Post #11 Podcast

https://soundcloud.com/user-831038543/dsjfhsdjfhs

Post #10 Broke athletes

Something that has been a controversial topic for a long time in college sports is; should college athletes be paid? At the division 1 level, schools have been know to bring in millions of dollars a year due to their athletics. This comes with ticket sales, merchandise sales, and popularity to a school bringing boosters and their check books. Student athletes have most of their free time taken up from their sport so they don't have time for a job. If they are transforming their body's and working out to put a uniform on that advertises the school then they should receive some type of pay. Most of the athlete’s day in or outside of season is taken up by their sport. They do not have the time to make their own money, and due to the amount of money they bring it I feel that they should receive some compensation. Millions of college sports fans around the country pay good money to see these athletes perform at a high level. Sometimes simply housing costs isn’t enough. So yes, I do believe that college athletes should be paid. 

Post #9 NBA or College

One question that is commonly asked to basketball players is, "what do you prefer watching college or the NBA". Growing up I did not watch a lot of college basketball, I watched mainly NBA. Never believing that I would make it here and be able to play college basketball I never really cared for it. The past few years I have been more into watching college because I have personally played with some of the guys that are playing on TV.  With a child's mentality I thought I was going to be like Kobe Bryant and just skip college and go straight to the NBA.
 If somebody was to ask me that question I would have to say NBA. I have been watching the pros my entire life so I still have a huge love for the NBA over any level of basketball, I just appreciate college basketball more than I did when I was younger.  

Post 8 Summer Time

Summer time is probably everyone's favorite time of year. Being in college it is finally time to take a break from school work and time for warm summer nights with friends. Often times college athletes will have summer workout programs and will have over half of their summer taken away. That whole dream of relaxing on the beach without a care over summer is something that we only dream about. It is all part of the process; nobody said that being a college athlete would be easy. It just has to do with the level of determination and love of the sport you play to persevere through it. Like I said in a previous post, summer time is the time to really work on your game and show everyone exactly how good you can be. This summer is my final summer I have to show everyone how much basketball means to me and I plan on dedicating all my time to basketball so I can come back better than ever for my senior year. 

Post 7 New year

This year at Washburn the athletic department had to do something they haven't done in almost 40 years. They had to hire a new mens Basketball coach. After coaching 38 seasons head coach Bob Chipman retired with over 800 wins landing him in the top 20 list of most wins by an NCAA coach. This was my first year at Washburn so it was my only year under this coach. The committee had a list of coaches and narrowed it down to a 5 for a visit and interview. Within a few weeks of interviews they made their decision. Coach Brett Ballard will be the new Washburn Head Mens Basketball coach. He is a local player around Kansas and actually playing part of his career at Kansas University. It is an exciting time for the program and he as brought a lot of new energy to the team that was missing from the previous coach. I personally think that next season will be better than this season. 

Post 6 off time

Post season is the best time to develop new skills as well as make the skills you have even better.  Even during the school semester after your season is over is the time to start preparing for the next season coming up. The off season is where you get better and work on specific things in your own way. That means either working on a specific skill like shooting for basketball or catching for football. Weights are a huge part in the off season as well, every season you want to be better than the last. Coming back bigger and stronger gives you an advantage because strength in any sport is beneficial. Depending on how hard you work the off season is what will really show yourself, coaches, and your teammates just how good of a play you want to be.

Post 5 March Madness

March Madness is the best time of the year for college basketball players and fans. This is the time of year that they get to show what they have been working on all year. This is the time for the National tournament. All the Division 1 schools qualify for the tournament but the top 64 teams will make it. It is a 6 round tournament finishing with the sweet sixteen, elite 8, Final 4, then the championship game. This is the biggest televised basketball event, filled with buzzer beaters and full court presses. It is a single elimination tournament so everybody plays like they have everything to lose, because they do. 

Post 4 Struggle continues

Student athlete struggles continue even after your sport is done because you are never really done with your sport until summer hits, even then you have workouts you are expected to do. Unless you are lucky enough to play at your hometown college, most athletes live somewhere away from their family. Often times athletes who play at a high level and will have to move out of their house and to another state.  With colleges in every single state with athletic programs every where, there is no telling where you could get a recruitment call from.
 I am from California, I received calls from school in Texas, Alabama, and Massachusetts. These are places where I never thought I would go especially ending up in Kansas. Being home sick is a very serious thing, I know of some players who left and couldn’t make it because they couldn’t be that far away from home. The struggle of not being able to see your family waiting for you after the game is hard. For so long my father would be at every game and he was someone I could go to after every game to talk to and now being so far away from home he is not able to be at every game. Its hard to seem my teammates get to be greeted by their family after every game we play, but that comes with choosing to go to a college far away from my home state. I can honestly say that playing a college sports is 80% mental; you have to be able to take adversity and turn it into motivation.  

post 3 Post season

Post season is usually the easiest part of the year for athletes. It’s a time where you can finally sit back and relax after a hard season playing any sport. Not having weights and practice taking up all your time and energy after a 5 month season feels pretty good. The athletes have time to reflect on the season and try to adjust for the next, granted you have a next. You finally have the time to focus on school, get caught up on any homework you may have missed, as well as spend more time studying. Some may even get a job to get a little extra cash here and there. It is the only time of the year that you don’t have anything regarding your sport. After 2 weeks of your season ending you will begin post season workouts but these are not near as time consuming or exhausting as preseason or especially during season.

Post 2 Mid season struggle

Depending on your sport you can either be waiting all year for your season or it could be first up.  Its the best time of the year, you can finally put into action what you have been practicing during the off season. Busy schedules are probably the top struggle in my opinion. Having to do homework before a three hour practice just to do three more hours of homework after. Just by playing a sport half of your time is taken away from any other activity with the total of film time, practice, and weight room. As an athlete you must maintain a 2.0 GPA to continue to play and this is something that can be difficult due to the loss of time. Traveling is another big part, sometimes missing three or four classes a week. Class still goes on whether we attend or not. Every time we travel I have to bring my lap top and homework because sometimes I'll have to do homework or takes tests that I have missed. Having this work load with sports on top of that is something that I feel people tend to forget when they stereotype athletes. The sports season is by far the most exciting time of the year but it is also by far the hardest part of the year with managing all the homework, workouts, and games. 

Post #1 Student Athletes

School is hard enough by itself, and when you try throwing in an activity, basketball, that takes up anywhere from 30 to 40 hours of your time each week it becomes even more difficult. The stereotype of student athletes that don't have to do their work or that balancing school and sports is easy, may very well be one of the most inaccurate statements I have ever heard. With each semester every NCAA qualified athlete has to be enrolled in 12 hours every semester equaling usually 3-4 courses. Preseason is the second easiest part of the school year for most athletes, we have workouts, study hall, and practices. But it is not the work load you get when you are in your sports season. Each athlete is filled with excitement and energy because the season is coming. Preseason takes up a lot of an athletes time but not near as much as when you are in your sports season. When you are in season you have all the workouts, practices, games, and road trips to get to the games that take up a huge amount of time. Student athletes have to really learn how to time manage because with out it there would be no way to keep up on school work and be successful.