Healthy young people engaging in spirited competition, exercising the body while developing the mind, building character and lifelong wellness through teamwork and individual skill development: it is easy to characterize the “amateur ideal” in college athletics: community college athletics has long been the standard-bearer for the amateur ideal, balancing high-quality academic programs with competitive athletics, a step or two removed from the professionalizing pressures of the big-time athletics programs. It is not so easy, however, to achieve it in practice. It is acknowledged the challenges to the “sane and healthy” balance between academic and athletics. The cure for the evils of college sports professionalism is in the maintenance of honest and self-respecting activities with emphasis on athletics as an integral part of the educational program of the college.
These so-called “evils,” it seems, have been part of the bargain since the beginning – yet they have intensified and come under increased scrutiny in recent years. Escalating pressures to win, from American culture at large as well as among community colleges themselves, are presenting new challenges to the traditional balance between academics and athletics. These pressures are becoming more acute with each passing season.
Admissions officers have always faced the choice between admitting well-rounded students who don’t necessarily have deep background in a particular area, and admitting a well-rounded class of musicians, scientists, reporters, poets, activists, athletes, and other students with special talents. The same is increasingly true for athletics: there has been a decline in the generalist, multi-sport student athlete, accompanying the increase in highly-trained specialists. Coaches are now pressured to recruit a catcher, goalie, or wide receiver, rather than more easily identifying a softball, hockey, or football player.
With the expansion of youth sports producing ever more specialized and trained young athletes, the level of play and of coaching at......
