip, I got a first hand look at the collegiate sports experience. While conversing with my “host,” I found out that the girl’s and guy’s soccer teams at St. Jo’s are really close. They have parties together, sometimes practice together; they are an all around close-knit group. I seriously cannot imagine making friends my first weeks of college without playing soccer. Because I am a quiet person, it is hard for me to relate with people quickly without some common ground. I feel that sports are great for making friends. My brother has told me that his soccer team at Loyola Chicago is like “our own little fraternity.” College athletics are great for making new friends in a lonely and frightening situation.
College sports are also great for A Boost in Self-Esteem- A Sense of Mastery. But sometimes they can get a little overboard. When kids are being recruited to schools just to play a sport, like Chris Webber, things can go wrong. They aren’t brought there to be a student- the true purpose of college, they are paid to come to a school to play a sport, and make money for the school. The school gets more people to apply when they have more successful sports programs, so colleges spare no expense in recruiting top athletes. When the athlete performs, and performs well, they are praised by thousands of fellow “students.” But when they don’t play well, it can possible destroy their self-esteem. They can go from being top dog to being the scapegoat. College athletics exploit young men and women’s self-esteem.
When a kid is in high school, and loses the State Championship for his team by missing a penalty kick, he most likely gets over it and moves on with his life. When an athlete makes a fatal mistake on the court or playing field in college, the whole student body, ESPN sportscasters, and even parents can ridicule them. I was watching ESPN Classic a few weeks ago. The NCAA Basketball Championship from the year when Michael Jordan played at North Carolina was on. They were playing Georgetown for the national championship. Jordan hit a fade-away field goal to put the Tarheels ahead by 1. There were 8 seconds left, and the Georgetown point guard had the ball. He dribbled to the top of the three-point line, then had his potential winning shot scorer forward be defended well, thus cutting off that option for the winning shot. He then looked left, then back over to the forward, and he passed it right to the defender who was standing in front of him. The defender dribbled down the court and was fouled, and North Carolina won the game. I am sure that this point guard was ridiculed at his school, and he probably never got over that moment in his life. I don’t think that a person should ever experience this level of loss. That is one downside of collegiate and professional sports: the ups are way up but the downs are way down.
The Emotional Importance of the Coach: A Role Model for One’s Personal Best. Coaches at the college level are usually on a totally different plane than high school coaches. They are highly paid professionals, not local coaches from club teams. Although a lot of the coaches care about the players, a lot of them are in it for the money. They get a huge bonus if their team wins championships. College coaches have a serious conflict in interest. One one hand, they have these student-athletes who are still being molded into the men and women whom they are going to become, and on the other hard they have these tools used to get more money and more fame. College athletics can easily become corrupt because of the vast amount of dollars being spent. Many college coaches expect their athletes to be hardened by the time they get to college, and many of them won’t take the time to get to know their players because in their mind they don’t have time to.
The Obsessive Competitive Aspect of Sports. Competition is insanely high at the college level. Players can easily become obsessed with the sport, and forget that their main purpose for attending the college is to learn. They can become enthralled with the large amount of pressure being put on them. Obsession is a likely outcome for millions of college athletes.
