Academic Sphere
One significant study that considered how the academic sphere is affected by the athletic and social spheres was conducted by Adler and Adler. The researchers observed the lives of 40 division one male basketball players over a four-year period. They documented their academic success over the length of their university careers, which gave great insight into their personal lives. The researchers found that most of the basketball players were motivated to obtain a degree when they first enrolled in college, contrary to popular belief that student-athletes use college athletics as a means to enter the professional realm of sports. Unfortunately, the basketball players' athletic, social, and academic experiences formed an anti-intellectual environment that deterred academic success. Throughout their college years, the athletes continually lowered their educational goals due to the "fatigue from training, traveling and competition, insufficient time for studying, isolation from the general student population, differential treatment from faculty, and pressures from coaches and alumni" (Alder and Alder). This fatigue resulted in academic failure and non-completion for many student-athletes. In this case, the academic sphere suffered as a direct result of athletics. In addition, the social sphere impacts the academic sphere in this case because many college athletes tend to party after competition instead of hitting the books. This results in lousy time management and insufficient hours to excel in education. As a result, the emotional lives of student-athletes are affected as academic achievement is directly correlated with self-esteem and confidence.