Flix DUCHAMPT COMM 202 Writing for communication 03/26/11

Should European universities adopt the American tradition of sport scholarships that communicates a sport culture and allows athletes to succeed in higher education?

Summary:
1/ Introduction 2/ Literature review 3/ Methodology 4/ Data-Observations 5/ Analysis 6/ Conclusion 7/ Works cited

I.

Introduction

European students might not even recognize American universities as places that emphasize academics. On some campuses, the largest building is a football stadium and the topic of conversation between classes is the home team. According to Kirwan and Turner (2010): At many of the United States of America's most prominent institutions of higher education, sports are far more than just extracurricular activities or even campus spectacles. Contests in football, basketball, and often other sports unite colleges and universities with their students, fans, friends, and alumni, both in person and across the globe ( p.8). Sport has always been something very important to the United States of America. People have at least to be healthy. But the US is also a very competent country at a high level. The USA are usually struggling against China or Russia in order to be the best country in the medal counter. But besides the high importance of sport in the US is also hidden a solid education that you cant find anywhere else in the world. The system is pretty easy to understand: you have few hours

of classes, but with much more homework to do at home. Teachers are really competent. So we are in place where we can ask ourselves the following question: should European universities adopt the American tradition of sport scholarships that communicates a sport culture and allows athletes to succeed in higher education ?

II.

Literature review

Unlike in Europe, sport and education work together in the US. Athletes are recruited by coaches working in universities. Athletes have to realize performances, and give the best they can during competition, while representing their University. Facilities, but also basically everything possible (restaurants, accommodations, environment) on campus help them to work out efficiently, save time and rest well, so in one word: succeed. In return, they receive scholarships, mostly according to their results, in order to pay the fees to study after high school in America. This motivates students to train hard, as its usually really expensive. In Europe, athletes have to find a team outside of school with which to train and compete , and when athletic and academic schedules overlap, its usually problematic. Thus, it becomes hard to manage both at once (Howell, M.L., & Van Vliet, M.L, 1976).

In addition, higher education in the US is known as one of the best systems in the World. So, student-athletes dont spoil their number one goal of why they are going to school; they can get a very good education while they are playing a sport. Studies at Shanghai University) show that 17 or the worlds top 20 universities are American , according to the number of Nobel Prize winners and published articles among the people who studied there (Billaut, Bouyssou and Vincke, 2009). Furthermore, studies have shown a positive relationship between athletic and academic performances. They suggest that although most college athletes had poor academic grades in high school, they have higher GPAs, lower attrition rates, and a greater likelihood of graduating than non-athletes because they receive extra tutoring, more breaks, and more attention (Hanks and Eckland, 1976). Anyways, academic success is a requirement for participating in college sport (Ridpath, 2010). As college athletics in the USA continues to grow more and more competitive, colleges look internationally for athletes more than ever. According to the NCAA (2008), In the early 1990s, the number of Europeans studying in the United States for the first time exceeded the number of Americans studying in Europe. Over 16,000 international student-athletes competed at National Collegiate Athletic Association schools during the 2006-07 school year Through this paper, we will then try to understand the arguments for, but also eventually against the American system of education, and ask

ourselves if European universities should adopt the same way of functioning.

III.

Methodology

This paper will try to prove how interesting is the American system of higher education for athletes, because they dont have to choose between sport and studies. They can be what we called studentathletes, which basically means they are studying in order to obtain a major, or even a master, while getting an important scholarship to pay the fees, representing the university in the sport where they excel. In order to do that, we will find out the pros of the American system, comparing it to the European one, based on studies from authors and facts of everyday life.

IV.

Data

Unlike in Europe, sport and education work together in the US. The sport in universities is way more important than the federal one until graduation. Athletes under 23 years old usually dont have a team outside the school. Athletes are recruited by coaches working for these

universities. They represent the school through the year at every competition they do. They have to realize performances, and give the best they can during competition. Facilities, but also basically everything possible, like restaurants, accommodations, or basically the environment on campus help them to work out efficiently, save time and rest well, so in one word: succeed. The schedule of competition is given by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (the NCAA); coaches analyze what is important for the team (so for the school as the link between the two is strong), and what goal is potentially attainable. The team train then everyday to reach the goal, and is a proud symbol for the university. Shirts can be sold on campus for fans. Students at the school support the team, even when the game or the race is away. People at breakfast, lunch or dinner talk about the game of the night before. A promotion of the team is also made by an athletic website. Every school also have its own, which basically show and inform fans about everything they have to know: last news, team schedules, rosters (people in the team) with biography, personal records, or goals, coaching staffs, results, university records You can basically not miss whats going on! Of course some constraints exist. The communication between students, the coach, and the sport administration is fundamental. Students-Athletes have to be at practice whenever the coach scheduled it, unless they have an injury or any kind of problems coach knows. The behavior has to be irreproachable. No parties, no drinking, no smoking are of course a requirement. Recovering is mandatory, you need to be at an hundred percent if you want to succeed.

