Sports in Society: Issues

1
Sports in Society Issues Controversies

• Chapter 14
• Sports in High School and College
• Do Varsity Sports Programs
• Contribute to Education?

2
Arguments For and Against Interscholastic Sports

• Arguments For
• Involve students in activities
• Build self-esteem
• Enhance fitness and lifetime participation
• Generate spirit and unity
• Promote support
• Develop and rewards valued skills

• Arguments Against
• Distract attention from academics
• Create dependence
• Increase passivity and injuries
• Create superficial and transitory spirit
• Waste resources
• Create pressure and distort status system

3
Experiences of Varsity Athletes in High Schools

• Research shows differences between those who play
  varsity sports and those who do not
• Research suggests that differences are primarily
  due to selection and filtering processes
• Those who play varsity sports often have
  characteristics that make them different from
  those who dont play sports

4
Methodological Problems

• Research on the consequences of playing varsity
  sports is difficult to do because
• Growth and development among students is related
  to many factors
• Meanings given to sport participation vary by
  context and from one person to another

5
Do Athletes Rule U.S. High Schools?

• Data on this issue are scarce research is
  needed on the following
• How many students have been physically and/or
  verbally mistreated by athletes?
• How many students know of cases where athletes
  have mistreated others?
• Are some athlete more likely than others to
  harass or intimidate other students?

6
Student Culture in High Schools

• Being a student-athlete often is a source of
  status and popularity
• More so for men than for women
• Sports are sites for major social occasions in
  the school
• Sports often reproduce dominant ideologies
  related to gender, social class, and race and
  ethnicity

7
Interscholastic Sports Are Valuable If They

• Enable students to be noticed, rewarded, and
  taken seriously as human beings
• Connect young people with adult advocates in
  their lives
• Provide occasions to learn things that are
  applicable beyond sports

8
Intercollegiate Sports and the Experiences of
College Students

• Intercollegiate sports
  are not all the same
• They vary by Division in the NCAA
• They vary greatly from big-time
  entertainment-oriented programs to smaller, less
  expensive, athlete-oriented programs

9
Characteristics of Big-time (Div. I) Programs

• Usually have a primary emphasis on football or
  mens basketball and their revenue generating
  potential
• Less than 1 in 5 programs make money
• Full scholarships are available to some athletes
  in many of the 18-24 sports
• Teams often travel extensively
• Quality of skills competition is high

10
Varsity Athletes in Big-time Programs

• Participants in revenue (FB Basketball) sports
  usually have scholarships
• Time and energy commitments to sport are
  exceptionally high, and participants often must
  choose between
• Working out and practicing sports
• Doing coursework
• Engaging in social activities
• Academic detachment is a commonly used coping
  strategy among male athletes

11
Varsity Athletes in Most College Programs (Div.
II III)

• Most play without athletic scholarships
• Time and energy commitments vary greatly
  depending on coaches and sports
• Academic demands may be accommodated
• The economic consequences of games and matches
  are minimal
• Less likely than big-time athletes to be
  separated from the rest of the student body or
  used to promote the school

12
Grades Graduation Rates Among College Athletes

• Graduation data are confusing because there are
  many different ways to compute statistics
• Information on grades must be qualified because
  athletes
• Often are overrepresented in certain courses and
  majors
• In entertainment-oriented sports come to college
  with lower grades and test scores
• (continued)

13
Grades Graduation Rates Among College Athletes
(continued)

• Graduation rates among all varsity athletes are
  slightly higher than rates for all students
• Graduation rates in many big-time revenue sports
  are shamefully low
• Women athletes have higher graduation rates than
  men athletes
• Black athletes have graduation rates higher than
  black students as a whole, but lower than rates
  for white athletes.

14
Academic Integrity in College Sports

• Restoring academic integrity is difficult in
  programs where athletic success is tied to
  millions of dollars of revenue and to the
  emotions identities of boosters and alumni
• Raising academic standards is important, but it
  must be done so it does not unfairly exclude
  certain students
• Being considered Prevent schools from
  participating in post-season bowls and games if
  graduation rates fall below a certain level

15
Questions About the Benefits of Interscholastic
Programs

• School spirit often is enhanced, but does this
  improve the overall academic climate?
• Most programs lose money, but are the
  expenditures worth it in academic and
  developmental terms?
• Are the public community relations functions of
  varsity sports worth their costs?

16
Varsity Sports School Budgets

• Most high school programs have small athletic
  budgets except in cases where high profile teams
  are promoted
• Solving high school or college budget problems
  with corporate sponsorships may create integrity
  problems for schools
• Budget issues in college sports often are very
  complex

17
Indirect Benefits of Intercollegiate Programs

• High profile sport teams can be used in
  connection with fund raising efforts
• Sport teams may attract attention among potential
  students
• Sports provide on-campus social events and
  occasions

18
Figure 14.2
I told you we sent our daughter to a top-notch
school! Her basketball teams just beat Duke
University.
19
Indirect Costs of Intercollegiate Programs

• Maintaining sport teams and recruiting athletes
  may compromise academic standards in admissions
  and classrooms
• Academic matters are given low priority in the
  culture of sport on many campuses
• The lives of athletes are increasingly separate
  from the lives of other students
• Sports may take resources away from other
  extracurricular activities

20
Varsity High School Sports Problems
Recommendations

• Overemphasis on sports development and big-time
  models
• Need for regular critical assessments and new
  sports focused on lifetime and co-ed
  participation
• Limited participation access
• Need more teams in more sports where size and
  strength are not primary
• Need gender equity and opportunities for students
  with disabilities (continued)

21
Varsity High School Sports Problems
Recommendations

• Emphasis on varsity sports may distort status
  system among students
• Schools should work to eliminate distorted,
  sport-based systems of privilege
• Schools should give equal attention and
  recognition to the achievements of students in
  activities other than sports

22
Intercollegiate Sports Problems
Recommendations

• Emphasis on entertainment and commercial values
• Impose cost containment and spending limits on
  athletic departments and sports create a
  financially level playing field
• Lack of athletes rights
• Athletes must be voting members of
  decision-making athletic department committees
• Universities must employ independent
  ombudspersons for appeals and advocacy
• Drop the myth of amateurism in revenue sports

23
Intercollegiate Sports Problems
Recommendations

• Gender inequities
• Cut football expenses through cost containment
• Fund womens sports on an investment basis to
  foster development (men played for a century
  before making money in their sport programs)
• Distorted priorities related to race relations
  and education
• Aggressively recruit ethnic minority students,
  faculty and administrators
• Employ strategies to create culturally diverse
  campus cultures

24
Figure 14.4 After having all the toys boys may
feel that sharing with the girls is unfair to
them.