Academic limitations and challenges for student athletes

Mysuru: This letter aims to inform readers on the challenges experienced by student-athletes who strive to balance between academics and sports.

 

Keeping up with their academic obligations can be difficult for promising athletes, especially those who represent their school, college, university, and/or state at national level. Such individuals have a year-round on and off season, with physically demanding training that lasts all day. As a result, it is challenging for them to balance their studies and athletics.

 

They face difficulty in submitting assignments on time, attending classes on a regular basis due to practice and competitions, difficulty in writing the same tests and assignments like non-athlete students, difficulty participating in academics more as their practice suffers, difficulty in preparing for exams and focusing on classes. They skip lessons and examinations, which has an impact on their performance.

 

It’s possible that certain institutions don’t prioritize athletics as highly as others do.

 

However, to fulfill these criterion can be a pain, as not only is there a lack of an effective framework to cater to student-athletes in India, but there is also a dearth of conviction that athletics may be a viable career option. Natural talent and hard effort become the biggest losers of a chaotic system when there is practically no real defined framework in place and a slew of administrative and logistical hurdles.

 

The intention is to urge a shift in the way colleges view this and to make the struggle of these players public.

 

The society’s view will not change until there are administrative adjustments and a strong drive to encourage young sportsmen.