The Upsides & Downsides of College Athletics Within the NCAA
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University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM Graduate College Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 2019 The pU sides & Downsides of College Athletics Within the NCAA: An Analysis of the Rules and a Personal Account of the Power of Resilience Cassidy Evelyn Derda University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis Part of the Higher Education Administration Commons Recommended Citation Derda, Cassidy Evelyn, "The psideU s & Downsides of College Athletics Within the NCAA: An Analysis of the Rules and a Personal Account of the Power of Resilience" (2019). Graduate College Dissertations and Theses. 1152. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/1152 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate College Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE UPSIDES & DOWNSIDES OF COLLEGE ATHLETICS WITHIN THE NCAA: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RULES AND A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF THE POWER OF RESILIENCE A Thesis Presented by Cassidy Derda to The Faculty of the Graduate College of The University of Vermont In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education Specializing in Interdisciplinary Studies May, 2019 Defense Date: March 22, 2019 Thesis Examination Committee: Robert J. Nash, Advisor Kieran Killeen, Ph.D, Chairperson David Rosowsky, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, F.SEI Cynthia J. Forehand, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College ABSTRACT For the past five years, I have been a Division I Women’s Basketball player under the National Collegiate Athletic Association. I have played at two different schools, I have spoken to numerous investigators and lawyers, and I am now on my third set of college basketball coaches. Most athletes that enter college have one set of four-five coaches during their four-five-year period, I have had thirteen. College basketball has presented countless challenges for me mentally and psychically. For a while I thought that the adversity that I was facing as a young woman playing a high level of athletics was considered normal, but now that I have grown, reflected, and sought out opinions of professionals I know that my experience wasn’t a “normal” one. Throughout my time as an NCAA athlete I have been home to the harsh routine that so many young student- athletes struggle to get through. In this paper, I am reflecting upon my experience as a college athlete and college sports as I know it. The NCAA is one of the most corrupt corporations in our modern-day world. Despite its claims that ensure success of student- athletes, the NCAA treats athletes not developing human beings, but as objects that contribute to their dirty multi-million-dollar franchise. At the end of the day, they NCAA is a business that operates around making money around student-athlete’s identity and runs in a way that doesn’t benefit student-athletes. Throughout my paper I will be discussing the rules of the NCAA and how they play out in reality, as well as how they can be improved. I am also writing this paper to have a conversation about how hard it is to be a college athlete in general, many people have a false perception of the life we live, and I want to clear some things up. The NCAA doesn’t take the mental health of athletes seriously. There are plenty of opportunities to improve the way the NCAA treats its athletes, while still profiting from the goldmine they make off of amateurism. The NCAA doesn’t put student athletes in a position to take full advantage of their scholarship, let alone gives them a chance at being a healthy, functioning, young adult. I will be telling personal stories that relate to bigger topics and issues within the NCAA, as well as how I think they can be improved for the well-being of college athletes. This paper is my story, this paper is a personal account of the power of resilience. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to take a moment to acknowledge Professor Robert Nash. It was not until I met you that I thought I had a story worth telling. You have believed in me from the day we met at Chef’s Corner last spring and I can’t believe here I am a year later completing a thesis. Your passion for teaching is something that I have been waiting for in so many of my professors throughout my academic career. Thank you for all that you have done for me, thank you for pushing me to tell my story, thank you for opening up a new world of writing with your creation of SPN methodology. I would also like to acknowledge my Mom and Dad. Mom, thank you for being such a strong, hardworking, and supportive role model in my life. I truly believe that I wouldn’t have made it through this journey without you. Thank you for always pushing me to be my best, and always demanding that I have more to give even on days when I didn’t think I could. I know that your experience as a college athlete has shaped who you are today. You always told me to never give up, and I needed that in more ways than one. Dad, thank you for always being there. Thank you for all of the countless hours that you spent in a gym with me from the moment I picked up a basketball. Thank you for helping me reach my goal of playing Division I basketball, you always believed in me even when other people didn’t. Thank you for all of the traveling and planning to make sure you could catch as many games as possible. I am so thankful that these past three years I have been able to see both of your faces in the crowd. I love you both so much. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my teammates, particularly the senior class I will be graduating with. I can’t imagine going through these past five years without each II and every teammate that I have met along the way that has had a great influence on my life on and off the basketball court. It has meant the world to me to have come out of this experience with lifelong friends. III TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................viii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................ii CHAPTER 1: SCHOLARLY PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING ....................1 1.1 What is Scholarly Personal Narrative Writing? .......................................1 1.2 Why I Chose the SPN Format my Thesis ................................................4 1.3 What I Want People to Take-away From My Writing ............................6 CHAPTER 2: REMINISCING ..................................................................................9 2.1 What Do I Do Now? ................................................................................9 CHAPTER 3: HOW DID I GET HERE? ..................................................................13 3.1 Painting the Picture ..................................................................................13 3.2 Where It All Began ..................................................................................14 3.3 The Chase.................................................................................................19 3.4 Defying the Odds .....................................................................................25 3.5 “Signing your Life Away” .......................................................................26 CHAPTER 4: MY FRESHMAN & SOPHOMORE YEAR .....................................29 4.1 It’s Hard to Think About..........................................................................29 4.2 The Team Dynamic..................................................................................30 4.3 The Boiling Point .....................................................................................37 4.4 The Breaking Point ..................................................................................39 4.5 Looking Ahead.........................................................................................41 IV 4.6 Is it Friday Yet? .......................................................................................42 4.7 I Can't Sleep .............................................................................................43 4.8 Misery Loves Company ...........................................................................44 4.9 Get Out .....................................................................................................46 CHAPTER 5: The Different Seasons & Their Demands ...........................................48 5.1 Summer Sessions .....................................................................................48 5.2 Preseason .................................................................................................56 5.3 In Season ..................................................................................................58 5.4 Postseason ................................................................................................64 CHAPTER 6: COAC HES & CULTURE .................................................................71 6.1 Strength Coaches .....................................................................................71 6.2 The Weight Room Culture .......................................................................77 6.3 Nowhere to Turn ......................................................................................81 6.4 Head Coaches...........................................................................................85