I received an envelope in the mail yesterday from the NCAA, also known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Being seven years removed from college, I was curious to what it could be.
Naturally, it was a survey asking for my participation. I laughed and was about to tear it in half and send it on it way to the junk mail dumpster, when my fiancée grabbed it and started reading the questions. Turns out they wanted to know how athletics had affected my college education and subsequently impacted the working drone reality I presently reside in. I decided to take a second look.
For reference, from 1994 to 1996, I was part of a Division I collegiate wrestling team and I received nearly a three-quarter scholarship for it. After having achieved many accolades in high school wrestling, the college experience made me quite jaded to the sport that I had been a part of since 4th grade. The difference was that all semblance of fun and camaraderie that I had previously enjoyed about the sport were gone.
In college, the sport became a job. Practices twice a day, and highly exhausting ones at that. A good deal of traveling to other states during the season, although involvement was year round. Most participants were out for themselves because of the competitive environment that it was. I eventually had to quit because I had an injury that required surgery in order to continue. I opted for rehab instead and voluntarily surrendered my scholarship.
Back to the survey though, I found it quite ironic that the NCAA was looking to see if the aspects of collegiate athletics had an effect on how I viewed full-time employment. The similarities were uncanny, but not in a positive way.
Participating in a collegiate sport reflected many of the negative politics and of the work world that human resources like to sugar coat over. Think getting downsized is tough at work? Imagine being an 18 year old kid trying to get an education when the coach of your team gets forced to resign, and the new coach that's brought in subsequently tries to get every athlete that arrived before his tenure to quit.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
What a great little post Mark, thanks! Very sorry you had those kinds of problems with college sport, though you seem to have made the most of it. My collegiate athletic experience wasn't anything like I had hoped it would be either, but it was mostly my fault.
2 - Mark Sahm
What sport did you play, Eric? And what made it go bad?
Maybe the NCAA could use your opinion!
3 - Tan The Man
I'm glad the NCAA is at least trying to get a better understanding on how doing sports in college affects the students. In my experience, the number of students playing sports in college is very small, which I think is a shame. There are many factors that come into play when looking at that - the business factor of sports certainly is one of them.
4 - Mark Sahm
It's the old adage, Tan... if only I could go back and tell myself not to do it. But it's hard to make everything work together in such a liberating environment.
To me, degrees aside, college is really about discovering your identity. I eventually did that by the time I graduated, but it took torn ligaments in my elbow for me to realize it.
The NCAA has a major hill to climb in trying to optimize things for student-athletes... because it's hard to relax when the competition gets tougher every year.