Being a student at most universities can be very challenging.

As a student you are expected

to manage your time, financial difficulties and stress. Due to their athletic roles, student athletes
are seen as irregular students in the education community. “Stresses of student-athletes’ having to
balance sports and their academics only scratches the surface of issues surrounding collegiate
athletics.” (Lipka 2006)
Negative stereotypes are being given to student-athletes, since most of them suffers from
academic challenges compared to regular students. It is reported that student-athletes suffers
greater struggle in leadership roles, accepting their mistakes, and articulating their thoughts and
concerns. (Dudley 1997). Thus, this causes them to face discrimination among other students and
even from their teachers.

It has been circling around universities that student-athletes tend to take easier
classes and get lower grades than non-athletes. Despite the NCAA’s insistence that they
are concerned about their student athletes’ academic growth and performance, it cannot
be denied that they themselves focus more on sports rather than school performance of
their players. According to an article written in TIME’s magazine, athlete students are the
most likely involved students in academic scandals and fraud.

Student athletes have viewed their sport as a complement to, not a replacement for,
their studies. But despite of this notion some of them are still rated as underperformed
students. It is said that one disadvantage of being in a team is the behavior of easily
affecting or influencing one another. It is observed that some student athletes don’t think
their teammates take academics as seriously as they do. And because of this, they will think
the same, just to fit in. According to Sara Etchison,: “There are student athletes who want
to excel in the classroom, but think their teammates would judge them fo r it, so they study
a little less, or take an easier major. And it turns out, that’s how virtually everyone on the
team feels, but there’s never an opportunity to realize, ‘Oh wait, all of us really care about
what’s happening on the academic side.’” This kind of occurrence is known as “pluralistic
ignorance”. It leads people to engage in public behaviors that align more with the perceived
norms than with their true preferences. The tragedy is that the norms are false – in reality,
everybody would be happier if they just behaved in line with their true preferences. This
suggests that helping student athletes do better in the classroom may be as simple as letting
them know that their teammates care as much about academics as they do. (Oppenheimer,
2015)

Tons of studies were made to fully solve these certain issues faced by student-athletes. One
of the researches made suggests that self-reliance was imposed harshly to student-athletes by their
peers, parents, and even their coaches. (Dudley 1997) Because of this, student–athletes were
hindered from asking professional help whenever they need to. Some student-athletes face issues
on maladjustment, emotional illness and psychological suffering.(Watson 2005)
A research suggests that student athletes who displays higher motivation, self-worth, and
meta-cognitive study strategies can exhibit higher academic performance. (Ting, 2009).
 Higher motivation, drives any student to do their best and strive hard to achieve their goals.
A study claims that for a student-athlete to be successful, he or she is required to work hard, exhibit
perseverance and determination. In a theory known as the Need Achievement Theory (Atkinson
1964), it is said that the motivation is a learned drive that is a result of two opposing forces: to
achieve success and to avoid failure. “One of the best ways to improve the education of student
athletes is to give them license to pursue their academic goals by making it clear that their
teammates, and society as a whole, support them in their academi c endeavors. For this to
happen, student-athletes will need many more sports stars speaking out about the
importance of education, instead of tweeting about the pointlessness of going to class. ”
(Oppenheimer, Daniel 2015)

Self –worth is knowing one self’s importance, the Self- Worth Theory (Covington, 1992),
“assumes that the search for self-acceptance is the highest human priority, and that in schools self-
acceptance comes to depend on one’s ability to achieve competitively”. The self- worth of an
individual is determined on his perception towards one’s ability to achieve and to be successful.
Success is known to enhance one’s ability to achieve something or competence, thus improving
one’s self-worth. Those students who aims for success usually get high scores. These highly
motivated individuals are most likely to succeed without being afraid of failing. This is because
these students possess a very high level of self-worth. While for those students who had a history
on failing their academics, they are known to have a lower perception of their self-worth. Failure
–Avoiders as they call them score low on their motivation to be successful. They tend to focus on
avoiding failures instead of striving hard to succeed. The problem with the Failure-Avoiders is that
they are negatively motivated by the fear of failure and the shame that they would feel from other
people. Therefore, it is concluded that the higher your self-worth is, the higher your motivation
will be. This theory can be applied to student-athletes who are struggling to achieve good rating
marks in their academics.
Successful learners usually uses meta-cognitive study strategies, it basically relates on the
act of thinking about your own thinking. It involves understanding the goals of the learning
process, figuring out the best strategies for learning, and assessing whether the learning goals are
being met. A student-athlete who practices metacognition sees him or herself as an agent in the
learning process and realizes that learning is an active, strategic activity. Through meta-cognition
student –athletes can assess themselves if they are doing well or if they need some improvements
on a specific subject.
It is a given fact that student-athletes encounter tons of demands, pressures and stresses.
And for them to fully use their academic potential and at the same time make use of their benefits
as athletes while doing their athletic duties, a conducive and flexible educational environment
should be obtained. Also, a better understanding on the cognitive and non-cognitive factors that
affects the academic performance of the student-athletes must be obtained. These factors should
be thoroughly understood by the school board, to make sure that the teachers and the administration
put more effort when it comes to handling student-athletes. These factors can also be beneficial to
the athletic department of each schools. It is for them to be aware of what proper measures do they
need to offer, for them to be able to cater the needs of their student athletes. It also a way for the
student-athletes to maximize their strengths and potential when it comes to academics and sports.
Both departments have the ethical responsibility to offer athletes a meaningful educational
experience.
With all these attributes and positive behavior, the academic domain of the student-athletes
will be positively affected, which will result to their academic success.