Inside the Life of a Student Athlete

Every young kid who played sports growing up always dreams of making it big and playing in the pros. Outside of professional sports, many still aim of playing at the collegiate level. For most, these dreams end after high school, but there are those who put the work in and reach the next level. It is these few that have to bear the weight of being a student and an athlete at the same time. Most people barely know what these young adults’ lives are truly like, and only a small percentage truly experience the busy life of a student athlete. One of these young adults is a student by the name of Nick Romeo, a sophomore currently attending Washington College in Maryland. Even though he attends a smaller Division III school, Nick offers more experience and advice when it comes to the life of a student athlete when compared to normal everyday students. This is the case because he is currently on the basketball team. It is the insight that he offers which helps create a better understanding in the life of a college athlete.

Nick Romeo was born and raised in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. After six years there, he and his family moved to Ambler and have been there ever since. Before he got to Washington College, he attended Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Catholic grade school and Lansdale Catholic High School. Growing up, Nick was not a one trick pony when it came to sports. He played basketball, baseball, soccer and football all while he was younger. He said, “For a while, I believed baseball was my favorite sport to play, and I was pretty good at it too which made it even better. It wasn’t until high school where I really recognized how much I enjoyed basketball and wanted to continue getting better as much as I could have.” Many athletes have a similar path, they don’t actually fully pursue their main sport until they reach high school. “After my freshman year of high school, I decided to quit all sports and work on basketball year-round to improve as much as possible.” Raised in a sports family and friend group, Nick enjoyed everything he played, which is why picking one was tough for him. It is a hard choice that many kids have to make every year. For Nick, it turned out to be the correct one for his future.

Anyone capable of reaching the collegiate level of sports is both gifted and has an extreme work ethic. “Growing up, I was not in the best shape and was never the most athletic or most skilled kid at my age.” This determination shows that at a young age Nick was smart enough to realize his weaknesses and improve on them. He says about his motivation: “I hated the fact that I was not the best around my area, and it made me work even harder to achieve my goal later on.” For those that grow up in the Philadelphia area, they know that the best league around for high school basketball is the Philadelphia Catholic League. The talent everywhere is incredible, and it is these peers that he compares himself to. Competition is one of the better forms of motivation, especially in sports. The intense drive and chip on his shoulder is what has drove Nick to where he is now. Part of getting to the next step is also by being motivated by those around you. There are no better people to have supporting you than loving parents. Speaking about his parents: “Whether it was driving me places, paying for training sessions, or just keeping me mentally and physically focused, they helped me so much, and I would be nowhere close to where I am without them.” He also named his grandparents, friends, and past trainers that all helped him at every step of the way. Failure also seemed to motivate Nick because he ended his answer with talking about letting everyone down. “Aside from them, my grandparents, trainers, and friends also motivated me heavily because I felt like I did not want to let any of them down after the support they showed me over all the years.” He puts the weight of them on his shoulders, but it is this weight that has pushed him to succeed and helped him achieve his goal of playing sports in college.

Student athletes’ lives in college are completely different compared to those of regular students. Athletes have to build their class schedule around the sport they play, and it is up to them to make it all work. Former University of Connecticut basketball player Owen Sammarone wrote a full article on his experience and gave advice for student athletes. His main message is that it all comes down to time management; if those athletes are being smart with their time, then they can be successful in and outside of the classroom, as well as have time for themselves. Nick also emphasized that managing his time was very important in his daily life. During the season he starts every day of the week with a practice or a workout at 5:30 AM, and throughout, the day he has his classes. The day ends with either extra practice by himself or finishing up homework. Even with his busy schedule, he later talks about his personal time saying, “I would say that nights, between classes, and Sundays are the time where you are able to relax the most and possibly the only time to do so.” Nick’s experience is similar to Sammarone’s in that weekends and nights are a very important for student athletes to enjoy their own time. Usually, these hours are split between homework, sleep, extra practice, or just personal down time. Managing a full schedule is extremely important to being successful for all student athletes.

Many people in today’s world think that collegiate athletes are very privileged - getting a free education and playing sports seems like a good gig on the outside. That narrative has started to switch though: with sports becoming more popular, and the challenge of balancing it with schoolwork also growing harder. “Obviously, there are some challenging times when being a student athlete is not easy, but I think the answer is simple and they should accept the challenge that they wanted to face when they committed to it.” It is indeed a challenge, and one that not every student fully experiences. Those who don’t play sports have more time to be able to work and earn money for themselves. Someone who is going to school and also playing a sport is the same as going to school and having a job, except in this case the job doesn’t pay you for any of the effort that is put in.

