Your college may even have an extensive support program for athletes that gives them a special orientation before their first semester, administers placement or diagnostic tests, operates a tutoring program and/or study tables for athletes, and provides what is normally thought of as academic advising-identifying courses, explaining graduation requirements, helping with choice of the major, and so on. This support program for athletes may also conduct stress counseling, run study skills workshops, bring people onto campus to describe various careers, and even serve as a link to professors on campus. About 200 universities and colleges across the nation currently offer a special support program for athletes, and the number is growing.
In spite of this trend, many colleges don't have enough money to hire a special counselor for athletes, much less an entire support program. Or, they may see their athletes as simply not so different from other students that they need a special advisor. But, other things being equal, consider it a plus if a school has a special advising program for athletes.
UNOFFICIAL ADVISORS
Your Coach
Picture the following scene: The catalog states that Course A is a requirement for graduation. Unfortunately, it conflicts with your team's practice time (a common problem among athletes). You talk with a teammate about the problem, and he or she says the word going around is that you don't really have to take that course in order to graduate. You check with your coach, who says the same thing and adds that a number of students have gotten by without it. You take the coach's advice and don't take the course.
Sometime later, you are about ready to graduate and go through the process (by filing the proper form) of getting your college record officially evaluated. Now, let's really set the scene and say that your family is coming to the graduation ceremony and you even have a job waiting for you once you have the diploma in hand.
In taking the final official look at your academic record, however, the university administration finds that you haven't taken a course that is required for graduation. It happens to be the one that conflicted with the team practice schedule some time ago. You tell the school official that the coach said you didn't have to take it and that a lot of people have graduated without it. The university administrator is likely to say that the advice given you was not only unofficial, but bad. You will probably be stuck with having to take that course before graduating. It may be not only frustrating, but embarrassing to have to change your plans; it may even cost you a job.
The scene just described is one of many potential disasters that can occur when students take hearsay for truth. Even though coaches are hired and paid by the college, their advice on academic matters is unofficial and may serve their own needs more than yours. Many coaches care very much in a personal sense about the welfare of their athletes. At the same time, however, many coaches primarily care that their athletes not only stay eligible, but have time and energy free for their sport. When your academic growth and the team's welfare are not in conflict, the advice coming from the coach may be in your best interests. But if there is conflict between athletic and academic interests, you very likely may be hurt in the long run if you follow the coach's advice, even though it may support what you yourself consider most desirable at the time (such as cutting a class to attend special practice sessions).
Because this conflict of interests is a common problem, many schools prohibit coaches from advising athletes on academic matters. If such a rule doesn't exist at your college, you may have trouble knowing if the advice the coach is giving you is in your best interests or will mainly serve the team's interests. Suffice it to say that there are better sources for advice on academic, career, and other matters than your team coach.
The Grapevine
Advice received through the student grapevine may offer some good leads, and often does, but don't make decisions based solely on this kind of information. The grapevine carries much information about good courses and bad courses. It can tell you which professors are better than others (although don't confuse "easier" or "more entertaining" with "better" in the sense of more knowledgeable and articulate). The grapevine can help you locate a faculty member who has good contacts in your career area. The grapevine also often carries information about summer jobs or may lead you to a source of financial aid you hadn't known about. The grapevine may even remind you of approaching deadlines and other important information that slipped your mind. The grapevine can provide students with much good and useful information. But you can't bank on it for reliable information about requirements, rules, and regulations. You might as well rely on rolling dice for information about important academic and career decisions as rely on the grapevine.
SPECIAL ORGANIZATIONS THAT HELP ATHLETES
Two organizations have been formed recently specifically to help student-athletes achieve academic progress. These organizations are geared especially for athletes who feel trapped at a school where the coaches' interests are aimed mainly at keeping their athletes eligible for sports, or where the school's support system has not been helpful. The first of these organizations is the Center for Athletes' Rights and Education. CARE is based in the New York City area but has representatives in several colleges around the country. CARE's two principal aims are to help college athletes get fair return for their labor and effort and to provide information to high school and college athletes on "the ways that sport can best help them get a college degree." Among the sponsors of CARE are the U.S. Department of Education and the NFL Players Association. Contact CARE at:
Center for Athletes' Rights and Education 391 East 149th Street, Suite 319 Bronx, NY 10455 (212) 665-0602
The second organization, called Athletes for a Better Education, focuses its assistance on basketball players. AFBE is sponsored by the United States Department of Labor and has centers in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. AFBE sponsors free 10-day camps for basketball players that focus on improving their academic skills and attitude. The need for this organization and its work became clear when research by the NBA Players Association showed that four out of every five NBA players had failed to graduate from college, even though most had completed their four years of eligibility. Besides helping students with their college skills and attitude, AFBE workshops provide general counseling and advice on how to get through college successfully. For more information, contact AFBE at:
Athletes for a Better Education Foundation 531 South Plymouth Court, Suite 603 Chicago, IL 60605 (312)939-6000
