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Should Student Athletes Be Paid

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Should Student Athletes be Paid?
Do student athletes deserve to be paid?
12-10-13
For years it has been a controversial topic. Do student athletes deserve to be compensated for the time they put in to their sports program? Many student athletes say yes while the sports professionals say no. I spent the day walking around Sacramento State University talking with students as well as a few athletes asking if the athletes should be compensated for the work they do representing the school? The answers I received were quite surprising. I followed this up with research on the internet and this is where the controversial topic starts. I spoke with Sac State Hornets Basketball Player, Dylan Garrity who agreed that, “paying players would not take away from the competitive nature of the game. It would just allow us to be able to provide for ourselves. No more top ramen dinners,” he said jokingly. After my day at Sac State I came home a tad confused. Everyone was arguing the same thing, students should get paid. And keeping my own personal bias out of the story was hard enough in itself. Morgan Pope a Track athlete contacted me after she heard about the story I was writing and told me what I wanted to hear all day. She stated, “Paying the student-athletes would give them the picture that athletics is more important than academics, which should not be the case. If an athlete comes to Sacramento State to run or play, they need to understand that academics come before athletics and paying the athletes would send them the wrong message.”

This is where the term amateurism comes into play. Being a collegiate athlete you’re saying that you engage in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for a financial gain.

As I have continued to look into college athletics, it doesn’t look like there will be a change in any of the ways college athletes are being paid. A full scholarship is still more than enough to provide athletes what they need for school. In the end its your education that makes you who you are; sports are just what guide you along the way.

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