Dear, Mr. President

It is a common occurrence that student athletes just don’t have enough time to dedicate themselves fully to their academics, which in turn hinders them from reaching their full academic potential. Student athletes are having trouble in trying to find time to study. Between school itself, and practice for sports, there is little, to no time to put in extra work after school; Because of this, student athletes grades are becoming more and more of an issue when it come to academic eligibility. Grade expectations have also been lowered because the minimal study time makes it an unreachable goal for some In an article written in 2014 by Roger Gonzalez, he states that, “Some, which I will never understand, have GPA standards below a 2.0, but they explain that it has become only a more realistic goal”. With certain academic grade requirements, some players are not able to participate in something they are truly passionate about, because they have not met the requirement.

Student athletes have always been presented with the challenge of managing school and sports. From a young age children are taught that it is a great responsibility to carry the title of being a “student athlete”. In this, it is taught that they are students before athletes. But in this day and age coaches aren't practicing what they’re preaching. It seems now that sports are coming before school. Some coaches are even becoming frustrated with players because they're becoming academically ineligible, are are falling behind in their core classes. According to a recent study by Dr Bruce J Bukowski, “27% of high school athletes are becoming academically ineligible”. In all levels of play, there is an academic requirement that applies to the student athletes, usually a GPA that has to be acceded or no play. But because of how little time they have to put towards school, the requirement has become harder and harder to meet.

Increased practice, and offseason work only adds to the minimal amounts of study time for student athletes. In an article written by Peter Jacobs published by Businessinsider.com, he states that, “student athletes spend more that 40 hours per week practicing or participating in sport related activity, leaving little to no time to keep up with academic commitments and requirements. This article explains how student athletes need to “find their own study time”. But there is none. Between going to school and practice, there is barely even enough time to eat. And not to forget about sleep. The average teen requires 8-10 hours of sleep per night, athletes sometimes requiring more because of how hard their bodies are being worked day in and day out.

Student athletes all across america are being affected by the increased practice and higher level of commitment. There is an increasing trade off between sleep and study time. Imagine getting up at 6, going to school for 7 hours taking to 2:30. Then going to a 3 hour practice lasting til about 5pm. Then after practice getting home and having to eat and shower lasting to around 7-8 pm. By then to get the required amount of sleep, there is about 2 hours of study time which is not even close to enough for all classes. This usually leads to the trade of study time for sleep,ending up making student athletes sleep deprived. So now, not only are student athletes not getting enough sleep to perform at their full potential, there was not enough time to finish all of the work that needed to get done. As parents, they are concerned about not only their child's performance in the classroom, but also their success on the field. Also their general health when it comes to getting a good night's sleep. Parents also hold their kids accountable in the classroom, expecting certain grades to be produced. School comes before sports in “real life” so when parents see their kids grades start to slip, they become concerned as to why. The student athlete then has to try and explain that there isn't enough time in order to meet the grade goal that has been set.

In college sports, required study tables are set up for teams. Colleges require a certain number of hours per athlete at these study tables. Team studies would help benefit student athletes because then they have that set aside time they need and it is required so there would be noe reason as to why a student athlete would fail or be ineligible. Also, having these tables, no more sleep would be lost, in turn, having the student athletes at their full potentials. Required study tables would help keep student athletes healthy with the right amounts of sleep. Also, would help keep all athletes eligible, and finally help with the emotional part where there would be no more feeling buried by all of the school work and not being able to keep up.

In conclusion, student athletes aren't having enough study time outside the classroom. Because of this some have become academically ineligible. Also, when they do incorporate time in their day, the trade off is sleep. Not getting enough sleep is bad in and of itself. Too much now, sports are being put above school and that simply cannot be the case. To resolve the issue of student athletes becoming sleep deprived and ineligible, study tables should be required for teams to have so student athletes can continue to excel in the classroom and on the field.

Sincerely, Keelan McKouen

MI