Books or the Ballgame? Student-athletes' Experiences with Academia

• In Event: 523 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. Gender Gaps: Session II

Abstract

Most studies of student-athletes use a study pool of currently enrolled student-athletes. However, few studies exist concerning student athletes who were successful during and after college. 16 graduated student-athletes were interviewed in order to discover their perceptions of success in the classroom and the game during college. This project looks at the messages they receive about these two types of success from various significant others before and during college, including their professors, coaching and athletic staff, teammates and classmates, family members, and romantic relationship partners. This paper compares these messages to ones found in the current literature and discusses similarities to and differences from previous findings. One overall finding is that their decisions about the balance between the books and the game are based on pragmatic considerations, but intimate personal connections influence whether they exercise that pragmatism. Maturity also appears to have an increasing effect on pragmatism and academic focus for some student-athletes.

Authors

• Dinur Blum, University of California, Riverside

• Adam G. Sanford, California State University, Dominguez Hills