Sport Management and Motivation of Student Athletes

Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Athletes
I was interested in finding out the key aspects of an athlete’s life, such as the motivation behind becoming an athlete. Therefore, I decided to interview the coach of Oliver St. Aude Varsity Girl’s Track Saint Anthony High School to obtain first-hand information about her life as an athlete. Focused on finding out how athletes are paid, she responded that they enjoy are paid well, based on the outlines contract terms. Once an athlete gets a contract to go pro, they are paid according to the terms of the contract, and their performance dictates their pay, meaning that the better they play, the higher the chances of getting better pay. Consequently, athletes are never in the same salary bracket; some get paid more, and some get paid less. It all depends on the efforts to be the best at what they do. More so, once an athlete gets into a contract with any company, they are obligated to look after them even during unforeseen circumstances. That may include being paid even when they are not feeling well, especially if an accident or injury was acquired during the sports activity.
Further questions focused on the increasing number of high school athletes and whether it was becoming a trend for them to become professionals at an early age. She commented that based on the statistics, around eight million students are involved in high school athletics in the USA. However, only around 500,000 compete in NCAA schools and even a smaller percentage of that number realize their dream of being professional athletes. This is as a result of individual interest to pursue a different career, and once they get into different career fields, most of them forget their dreams of being athletes. Thus, the number of high school athletes becoming professionals at an early stage is still very low.
My next set of questions entailed finding out her stand on athletes being paid after they win a championship. The coach stated that student-athletes are working full-time, just like having a job that does not pay. However, if they were to be paid after they win a championship, it would be beneficial to them. They would have extra motivation to be better at what they do. More so, they bring revenue to the schools they represent, and their names and faces are put on advertisement boards. Therefore, it would only be fair to them if they got a share of the amount of money they help raise. Other than that, sports activities take up large portions of a student’s time. Some are even forced to skip classes, and they may have no time for leisure. Statistically, athletes devote approximately 44 hours per week of their time, still doing school work, and yet they are not paid. It would only be fair if their efforts were rewarded in the end.
Additionally, I inquired about the cons and pros of getting paid as a high school athlete. The coach commented that one of the major pros is that it provides financial assistance to the athletes’ families. The funds would help the family sustain itself long term and even manage to educate the student through college. Paying athletes limits corruption, especially from external sources. Other agents or schools will not be able to convinc...