A Fictional Narrative on What a Division I Fall Olympic Sport Student-Athlete May be Processing These Days
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Reflections of a Division I Fall Olympic Sport Student-Athlete
A Fictional Narrative on What a Division I Fall Olympic Sport Student-Athlete May be Processing These Days
In the span of about 30 minutes on Friday August 21st, my head coach, several teammates, our compliance office, and even my parents emailed and texted me about the NCAA’s decision to grant fall sport student-athletes an additional season eligibility and a one-year extension to the five-year NCAA eligibility clock.
See, as a fall sport student-athlete, the last several weeks have been rife with speculation about our championship season. And more recently, several Division I conferences have decided to postpone or cancel their fall sports’ playing seasons altogether. My school is one of the Division I conferences still intending to have fall sports competition -- at least as of today.
As I have learned in recent months, today’s college athletics news becomes stale quickly. Insights, breaking news from sources in NCAA or conference meetings, and one-off, clickbait quotes from various athletic directors, commissioners, and pundits keep the speculation brewing. I am entering my fifth academic year at my beloved University. Academically, my hard work and planning has paid off. Since my head coach advised me during the recruiting process that I would likely redshirt my freshman year, I began incorporating a longer time frame into my academic plans. Although I am a partial-athletics scholarship student-athlete (like most Division I student-athletes), I knew I’d have some financial support via my athletics scholarship for five years. With that in mind, I ended up double majoring in business and economics, and I will graduate this December with two majors in hand.
After redshirting my freshman year, I was in the starting lineup in Years 2, 3, and 4. Our team’s on-field performance improved year over year. We went from barely winning a match my sophomore year, to nearly a .500 winning percentage my junior year, to the second-most wins in the conference and an NCAA bid my senior (or fourth academic) year. As I enter my fifth year (and fourth season of competition opportunity), our team is likely to be ranked preseason Top 20.
The optimism for this fall, however, has been suffocated by the coronavirus. I remember vividly seeing headlines last January from the BBC, which I tend to leave on in the background in my apartment while getting ready for class. The reporter with a distinct British accent referenced a virus spreading outside the United States. The pandemic was reaching everywhere from Asia to Europe at this point in time and, while brushing my teeth and looking in the mirror, this news brought on a sinking feeling. They were calling it a global pandemic for a reason. Its arrival to the States would be a matter of time. By mid-March, I saw firsthand how quickly our daily routines could be turned upside down when my two roommates, who happen to play spring championship sports at our school, had the remainder of their season canceled in a snap. In fact, the NCAA canceled all spring sport championships in one fell swoop.
The ensuing days and weeks brought more questions than answers. From my own situation, my fall sport had its non-championship segment halted last March, too. The spring segment is sort of our tune-up, off-season training window which includes a limited number of games and a few weeks of practice. And like the spring sports, our fall sport non-championship segment was canceled by mid-March. I felt horrible for my teammates and for myself, but then I thought of my friends, especially the seniors, who play spring sports losing their final championship opportunity. What a cruel reality.
I receive roughly a 40% equivalency athletics scholarship toward my costs of attending college. Essentially, it covers $0.40 on the dollar toward all of my tuition, housing, meals, books, and other out of pocket expenses. Don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful to have a scholarship to defray my college costs. Not many students, athletes or not, are this fortunate. The NCAA’s recent spate of decisions regarding flexibility for fall sport student-athletes, though, included the caveat that Division I institutions aren’t obliged to give returning seniors the same scholarship amounts in 2021-22 as they received in 2020-21. My head coach has been forthright in trying to be transparent during the ebbs and flows of the pandemic and shares what they know when they know it. Money is a factor here though, and there’s no guarantee my coach has room in the scholarship budget to take on unforeseen returners on top of all the underclassmen and incoming recruits also on the scholarship ledger.
I already take out a loan on top of the money my parents are able to contribute. I don’t want to put more pressure on my parents to contribute to a sixth year of schooling, especially after my dad was furloughed from his job this summer, making my family’s finances tight. Never in my dreams (or nightmares) did I contemplate needing six years to finish my time here -- I had, as I mentioned, carefully planned for five years. I don’t need this extra stress.
Plus, I want to pay off my student loan by the time I am 30 years old. I have a Post-It note at my study desk in my apartment that says “Debt Free by 2028.” My generation has been well-schooled by the lessons from the financial crisis in 2007-08 and the weight of debt. My business and economics courses have also taught me -- too well -- what interest rates do to my loans. I am in line for a coveted internship next summer at a Fortune 500 company back home. I had foreseen the summer of 2021 as being the start of the rest of my life -- not as another summer focused on training and fall competition. I am ready for the real world. If I stay even another semester next year, that’s several thousand dollars more on top of my swelling student loan balance. The decision to come back has a cost on both sides of the coin.
This is the second week of the fall semester, and already I see other universities around the country moving to 100% online instruction due to COVID-19 outbreaks on their campuses. Students, faculty, and administrators are navigating through an asteroid field in trying to marry the traditional normalities of classrooms and college life, including sports, to the inherent abnormalities of this COVID-19 world.
I also feel for the guys playing football at our school. Based on the headlines and the questions my family keeps asking me, everyone seems laser-focused on whether we have a college football season. Again, while our conference is still aspiring to play all sports this fall, including football, several other leagues have opted out of fall football. It’s no secret that as football goes, so go the rest of college sports---at least economically speaking. My sport is lucky to have a few hundred people show up to cheer us on. We are not the economic engine of our athletics department. Our football program is generating millions of dollars toward our overall budget. Football is the crown jewel.
However this plays out, I am taxed, exhausted, over it. Many of my teammates are, too. Our school and athletics department have done well to raise awareness and resources around mental health. To be honest, whether we play this fall, next spring, the following fall, or not at all, my mind and emotional state are becoming far more frayed than my body. I may look into these counseling services -- some of my teammates have over the years.
Ever since the spring, we seem to be living in a time warp. College life was supposed to be the storied haven of fun and freedom, learning, growth and aspirations melding together--the ultimate transition from youth to adulthood. Instead, my senior year of college and my last competitive season with my team are all teetering. Where has it all gone? Can anyone provide assurances? The only thing guaranteed these days is living with uncertainty.
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