Katherine Crisler
kjcrisler@valdosta.edu

I was an athlete as a child. I am sure most of us tried pee-wee football, tee-ball, or co-ed soccer as children. Whether playing sports continued in our high school and college days is a different story. As a child, however, I was not only an athlete but a student. The two, being a student and an athlete, go hand in hand for some people. Eventually, I accepted the fact that being a student would actually be more profitable for me, so I decided to stick with that.

All my life I have loved sports. Sports are one thing my father and I can talk about, and even if we do not agree, we understand each other. Although I’m a woman, I have never been too interested in women’s sports. It’s nothing personal, how can it be I am a woman myself. But men’s sports have always been something that interests me.

Dad and I go back and forth discussing new stats, player controversies and scores throughout the year no matter what the sport. One conversation we had was the difference between the amount of money men and women earn playing sports.

Here is an example of equality being brought to the sports world. It has been a long time coming— 39 years, to be exact—but women’s tennis players will receive equal prize money to the men at Wimbledon this year. Under increasing pressure from women’s stars like Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova and from society at large, the club announced it would put an end to a practice that had proved ever more troublesome.

The gap in prize money had become more symbolic than substantive. Last year’s women’s singles champion, Amelie Mauresmo, earned $1.117 million, 95 percent of the $1.17 million men’s champion Roger Federer.

This change in pro tennis is one example of society feeling women and men’s sports are not on an equal playing field. Sometimes this feeling pokes its head into college sports programs. I don’t think the issue of college funding being unevenly dispersed is the problem.

The main issue I have is too much money being given to the sports programs in general. Regardless of how much money goes into men’s sports compared to women’s sports is irrelevant to me. What the rest of the college population, who is not playing a sport, needs to look at is how much money goes into athletics in general and not academics.

Spending on Division I intercollegiate athletics has increased on average about 25 percent, while university spending has increased only on average ten percent, after inflation. Increases in basic costs such as scholarships and travel have had an impact. But the escalating costs of college sports are fueled by universities’ desires to reap the benefits of a winning season, which can boost attendance and TV ratings, maintain alumni support, and lift student and even regional morale.

Athletics-generated revenue is not keeping pace with costs. Only about 40 schools claim their athletic departments are self-sufficient. Student bodies are helping to pay this tab. About 60 percent of all Division I schools rely on student fees to help the athletic department. These fees generally range from $50 to $1,000 a year for full-time students. I bet as a child playing soccer in the backyard you never thought about actually having to pay to play.

When you click on the athletics link on the VSU homepage, a page pops up displaying many different links to explore VSU’s sports program. On the left, are links to each sport’s page such as the football page, softball, and tennis pages. Then, there are current stories posted for men and women’s sports informing the rest of the students about what is going on with our very own Blazers. Lastly, the site lists upcoming events for all VSU sports that will be happening in the next few weeks.

Whether the school financially supports men’s sports more than women’s is not the issue. What I feel our school does do, is equally advertise on the school’s Web site the different sports our school has. Let’s face it, this is the age of technology and it is easy for any student, parent or member of the community to find information about VSU athletics using the Internet.

I think the sports program is a great experience for some college students, but universities need to remember that not all pee-wee football players grow up to play in college, so academics needs to get just as much support. Sports and academics should go hand in hand, because it is the education and skills that I have learned throughout my life that allow me to enjoy those conversations with my father about the latest sports headlines.