Interview of 10 Student-Athletes at Emory University
Seven out of the ten interviewed student-athletes said that being part of a sports team had a positive impact on their social life. Commonly cited reasons for this are that it gives them a predetermined social group providing an immediate source of support in the college environment. In addition, the student-athletes on these teams tend to know the major social events and people on campus leading to easier access to a variety of social scenes. The three students who said that being part of a sports team had a negative impact on their social life primarily attributed it to the time commitment required by athletics. The time commitment prevented them from being able to go out as much as they'd hope to and from making friends outside of their sports team.
The second question asked was what (if any) negative impacts does being a student-athlete have on an individual. Participants were allowed to choose more than one option and the three most commonly cited effects were a lack of time, stress, and a worse social life. Three out of the ten student-athletes commented that there were no negative impacts. Lack of time, stress, and a worsened social life have a large impact on a person's emotional life, especially when they are in college and expected to do well academically. When it comes to a student-athletes social life they have to weigh the benefits of being on a sports team versus the time commitment and stress that comes with it. That is why only three out of the ten students commented that it has worsened their social life. Rather, their emotional life may be at greater risk if they are struggling to balance the three spheres.
When asked what sphere suffers the most the majority of student-athletes responded that the academic sphere does. The reason for this is that they find it hard to manage their time between practice, competition, travel and the workload they are expected complete in the classroom. Only two out of the ten athletes cited that their athletics suffers the most as a result of their academic and social lives. The reason for this is that they were the only two student-athletes who mentioned they did not enjoy going to practice or competing in their respective sports. As a result, their motivation and desire was lower than the other student-athletes so their athletic performance suffered the most when compared to their academics and social lives. The three students who stated that their social lives suffer the most were known for doing well both inside and out of the classroom. Their athletic performance was satisfactory and their grades were above average. Therefore, the time they committed to these two activities prevented them from having a desirable social life.