Importance of USSA Undergrad Program Cannot be Measured
One of the main driving forces behind the United States Sports Academy’s undergraduate program is the concern for a high number of college athletes, in certain sports at certain levels, who do not complete their degrees upon completion of their sports eligibility.
The graduation rates tend to be lower in sports that produce the most money for college athletics, Division 1-A football and Division One basketball. They also tend to be lower among members of socio-economic groups whom are more likely to need an athletic scholarship in order to pay for their education. Most of the athletic scholarships are also being offered in the high-revenue sports where the lower level of graduation exists.
Therefore, even though these athletes receive a college scholarship for their efforts, if the situation is not conducive for obtaining a degree then the value of their compensation is worth little more than the room and board provided during their years of participation in college athletics.
Even at this elite level of collegiate sports, the odds are still miniscule that a participant will have a career in professional sports. It does not take a lot of research to figure that out if there are more than 300 Division One basketball programs and 60 players are selected in the NBA Draft every year – including a growing number of players from foreign countries.
An even smaller number of those who play in the NFL or NBA do so for a length of time that allows them to build up a large pension or at a large enough salary to stabilize their future finances. Those without a college education are even less likely to handle such earnings well enough to stabilize their finances.
There are many other reasons a collegiate athlete might not finish his or her degree. And these reasons can apply to other sports at other levels. A swimmer or distance runner may become too distracted by the pressures of international as well as national competition. The athlete may have come from another country and had to return to his or her family before completing a collegiate athletic career, or was just too young to deal with culture shock, homesickness and face new academic challenges.
But there is something important about the need for these athletes to obtain their degrees, besides preparing for a life after athletics. There must be, because some who are marquis athletes still find the time to obtain their degrees, during their professional careers, such as Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith, Ray Lewis and many others. Some even obtain graduate degrees during their professional athletic careers, such as former NFL lineman Dewey Selmon (Ph D.) and Minnesota State Supreme Court Chief Justice Alan Page, who obtained a law degree while playing for the Minnesota Vikings.
Some do so because they have a personal desire to seek knowledge. Some do because their mission is something that stretches beyond playing sports or even earning money. Some even do so because of promises made to parents a long time ago.
So the United States Sports Academy can do more than prepare athletes for a life after sports through its online undergraduate program. It can also open their eyes to the value of a higher education, something that did not inspire their passions earlier in life the way athletics did, but that they can have an appreciation for now that they are older and more mature. The degrees offered by the Academy are sport specific, preparing people for diverse career options in a billion-dollar industry in which they already possess practical knowledge and familiarity.
As collegiate athletes, they have already been blessed with a rich experience that could only be enhanced by a completed education. They all have competed on a public stage at an elite level, discovering their personal strengths and weaknesses during their young adult lives. They have experienced contrasting culture and lifestyles. This could be the baseball player from a small town going to a major, diverse university. This could be a basketball player from an economically deprived urban or rural background seeing there is another life out there, whether it is the collegiate life, a more lucrative life as a professional athlete, or both. This could be a swimmer, golfer, tennis player or track star from a foreign land that has the opportunity to live in the United States and compete both nationally and internationally here. It could be an ice hockey player who grew up during the social and economic challenges of post-Cold-War Eastern Europe, being exposed to a nation that enjoys the latter result of democratic society.
And what if some of the athletes who are fortunate enough to have lucrative professional sports careers were to experience the rewarding aspects of a higher education as a result of the USSA program? What if someone with wealth and influence that comes from a disadvantaged background were to suddenly discover the intangible benefits of a higher education?
Could he use that experience and his wealth and influence to help improve the educational situation in his childhood hometown? — IT IS POSSIBLE!