READING 9 C1

College athletes as does Coach. When we are on away matches, we might well be
in a hotel room doing our studies before a match the next day. It’s
tricky sometimes keeping all the balls in the air,’ says Tim McLarty.
A typical college athlete, Tim is 21 and is just embarking on his
A phenomenon which remains pretty much unique to the United
States, is that thousands of young athletes from all over the world can final year at a university in St Louis. He played tennis at school
go there to study and receive sports scholarships which will help fund in England and rather than opt for a British university, he decided
their studies in return for training, playing and, hopefully winning. The to apply for a scholarship in the United States. ‘I sent a video of
idea of helping to pay for your university education by playing a sport myself playing tennis to about fifty different tennis coaches at
you love, and are good at, sounds like a win-win situation. universities in the States. Five or six showed interest and finally
there was one school which seemed to be the most suitable. They
It is a widely-held belief that a sports scholarship is a route to offered me a scholarship and I am now in my fourth year. I’m doing
becoming a professional sportsman. Yet in fact less than 1% of these a degree in Business and International Marketing which means I
athletes go on to have a full-time sporting career. On the other hand, attend classes every morning and play tennis or do fitness every
statistics show that college athletes graduate with higher average afternoon. The first semester (term) is the off-season and we spend
marks than other students. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that practising and in the second semester we play twice a week
that scholarships are closely linked to success. competitively against other universities. That’s about twenty-five
The value of your scholarship can often depend not only on your single matches and the same number in doubles.’
sporting prowess, but also how academically able you are. In many Tim’s tennis team is a league of nations with players from
universities, the different sports compete against each other to have Germany, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, Ireland and Holland, creating
the best GPA (Grade Point Average) and there are awards for high a truly international feel in the heart of an American college. All
academic achievement amongst the college athletes, especially for the players have access to state of the art medical facilities,
those getting a maximum GPA of 4.0. Such close attention gives them equipment and coaching. They also have a very strong team ethic,
the best of both worlds. ‘My academic tutor keeps a close eye on me which for an individual sport like tennis makes a big difference.
Their university has around 12,000 students and has basketball,
baseball, golf, soccer and swimming teams for both male and
female students. The stereotype of the male ‘jock’ is actually
quite inaccurate when you consider that 50% of funding at any
university goes to females in sports.
If you weigh up the number of universities across the country and
the range of different sports covered, you realise just how much is
being invested in sports by American universities. Recent NCAA
(National Collegiate Athletic Association) statistics show that there
are now around 150,000 college athletes receiving a total of $2.7
billion in scholarships.
Yet despite all the money paid to these college athletes, the
true value of a sports scholarship is much more than economic.
Studies have revealed that it teaches these students the value
of competing, playing in a team, succeeding and learning. The
benefits have been found to be both immediate and life-long in
that the values needed for sport are also essential in professional
life, whether it be in terms of collaboration, punctuality and effort
or simply just taking part and doing your best. By proving over a
four-year period that they have the ability to prioritise both studies
and sports at the appropriate time, by showing that they are team-
players who believe there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’ and by playing to win,
these athletes are showing potential employers that they have the
right skills set and mentality to be great recruits.

Skills Boost C1 READING 9 © Richmond 2014 Photocopiable

1 Read the article about college athletes and choose the 3 Complete the sentences with five of the phrases in the box.
correct ending (A–C) to complete the sentences.
closely linked life-long state of the art taking part
1 A sports scholarship is a good way of
true value widely-held belief win-win situation
A becoming a professional player.
1 We were looking into opening an office in Tokyo and
B meeting people from different walks of life.
Yoshi, our Marketing Manager, had recently expressed an
C helping subsidise your degree. interest in returning to Japan to be closer to his family. It
2 Most college athletes was a .
A are male. 2 It is a that the Great Wall of China is visible
B aren’t very bright. from space, yet no astronauts have ever reported seeing
it.
C do well academically.
3 In many industries salaries are to success. If
3 The writer of the article thinks sports scholarships are
the company does well, the employees receive generous
A generally a positive experience for the student. bonuses.
B generally a negative experience for the student. 4 One of the Olympic games ideals is that is
C a waste of money for the university. more important than winning.

2 Read the article again and choose the correct options to 5 Many countries believe in learning and offer
complete the sentences. education to people of all ages.
1 Most / A lot of / Very few college athletes turn
professional after they have graduated.
2 Academically speaking, college athletes perform
better than / about the same as / worse than other
undergraduates.
3 To maintain your scholarship or even improve it, you have
to do well at your sport / in the classroom / at both your
sport and studies.
4 College tennis players play competitively in both
semesters / the first semester / the second semester.
5 The majority of / Half of / Very little sports funding goes
to female college athletes.
6 The advantages of a sports scholarship are purely
financial / only short-term / both short and long-term.

Skills Boost C1 READING 9 © Richmond 2014 Photocopiable