I am again reading an article online today that just blew my mind. This time it happens to be from ESPN and it has to do with the University of Geroga�s assistant basketball coach’s class in Coaching Principle and Strategies of Basketball. This class was a total joke from what I read and anyone who took a PE class in any level of education would know the answer to these questions. I will provide you a sample, ‘How many points does a 3-point field goal accout for in a Basketbal Game?’ The test is multiple choice and the answers to pick from are, �a. 1, b. 2, c. 3, d. 4.�
Ok, now seriously, are they that dumb that you need to ask them a test where they need to pick a number that was given to them in the question. It’s like asking them what 1 + 1 is and giving the same answers as listed above. This is just beyond hilarious to me and at the same time not completely shocking. Now, athletes will say that they live ‘the hard life’, but I can only half hartedly agree with that idea. Yes, they do work very hard to bring prestige to an institution by doing well in athletics, but do they need to be babied along to just pass? I’d like to think not, but I know that this is not the case.
Even here at UW we have a special center just for athletes where they can go and get tutored about anything that they are taking. Even in cases, I think, they can get personal tutors for their classes to help them “learn” the course material. I have very little sympathy for athletes when things like this come up. The UW already has a shady athetics department and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are ridiculously easy classes that “athletes” take so they can just graduate.
Now, if you don’t make it as a pro, what skills do you have? Well, in my opinion, not many. I bet you’d be hard to educate for a skilled position. You could probably beat me in the 40, but that won’t do you any good when you need to race to the drive thru window to serve me up some fries with my order.
This is harsh, I know. And this may come off as a blanket statement, but I know that there are some athletes that work damn hard at being the best student, athlete, friend, etc… that they can be while in school. But, some others just don’t get it. The sad part is that they probably never will. I’d only hope that this does not happen all over the country, but like I said, I can only hope.