In return, athletes receive scholarships, mostly according to their results, in order to pay the fees to study after high school in America. This motivates students to train hard, as its usually really expensive. Some of them can obtain a full scholarship, which mean they dont have anything to pay through the year: food, accommodation, travels, studies, books are paid thanks to this help provided by the University. At the contrary, if athletes fail, or show a bad behavior, the scholarship can be taken off, and both the athletic and academic career are endangered. When we look at the performances of athletes in the NCAA, we can say that the sport level is very high. Some track and field or swimming records are close to the national, or even world record. Its then perfect for athletes to often have hard tournaments or races, because its the best way to improve its results. Physiotheraspists are also here on campus whenever athletes need them. Of course if an athlete get injured, then he or she will come to the medical room and will receive attention from doctors. The goal is to be In shape again as quick as possible. Athletes also receive from coaches other recovery elements in some sport : massage sticks, massage balls, ice bath possible in their own rooms, Basically, student-athletes in the US have everybody on campus supporting them. They also have everything to work out efficiently, save time and rest well, so in one word: thrive. Besides sport, college is also the place to study hard and get diplomas. Students-athletes have the opportunity to get a very good education while they are playing a sport. Everybody knows that higher education in the US

is recognized as one of the best systems in the World. So, student-athletes dont spoil their number one goal of why they are going to school: being educated. In American Universities, students get a huge various choices of majors. Thus, more than 100 different fields are possible. Early specialization and the accuracy are definitely possible. Moreover, teachers understand student-athletes. Being late in class, or even missing class sometimes is not that big of a deal. And we could actually say that teachers are proud of athletes. So does the university. In Europe, It would be very problematic to miss a class or an exam for a sport event, unless you are damn sick or have a big family problem.

V.

Analysis

In Europe, athletes have to find a team outside of school with which to train and compete , and when athletic and academic schedules overlap, its usually problematic. Thus, it becomes hard to manage both at once (Howell, M.L., & Van Vliet, M.L, 1976). Sport doesnt really exist at the University. Sport at school in France is rather called physical education, which only tend to develop children and teenagers to be healthy. After studies in Yugoslavia, Howell and Van Vliet also find out that physical education includes all those planned influences which adults exert on children in order to develop them into healthy, strong, robust, good and agile persons, capable of developing their socialist homeland, physical

education, in fact, includes all work undertaken in an organized manner to promote the physical development of children and youth in harmony with the interests of the socialist community and all of its members individually. Rodney Fort (2010) point out other major differences in the two systems. First of all, American Universities dont have this system of relegation and promotion, whatever your result of the team is. Studentsathletes can then just choose the level where they want to play. Of course NCAA Division 1 is stronger and harder than NCAA Division 2, which is also better than NCAA Division 3. But universities, coaches and athletes know it as the season start. They can evolve at their level, without the fear to come up in the upper division and be beaten all the time or to come down, losing budget, players, and recognition. Secondly, he shows the fact that European athletes are competing at the national and international level, whereas US athletes are mainly competing in the US. That includes two things. Competing at a national level is not really interesting for top athletes and they dont have concurrence. And European and World Championships are sometimes not even every year according to the sport. On the contrary, its pretty simple to find a national race or tournament every week end in the US. But in this case, the level is close to the World class level. US athletes are then ready for International competitions, as they use to compete at an interesting level. In addition to that, many federations organize one single sport in Europe. Schedules, distance, place of races, kind of tournaments and

