An initial two years of basic studies await most freshmen upon entering the four-year college campus, and such is expected of student athletes as well. But at this point the hypocrisy surfaces. Athletes are obliged to identify a major course of study, and many are compelled to do so disingenuously. All too many young men either completely lack interest in the mandatory and largely arbitrary and convenient choice of major or, at best, are only marginally attracted to it. Their laserlike focus is upon football, basketball, or baseball. It is here where their most powerful and meaningful motivations lie.
After those first two years are completed, a realistic curriculum for a "sports performance major" might look something like this:
Junior year, first semester: anatomy and physiology; educational psychology (introduction to learning theory); laboratory in heavy resistance training; football, basketball, or baseball offensive strategies (scrimmage).
Junior year, second semester: introduction to sports psychology; introduction to physiology of exercise; laboratory in aerobic fitness training; elements of contract law; football, basketball, or baseball laboratory (scrimmage); health education.
Senior year, first semester: introduction to human nutrition; public speaking; football, basketball, or baseball laboratory (offensive and defensive strategies); introduction to sports coaching.
Senior year, second semester: introduction to motor learning; stress and performance; elements of business law; the body in motion (kinesiology).
Such prescribed coursework would be relevant to the athlete's career objectives. And those young men who enter collegiate sports with nonprofessional aspirations (there are some, to be sure) would certainly not be required to elect the football, basketball, or baseball major. They would be entirely free to elect any major of their choosing.
During the four semesters of coursework beyond basic studies, athletes would also be participating in seasonal, on-the-field practice in their respective sports. In addition, they would continue to participate in intercollegiate competition where they would apply skills and knowledge acquired from their various educational experiences. This would be analogous to what undergraduate musicians and theater students do. They study their craft and display their acquired skill before campus audiences.