It is impossible to ignore the growing topic of college athletes being paid. In the past decade, the conversation has gotten even louder due to the rise in popularity and viewership of college sports. The topic has gotten major publicity with star athletes, like Lebron James and Richard Sherman, advocating for the paying of athletes. Even Senator Bernie Sanders has said these students are “workers” for their schools (Hess). Nick made it clear that athletes should receive some sort of money, especially if it is at a Division I school. “I know that we get a little money for food during the winter break because no one is here and everything is closed, so we are allowed to get a certain amount of money each day to help pay for food and necessities, so I think if we can get that then D1 players should be able to get it all the time for their contributions most definitely.” The case that athletes should receive some sort of compensation from their school. If players on a Division III basketball team can receive a small amount of money for food during a school break, then schools can afford to help these students out year-round. Nick does not shy away from the question of financial disparity between divisions. The NCAA has hundreds of schools of all different sizes, and this leads to the differences among the higher and lower levels. “What I mean by this is a top player for Duke University and a walk on player for Rider University should not be compensated the same amount.” He recognizes that not everyone should or even can be paid the same. The point he is making that at all levels there is some amount of money that athletes should be making.

But there are arguments as to why they shouldn’t be paid. In an article highlighting pros and cons, Phillip Zema brings up how college sports are just at an amateur level. He writes, “In order to preserve fair competition among athletes, certain rules must be enforced.” What he is talking about here is that if certain schools pay their athletes more than others than it can lead to a huge talent gap, and that creates an unfair advantage in the amateur setting. If the NCAA wants the sports to retain an amateur status, they have continued to not pay any of the athletes. Now there is also reasons as to why they should be paid. Another point that is brought up is that these students don’t have time to go out and make money elsewhere. It is impressive to see Nick had similar reasoning about the controversial topic. He first highlighted how the NCAA is extremely greedy in how they handle their business. The association uses the image and likeness of all their athletes and yet does not give them any compensation for it (Hess). It is very wrong to use these players for the benefit of your organization but not return the favor in any way. It is with this argument that Nick disagrees with Zema. Nick structures his argument by bringing up the difference between students on athletic scholarships and those who have academic scholarships. At the end, he says, “The reason I think that is a bad argument is because many people with great academics can also receive scholarships and are capable of working during their free time to make some extra money, while athletes can usually never do this which is a huge disadvantage.” Coming from his firsthand perspective, it is hard for him to hold a job to earn money with barely any free time, but then people on the outside compare his scholarship to an academic one. It is comparing two completely separate things. Being both a student and athlete allows pretty much zero amount of time to hold a paying job. Only time will tell if the NCAA ever changes their policy when it comes to the payment of student athletes.

Throughout the entire interview with Nick Romeo, it was intriguing to hear about the life and perspective of a college athlete. After learning about his motivations and hard work, it is easy to understand how he got to where he is at Washington College. What is even greater is that he offered firsthand knowledge when it came to the lives of student athletes. Nick gave his daily life at college, including both the positives and the negatives. It is great to see that even with a busy life he enjoys the challenge. It is safe to say that the majority of athletes across the country feel the same way. Even with the touchy subject of paying these athletes, he did not shy away about his opinions. Only someone who experiences it can give the best opinions, and that is exactly what he did. The discussion of the NCAA’s problematic policies speaks volumes, and the fact that they hold these young adults to a double standard is wildly unfair in the long run. Along with Nick, it is impressive to see all student athletes around the entire country take on the immense challenge of playing a sport and going to school, without relying on any compensation from the school that they represent.

Bibliography

Hess, Abigail. “Majority of College Students Say Student-Athletes Should Be Paid, Survey Finds.” CNBC, CNBC, 11 Sept. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/student-athletes-should-get-paid-college-students-say.html.

Sammarone, Owen. “Finding Balance In Life As A College Athlete.” Athlete Network, an.athletenetwork.com/blog/finding-balance-in-life-as-a-college-athlete

Zema, Phillip. “Should Student-Athletes be Paid?”, 3 May 2018, 13:2, 198-212,