different rules cause problems. We can cite the example of triathlon in France. At least 5 organizations can manage you : your state organization, the French organization (FFTRI), the French university federation (FFSU), the European triathlon union (ETU), the international triathlon union (ITU), the international federation of sport in university (FISU) or the Ironman federation. It becomes hard for an athlete to choose, make a good schedule while trying to be competitive for several organizations. In the US, if you are an student-athlete, there is no question : you are under the NCAA ( or eventually NAIA), and every single one of your opponents are here. To conclude with him, he found another difference. Basically, the sport in the US is either amateur in colleges and universities, or professional, very well paid and profit-makers, whatever the issue is. Of course in Europe good athletes are well paid too, but this is not the principal goal. According to him, the most important difference between the US and Europe is that American clubs are business-type companies seeking to make profits, whereas the only aim of most European clubs so far is to be successful on the field. However, a major problem is the fact that only 1 athlete out of 20 will turn professional after attending high school ( NCAA, 1999). It become then really important for athletes to get a good education, in order to find a place in the job market later. But, studies at Shanghai University (Institute of Higher Education of the Jiao Tong University) show that 17 or the words top 20 universities are American, according to the number of

Nobel Prize winners and published articles among the people who studied there. (Billaut, Bouyssou and Vincke, 2009). In order to compare, the seventeenth ranked European university is sixty-fourth. Although we could wonder if the criterias are reliable to evaluate the level of a university, the ranking leads us to a conclusion: the US dominates the World also for education. Furthermore, studies have shown a positive relationship between athletic and academic performances. They suggest that although most college athletes had poor academic grades in high school, they have higher GPAs, lower attrition rates, and a greater likelihood of graduating than non-athletes because they receive extra tutoring, more breaks, and more attention (Hanks and Eckland, 1976). Students perform at a higher academic level while participating in their sport(s) and have felt more organized and motivated during their season(s) to do well academically. Having a set schedule of practice and games makes time management a vital skill when it comes to completing assignments. Students are more successful at completing assignments during the season, because they know that they only have a certain amount of time to do so. Anyways, academic success is a requirement for participating in college sport (Ridpath, 2010). If student-athletes have a GPA lower than 2.5, they become ineligible and cant compete, neither train sometimes with the team.

VI.

Conclusion

As college athletics in the United States of America continues to grow more and more competitive, colleges look internationally for athletes more than ever. According to the NCAA (2008), In the early 1990s, the number of Europeans studying in the United States for the first time exceeded the number of Americans studying in Europe. Over 16,000 international student-athletes competed at National Collegiate Athletic Association schools during the 2006-07 school year. According to this number, we can say that young athletes in Europe are starting to understand how interesting is the American system. Everything athletes need is on campus, everybody is supporting them, they play the sport they want and improve a lot if serious, receive a scholarship, complete an higher education, and travel everywhere for tournaments and awards. What more do you want to ask ? Its at least possible to try to become professional and reach the craziest desires. But if unfortunately it doesnt work, a major, and sometimes even a master, are completed by the student-athlete to find a job. It looks then a lot more interesting that the European system, where athletes have to choose. But anyways, they can lose something in their life. If they choose to play their sport but dont become professional, thats a problem. But choosing to do higher education only when you could maybe have done the Olympics and win great victories training hard is a pity. You dont need to choose in the US. Both at the same time are

possible. And both are not doing superficially. Usually, it leads to great things : a single glance at the medal table at each Olympics of World Championships prove the effectiveness of the American system. And yet the majority of these brilliant athletes already have a reconversion job afterwards. So, the European system should review how to work, and allow its student-athletes to achieve all their dreams, athletically and academically.

VII.

Works cited

Adler, Peter, & Adler, Patricia. (1985). From idealism to pragmatic detachment : the academic performance of college athletes. Sociology of Education, 58, 241-250.

Billaut, J.C, Bouyssou, D. & Vincke, P. (2009) Should you believe in the Shanghai ranking? An MCDM view

Fort, Rodney. (2010). European and north american sport differences. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 47(4).

Hanks, M.P., & Eckland, B.K. (1976). Athletics and social participation in educational attainment process . Sociology of education, 49, 271-294.

Howell, M.L., & Van Vliet, M.L. (1976). Physical education and recreation in Europe.

Kirwan, W.E., & Turner, R.G. (2010). Changing the game: athletics spending in an academic context. Trusteeship, 18(5), 8-13.

Ridpath, David. (2010). Perceptions of ncaa division 1 athletes on motivations concerning the use of specialized academic support in the era of the academic progress rate. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 3, 253-271.

The ncaa, (1999). Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.com