Column

Being a student-athlete is harder than it looks.

Full-time students already have a hard enough time within their four years at any university, but having a full-time job on top of it makes it that much harder. That much work should be rewarded with brand deals and allowing athletes to get paid.

Collegiate athletes are examined under a microscope. People watch how they perform on and off the field, while people worldwide watch their every move. Being a great person, a great teammate, and a great student is a lot to ask of a young adult. The large amount of pressure put on the athletes to bring greatness to the university is something you can only feel if you’re one.

Athletes put their heart and soul into a sport they have worked at their whole life to be perfect. Division one athletes throughout the country are the best of the best. That is how you make it into the play in college. Entering into college puts you with a pool of the best of the best, making you show up every day to prove how great you are.

The schedule you have as an athlete is growling, from weights to class, back to being with your team for practice, with meetings and review after. If you thought the day was over, you were wrong. Some days after all of that, they have tutoring, study hall, and then homework. While the whole time all you can think about is that 20-minute gap in the day when you can get some food or lay on the floor and sleep.

Being a student-athlete is a full-time job, and while trying to get a degree, getting paid should start to be the norm in the college athletics community. To get paid right now, you have to be the best at your sport. Only some people receive payment for the work put in. Some people may think differently, but I would love to see everyday people do a day of what we do and do it well. If they were able to, they would. At one point, everyone wanted to be the best at something so great that everyone knew. Well, that is what student-athletes have done, and athletes should be rewarded for it. Professional athletes make a profit off merchandise that has their name or face on it. Why shouldn’t student-athletes?

Getting an NLI deal is more challenging than it seems, and that is where most of the money for student-athletes is. Brands will reach out and contact you. Then you have to send it to the school and get it approved, completing the deal and representing the brand each and every day. Sometimes, they will just supply you with their product or give you their product and pay you for using it.

Talking down on the amount of work that student-athletes do is something that needs to change, but next time you go to a college sporting event, take a minute to think about all they have done to get there.