Is College Athletics a Business?

Although this post is not in regard to a recent news article that has been posted, it is in reference to a documentary that was on Epix.  This documentary, Schooled the price of college sports, was a very interesting and eye opening video to watch.

This film chronicled the history of college athletics (more so football and basketball) as well as the creation of the NCAA.  For me, as I watched the video I was amazed to grasp the full understanding of how money seemingly is at the helm of decisions that have been made and rules and regulations that have been created and sanctioned by a governing agency - who through its' own history - took this role on themselves.

True to media form, this film does portray many times one side of the story - however, to the credit of the producers, it does appear they wanted to have current leaders within the NCAA to speak on behalf of the organization and they refused.  I have always known that sport and competition is a very large part of the American culture, I just didn't realize the extent to which, from the film's perspective, the athlete's are profited off of.  If you have a chance to view - I highly encourage and you can draw your own perspectives.

Parents Beware!

Ok - so this may be a bit late in posting as the cinnamon challenge craze seems to have come and gone, however, the reason for posting is to again help us to understand our role in educating our student-athlete patient base with regard to healthy behaviors, and how the choices we make as individuals, ultimately carry consequences.

This article identifies several reasons for youth making decisions that are not the healthiest.  With the urge to want to 'fit in' with others, pressure may be placed upon a student to ultimately do something that they either didn't want to, or felt they needed to in order to be a part of a group.  Research has also suggested the area of the brain that is responsible for decision making and risk taking is not fully developed until we reach into our 20's.  Therefore, to only speak to a student-athlete about 'right vs wrong' decisions may not be the most appropriate way to assist.

It is my belief that just as we teach our children how to navigate through cognitive skills (ie. how to solve a math problem, how to answer an essay), we also need to teach them skills which may aid them in being a healthy individual --> ie. refusal skills, conflict resolution skills, and building self-confidence to name a few.  One way to do so is to offer a comprehensive health education program within the school district taught by a qualified individual.  What we do find, however, is that schools, due to a variety of reasons (budget, philosophy, accreditation needs) may not offer a comprehensive health program.  Just as it is vital that schools who offer athletics have a qualified, licensed individual take care of the athletes' health needs, we also need to ensure there are qualified individuals to teach health. 

Additionally, as athletic trainers, we must always keep in mind we have the ability to develop an atmosphere of trust.  As such, we are placed in a precarious situation, as we can either help or hinder situations based upon what we say or by expressing our values on a situation.  We need to be sure we bear in mind that our patients may hear what we say and make a decision based upon what we have said.  Let's be sure we send out positive, thoughtful and caring messages.

Governement Shutdown - A Silent Minority at Grave Loss

As of today we are in day three of the government shutting down and although many are affected, there are some that are affected that we don't even know about.  This article highlights those who are involved in clinical trials that have funding through the government.  In this particular case, the individuals who are mentioned in this article are cancer patients.

Many of the patients have already had a difficult journey with their treatments, and as the article identifies, many were looking to the clinical trials as their last hope.  With the government in shut down mode, there will be no treatments, no interventions, nothing for them.

It is rather frustrating, as I am sure many of us are, to have this outcome for our country occur.  Another journalist, Bob Greene, reports that as Americans we should get our money back.  He writes in the article that we have no choice but to pay income tax for the very manner in having our government operate and work for us.  When it refuses to operate, we should get our money back with interest.  He uses some humor in his writing and makes an analogy of the purchase of an airline ticket.  If the airline leaves you stranded in a city (not your final destination), the individual then has a right to ask for money to be returned as services that were paid for were not rendered.

My point with this article is for us to identify there are so many individuals who are being affected by the government shut down - many, of whom, are probably not highly visible to us.  Let's try to be cognizant that many individuals, families, and communities are being negatively impacted by this shutdown.