Sports have become a major business and attraction for the American public. The print, radio, television, internet, and cinema media have contributed to the explosive popularity of both professional and collegiate sports. Billions of dollars are spent on the proliferating professional and collegiate sports industry. It is not surprising, therefore, that the popularity of professional and collegiate sports has been reflected in the sports programs of American high schools.
The pressure to win and the allure of financial gain have always been a part of the professional ranks, as well as the collegiate sports scene. Intercollegiate athletics are a big business and a lucrative source of revenue for many universities. It is not unusual to find that coaches in our major universities make a great deal more income than tenured academic professors. The pressure to win is felt by most college coaches and athletic directors. It is therefore not surprising that a conflict has developed between the academic and athletic communities on many of the nation’s college campuses.
Similarly, it is possible that athletic communities in high schools have developed a negative reputation with respect to academic performance. While a number of researchers studied athletic participation and academic performance in college (Ferris &
Finster, 2004; Gaston-Gayles, 2005), few studies addressed the relationship between academics and athletic participation at the high school level. Similarly, these studies have
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focused on the comparison of non-athletes to athletes; with respect to a variety of dependent variables Yiannakis and Melnick (2001).
The effect of participation on athletics, with respect to its direct effect on the participants themselves, has not been investigated in the literature. Taras (2005) conducted a review of studies on younger students and the effect that