In this blog, I interviewed one of my friends who is playing division one college football at West Virginia. He’s now a junior at that school. It was a long and struggling time from being in New York City to a completely different place like West Virginia. These are some questions I ask him and his response to them.

*When being a senior in high school, how many colleges were interested in you playing for their school?
I wasn’t heavily recruit out of high school, but three school were really interest in me. The schools were West Virginia, Georgia, and Michigan. Honestly I never been anywhere near these schools in my life. I knew going to school it would have been a whole new experience.

*Why did you choose West Virginia?
I choose West Virginia because when going to visit this school, I like the environment around campus and the people were very friendly. It felt so different from New York City. Also the food was amazing out there, a bit to grease but it was great. It wasn’t that far home so I could home at any time I please.

*How was high school and college football different?
Oh man. College football was much faster and harder than high school football. Also it was more time consuming then high school because college has more preparation time, harder class, and tougher practices. I remember being in high school and being able to work on the weekends but in college your glad if you get a day to just to relax in your dorm. Much more work involve than high school football.

*What does a typical day of college football consist of on the off season and season?
Off season most of the days consist of working out at least twice a days while going to video preparation throughout the day. Also practices are held throughout the off season. Its up to you how hard you want to in the off season if you slack you could lose your starter or spot on the team. While during the season you have all these same workouts and practices, with classes and games to play. Playing division one football you travel at least 6 to 7 games a year to different locations. If you get lucky you get to play in a bowl game with could be anywhere around America. Also you must keep a 2.0 GPA to stay on the team and keep your scholarship.

*Do have any time for yourself during the year?
Yeah some holidays I go back home to relax for a while but I never stay there past a week. You always have to be practicing or working out to get better and stay competitive with the other players. I can’t work all throughout the year because their is no time and I can’t miss any workouts or practices. You always have to give your all to these sports no matter if its college or the pros.

*Do you ever regent playing College Football?
Some days yes and others no depends on mood. It been hard to adjust new environment and have all this workload put on you at such a young age but I believe it made me stronger. Everyday I feel that I’m a full time job doing overtime every other day because my sport doesn’t take any off days. I would have love to be a normal college student but this is the path I choose. If I could do it again maybe I would have gone to school in New York and not played football. Live a normal and relax life without injuries and pain everyday.

　　College athletics are some of the busy people on campus. They train all year around while also going to class and maintain a GPA of 2.25. The athletics don’t have to worry about anything but focus on training an class. These colleges and universities take care of their players by providing them a place to live, clothes to wear, and a meal plan for whenever they get hungry. Also they pay for their education which is usually at a pretty good college or universities which most of the time cost a lot. They ask their players to not get into legal or foolish troubles and also not to take any money from anyone outside the college or universities.
　　Colleges believe if they pay their players it would take away the student athletic title and be replace by professional athletics. According to this article, “Sorry Time Magazine: Colleges Have No Reason To Pay Athletes”, paying college athletics would result in this, “He believes that paying the players as professionals carries a big risk of the public quickly tuning out. “It would create a massive unknown, you have to wonder if it would change the whole dynamic of what it means to be a student-athlete,”. Students would be more interest in getting paid than playing the sport they love for their school in my opinion. The students would be more demand about how much they can get from the school and from outside the school. Bigger colleges and universities would bring in more better recruits than smaller schools because they have more income to spend. It would be like free agency that occur in professional sports. According to the same article, as state before, makes an argument against not paying athletics, “There’s also another fundamental issue that never seems to come up. It’s called the free marketplace. Why don’t schools pay? Because they don’t have to. Recruits jump on the offer of tuition, room and board without hesitation. And let’s not call them exploited – they aren’t. Slaves were exploited. A scholarship athlete at a university can leave anytime he wants to, free to become a tuition-paying student like anyone else”. I believe that’s a pretty good argument to not pay students because they do give them a place to live, an education and scholar which they dont have to pay back.
　　These colleges and universities won’t give into the paying their students because it will take away from being a student athlete. Players and their schools will have to give and take to come to a compromise about this issue but colleges won’t even talk about this issue.
　　
Check out this article after reading this blog:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2013/09/06/sorry-time-magazine-colleges-have-no-reason-to-pay-athletes/

Next blog will be a personal interview with a college athlete.