By: ALLIE SMITH
(Gainesville, Ga.) – There are many controversies regarding collegiate sports.
Throughout the different divisions and conferences you have a different set of rules and athletes are treated differently. You can see it from the perspective of a NCAA D1 football player compared to NAIA volleyball players.
NCAA D1 kicker for the University of Minnesota, Ryan Santoso, has many benefits of being high up in the sports world. With his scholarship he receives: two pairs of Nike shoes each year along with two pairs of cleats. Santoso also receives dozens of free clothes to help represent his school.
The athletes get bundles of privileges throughout the school such as: private tutoring twice a week to help out with schoolwork, free travel, and anything from Beats headphones to iPads. They are set for the school year.
On the opposite side, NAIA schools are so much smaller than NCAA schools and they lack benefits that larger schools receive. For instance, as a part of Brenau University’s volleyball team, I know firsthand how different our benefits are compared to NCAA school teams.
Yes we get free gear, but it is nowhere near what big schools receive. We may get a few shirts along with uniform equipment but that is the extent of our clothing benefits. We do get to travel, but we are treated like every other student on campus, but professors tend to work with the athletes well.
Being able to communicate and be accommodated by professors is the best thing about being an athlete at a smaller school.
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