Sports As An Academic Major At Northern Virginia Community College - Essay Example

Sports As An Academic Major At Northern Virginia Community College Medical experts argue that daily physical activity is essential in preventing coronary related problems, high blood pressure, and obesity among others. Additionally, nutritionists prescribe that people should take a combination of a healthy diet with exercise in order to control their weight. As stated by French (4), physical exercise is also essential as a means of realising stress especially to improve the mental health for people with mental problems. However, few parents are aware of these positive effects of physical activity to their children because they view it as a form of play that wastes their children’s time. For this reason, some colleges do not allow students to take sports as an academic major; hence, most students who are highly interested in sports end up majoring in something that does not interest them. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of sports and why students should be allowed to major in sports. According to Duderstadt (302), studies have shown that students who are actively involved in sports are more likely to be academically unprepared than those who are not active in sports. For this reason, they are likely to achieve lower grades than their peers, in college. However, other studies have shown that the school performance of students involved in intercollegiate sports is not influenced by sports. This is because such sports promote self-understanding and motivates students to succeed academically. Therefore, it is essential for schools to allow students to major in sports as they can help them academically. Teachers, parents and trainers, fear that students participating in intercollegiate athletics may lead to social isolation of students (Duderstadt 304). For instance, athlete students spending time with other teammates may strengthen the bond among the athletes, but may limit social interactions with other students who are not active in sports. However, this is not true because some studies have shown that intercollegiate sports promote openness to diversity and self-understanding, and enable students to interact effectively with other students from diverse background. This is because athletes compete with other athletes from different racial, socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. These activities provide a place for students to unite and discuss different ideas and issues and how they can achieve common goals. With time, students begin to feel comfortable with one another and their learning and development improves. Additionally, students frequently interact with their fellow students who have similar interests; hence, providing social integration in to the college environment (Kissinger, Daniel and Miller 126). Thus, allowing students to major in sports may promote social relations among both athlete and non-athlete students. Moreover, students who engage in intercollegiate athletics acquire time management skills, which enable them balance their time between extracurricular activities and academics. A study done by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III on basketball players at a liberal arts college showed that athletes were majorly involved in their academics despite their participation in sports. Therefore, allowing students to major in sports would not affect their academic performance because students know how to manage their time. According to Duderstadt (304), students involved in sports exhibit self-reported gains especially in the areas of personal life as well as social development as well as in general education than those who dot participate actively in sports. NCAA argues that educational institutions need to provide an environment, which both students that are active in sports and those that are inactive should be able to gain social and personal developments and not education only. Allowing sports as an academic major in college helps students to develop skills that are specific to their career path, as well as imperative for future job success. Students gain interpersonal and leadership skills and self-confidence, and they are able to link such skills with their academic knowledge. This provides students with a better understanding of their own talents, abilities and career goals. As stated by Kissinger, Daniel and Miller (126), students who have participated in sports when in school have an advantage over the others when searching for jobs. This is because many employers seek to employ people with such increased skill levels; thus, such students are more viable in the job market. Moreover, allowing students to take sports as an academic major gives them the necessary tools to pursue careers in athletics after they have become athletes. The athletic skills they acquire as students provide them with a chance to join professional athletes after college unlike those who do not engage in athletics. Acquiring a degree in sports can create a more specialized class of sports marketers, agents and administrators involving both the non-student athletes as well as student athletes. According to French (5), schools should start offering sports such as football and basketball as majors in order to avoid making students to major in subjects they are not interested. He argues that it is unfair that medical students have the opportunity to major in the subject that they like, yet athlete students do not have the chance to do the same because according to them, athletics is just an extra-curricular activity at schools. Refusing to allow students to major in sports is the same as forcing them to choose subjects that they do not like, and this may affect their career goals in the future. However, not every student should be allowed to major in sports. Kissinger, Daniel and Miller (127), argue that this program should be extremely exclusive such that only the best of the best sports students should be allowed to join. This would be essential in ensuring that only players focused into becoming future professional players or athletes would be allowed to pursue their dreams. It would be of no use if this major would be chosen by students who were not planning on becoming professional players. Additionally, this would help to make the students more intelligent about the sports they play and improve their skills than those of the non-players. Conclusion In conclusion, sports should be made an academic major at Northern Virginia Community College. Duderstadt (304) argues that high performance athletes should be allowed to study a craft with theory, literature, history and science just like how other music, dance or film majors do. Thus, college sport students deserve to be credited academically for training and practising for long hours, and they also deserve a degree if they perform well in their curriculum such as sports law, ethics of sports among others. Moreover, the athlete students learn how to bring their best every day and how to accept the consequences of their performance among others that help them gain essential skills, which make them highly focused, self-motivated, and dedicated in both their academic work and athletic activities. Works cited Duderstadt, James J. Intercollegiate Athletics and the American University: A University President's Perspective, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Print. French, Peter A. Ethics and college sports: ethics, sports, and the university. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. Print. Kissinger, Daniel B. and Miller, Michael T. College student-athletes: challenges, opportunities, and policy implications, Florida: IAP, 2009. Print. Read More