I recently participated in a radio interview with Dr. Regina Rei Lamourelle and Joel Barker. The topic of discussion was on changing our current  paradigm for educating teens. Imagine a school environment without a sports curriculum? Where instead of a sports program in the school, the sports program would be based in the local community. Students would be able to participate in local leagues while coming to school strictly for academic work. There was more being proposed by Joel Barker, most of which I was in agreement with, to include the part about taking out sports in schools.

For the better part of this year I have heard and read about the opinions of a number of sport commentators who feel that college athletes should be financially compensated by the NCAA and their respective colleges. I have mixed feelings about this, while I find it irritating that certain school administrators make a fortune of the backs of college athletes competing on the national stage, I don't think they should get paid. The idea of working in a professional field as a college student should constitute an internship, where the student's compensation is considered quality experience earned, or compensation in the form of a scholarship for tuition fees.  

I don't think it's possible to compete on a national and expert competitive level in a sports activity and dedicate yourself to a full time major that isn't the equivalent of basket weaving.

I understand that former classmates reading this might consider me a hypocrite since I played college basketball. But let's face it, my alma matter was not, and is not a division one competitive school and the training schedule for competitive sports programs is a lot more rigorous. Further more, how many division one college athletes with the talent and experience gained from hard work make it into any of the high paying professional sports leagues? From what I have gathered, less than two percent.

For a professional athlete to stay on top of his game he has to train frequently during the on and off seasons for his sport, this does not include counteless hours spent studying game tapes and the coach's playbook.  In order for division one athletes to keep a place on the roster and in some cases maintain their scholarships, they have to work just as hard. So how much time does that leave for studying? Also, any college student who is serious about his or her major will tell you that besides studying, you have deadlines, research papers, research presentations, and if you are really on top of your game, internships.

I believe that college sports is pyramid scheme for young and talented athletes. Like any well planned pyramid scheme, only a small percentage of investors will get a return on their investment, which helps to maintain the illusion that the scheme is a legitimate one. Just like less than two percent of college athletes will make it into professional leagues. Some will argue that in exchange for the experience, ninety-eight percent of athletes will get the benefit of a college education.

Perhaps, but how much is the truly competitive athlete truly benefiting from his college experience? Very  few athletes can pull off being completely dedicated to their major and dedicated to improving their athletic performance on a competitive level. In most cases something has to give.

If schools and colleges were to embrace the idea of no sports programs, the choice would be clear to students from the start. For students who chose to actively participate in local leagues, they would have a good idea if they had what it took to compete in a professional league. Because for the many that don't, the choice of career options would be a lot clearer.