This appears in the Monday, April 21, 2014 edition of the Business Mirror.
The last hope for the
student-athlete
by rick olivares
Lost amidst the controversial residency rules in
college sports is an insidious practice that ruins lives.
Some schools because of their win at all costs
mentality take away the scholarships of athletes who do not come away with a
medal by season’s end. Furthermore, when it’s time for them to leave school or
even graduate, they are charged with all these miscellaneous fees for food,
training fees and others that they had never heard of during their time in
school. It’s like getting this mobile phone plan only for you to find out that
there are all these hidden charges.
It isn’t only true of student-athletes who stay
behind but for also those who opt to transfer to other schools for different
reasons. Their “release” is contingent upon being in the good graces of a top
school official or else they’ll pay up.
Now many of these kids cannot afford to pay for their
tuition that is why a scholarship means a lot to them so what more these fees?
Some of the “back charges” go up all the way to six figures! Many cannot pay
hence they leave school or aren’t able to get their transcript of records or
their diploma.
What makes this even more maddening is this is not
true for ALL athletes but is levied on a few.
I can understand a student-athlete getting thrown out
of the team for disciplinary and academic reasons but because of their
inability to win? What are these school administrators and athletic officials
teaching these kids?
They have to remember that the reason why these
student-athletes went to them in the first place is because of that badly
needed scholarship. I am willing to bet that had it been bared that should an
student-athlete decide to transfer or not win at all and they’d have to pay for
all these miscellaneous fees they would not go to these schools.
The problem is they only find out about this when it
happens causing all sorts of problems.
This isn’t the first time I have bared this problem. I
have heard of this practice from different athletes first-hand for years now
and have seen a few of them go back home to their province with their dreams
crushed.
There is a climate of fear that prevents many of
these student-athletes from coming out and sharing their problems. They do not
come from well-heeled families. They do not have any power and they are up
against people in authority and you know how difficult a fight like that can
be.
I wrote about this years ago and have earned the ire
of some of these schools’ officials.
Fortunately, now that Senators Pia Cayetano, Miriam
Defensor-Santiago, and Cynthia Villar have drafted and are pushing for the
passing of Senate Bills to protect the student-athlete, these schools and
leagues are on the run. And what better timing than to bring this issue to the
top once more so that a provision may be written into the Senate Bill.
Provisions should be made for its implementation and
oversight. There must be a venue or a vehicle for student-athletes (or even the
regular student) to seek guidance and help with their situations related to
this. All student-athletes should know what they are walking into and what the
scholarship entails. What if they transfer? Are there any hidden charges? Are
all these items in the fine print?
Furthermore, this Senate Bill should be distributed
to schools and student-athletes all over the country so they are aware of their
rights and what they can do.
It is rather infuriating that every year some
controversy crops up in college sports. The leagues never learn. Why? Because
they are not qualified to run a league. They seem to think that athletic
greatness (when they were in school) or being an administrator or owner =
competence to run a league/s.
No way! Not when everyone puts their own school’s
interest first and above all.
We are appalled by the treatment of our overseas
workers but do not seem overly concerned with many unfair labor practices by
top corporations or even the poor examples being set by an amateur competition
gone wrong. We turn a blind eye to this. Only when a foreigner tramples upon
our rights does this so-called Filipino pride boil to the surface. What about
these domestic problems?
The rights of students and student-athletes may be infinitesimal
compared to other problems and concerns of wider scope but remember that this
is in a school setting. The young copy what they see from others.
The Senate Bills #2166 (Magna Carta of
Student-Athletes) and #1252 (Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act) is
perhaps the student-athletes’ last hope.
If it doesn’t work I do not want to shake my head and
dejectedly mutter, “It’s hopeless. Hopeless.”
i'm pretty sure Feu does this. Montinola himself bred that these student athletes are "investments". Quite suspects are Dlsu (which all started these 'perks' so to speak) and NU, the late bloomer among the "patronized" schools. I don't know anything about the other leagues. But I'd like to think that Ateneo doesn't dabble in this ''unfair labor practice'' as it were lol, or the fab five era wouldn't have graduated with scholarships (or without payables, lol).
ReplyDeleteWe don't!
DeleteA lot of people disagree, and often use Ravena, Valdez, and Pingoy as basket cases
DeleteFEU
ReplyDeletebred = bared, sorry typo
ReplyDeleteThere should also be a law on recruitment processes by schools.
ReplyDeleteSo high and mighty, all schools are guilty so please don't try to come across as moralists. Such hypocrisy.
ReplyDeletethe UAAP needs to revise it's rules in such a way where the student-athletes' interests are of paramount importance. current rules are based on the interests of the schools. They created rules to even the playing field (ie fil-am rule, soc rivera rule), but that will never happen . There will be schools who will have the advantage in recruitment even if you take away the financial aspect of it. Blue chip recruits more often than not will choose the more prestigious schools. Ganyan talaga even in the US and they need to accept that. They should just focus on there job-- to educate. Unfortunately, that is not the case as they are more concerned with winning UAAP titles. This is why I admire San Beda and Ato Badolato; you can tell that they really care for their players. They never took it against them if they transferred to another school for college. As long as nahulma nila nang tama yung bata, masaya sila.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the limiting of imports (foreign players) to just one per school would affect those (if at all) with fil-ams and not African imports? E.g. Ball (UP), Newsome (Ateneo), Perkins (Dlsu), etc? If they will be considered as foreigners, then Admu cannot put in the roster its African students in the roster until Newsome has exhausted his eligibility. Same with La Salle; it cannot include Mbala in 2015 unless they remove Perkins. So what happens to Tratter and Sergent too? Naturalization lol? This isn't like the Northern Consolidated of the past where all positions from 1-5 are complete with Americans with 1% pinoy blood. Or will it be?
ReplyDelete