Page 6
The Blue Banner
SLAPSHOTS
College athletics
little more than
a springboard
Brian Castle
Columnist
When in the course of human events did
institutions of higher learning become little
more than farm systems for professional sports
leagues?
I remember back in the good old days of the
roaring eighties, when all that we student-
athfete purists had to gripe about were the
lorrible graduation rates of athletes who took
up space at universities for four, and some
times under the redshirt policy, five years.
Now, we have an altogether different problem
on our hands.
The coaches and administrators made a cred
ible effort to raise the graduation rates at the
various major college sports programs of the
NCAA, and for the most part they have bfcen
successful. But the most troubling statistics
arise from the latest fad to emerge in the world
of college sports—early eligibility.
Early eligibility, which occurs when colle
giate underclassmen leave school early to enter
professional sports league drafts, is not a new
thing. In past years, college superstars who
either were not cutting the mustard in the
classroom or not getting along with their
coaches would skip out of school early. Or, as
was the case with Earvin “Magic” Johnson and
Isiah Thomas, some college superstars found
themselves stifled by the college game since
they were ready for the professional level. At
any rate, early eligibility was once called hard
ship, because the cases were so few and far
between and had, almost without exception, a
special circumstance.
Now, there is one major reason for college
underclassmen declaring early for the respec
tive drafts—money. In an age when even me
diocre players are millionaires, and superstars
are multi-multi-millionaires, who can blame a
kid who has never had anything in his life but
his own physical talent for leaving school early
to get a taste of the good life?
I certainly won’t cast the first stone at some
one like Tiger Woods, who, even though he
has plenty of mental capability to finish his
degree at Stanford University, has made the
wise choice to join the Professional Golf Asso
ciation and subsequently ink a five-year, $40
million endorsement deal with Nike. Stanford
grads have one of the highest starting salary
averages in the country, but Mr. Woods would
indeed be hard pressed to match eight million
a year in today’s job market.
Something must be done at the college level
to compensate for this ever-increasing drain
on the best sports talent. Why? Thousands and
thousands of taxpayer dollars, in the cases of
public universities, and alumni dollars, in the
cases of private universities, are going to waste
on student athletes with very little emphasis on
the student aspect.
Every time I see some superstar turn profes
sional after his freshman or sophomore year, I
think of student-athletes like the ones we have
here at UNCA, whose athletic talent enables
them to get a leg up in the world by paving
their way to college degrees. If I’m not mis
taken, these athletes were intended to be the
recipients when someone came up with the
term athletic scholarship.
What should the universities do? The NCAA
must make a concerted effort to petition the
major sports leagues to create farm systems
similar to the one that has been in place for
Major League Baseball since the beginning of
time. Athletes should then have to sign ;
contract, or else join a minor league of profes
sional sports.
Academically capable student-athletes deserve
their shot at a college degree. They cannot
continue to be denied by the presence of ath
letes who merely attend school for a short time
as a springboard for a professional sports ca
reer. Let the sports leagues get their own spring
boards.
OUTDOORS
UNCA paddkrs find challenge and beauty in Ihe mountains
Catharine Sutherland
Guest V/riter
“The real challenge is getting
over the fear factor, letting your
self relax in this little piece of
plastic bobbing in churning
whitewater,” said Christina
Murrey, a sophomore at UNCA,
upon her return from a begin
ners’ kayaking trip on the
Chattooga River sponsored by the
UNCA Paddling Club. Once one
conquers this fear, however, the
joy of kayaking takes over.
Paddling, as kayaking is com
monly called, is a sport driven by
a love of beauty, not a testoster-
one-induced death wish, accord
ing to Leland Davis, UNCA Out
door Education Coordinator and
“Poolbah” (or co-president) of the
year-old Paddling Club. Davis,
who got his first taste of kayaking
on the Green River in Utah in the
spring of 1992 but did not return
to the sport until 1994, explained
that his love for the split-second
instincts required in paddling and
the inexhaustible store of beauti
ful views on the river have taken
over his once-intense rock-climb
ing career.
Kevin Colburn, a seven-year
paddling veteran and Davis’ co
hort as the “Poolbah” of the Pad
dling Club, is a Pennsylvania na
tive who chose UNCA expressly
because of its ideal location for
paddling. “One of the reasons I
moved here was to be near the
Green River Narrows,” said
Colburn, naming the
Hendersonville-area river as a fa
vorite “run,” or stretch of river to
kayak.
Colburn, who bought his first
kayak at age 16 and currently
owns three boats, also noted
Asheville’s proximity to the
Nantahala Outdoor Center, lo
cated an hour and a half west of
the city on the Nantahala River,
which he ranked as one of the
whitewater hubs of the world.
In order to kayak, one must have
what are considered “the five es
sentials”: a kayak, or a long, nar
row, lightweight boat large
enough for one person to slide his
or her legs into the nose of its
needle-like body and sit erectly in
the snug hole in the center of the
for solo trips.
In addition to equipment,
strength ranks as another integral
link in the sport of kayaking. The
most powerful part of a paddler’s
body lies not in the arms but in
the torso, the core of muscles that
control one’s balance and the
movement of the hips. By tilting
the hips from side to side, or shift-
UNCA student Andrew Parker drops off tfie "Baby Falls"
on tfie Tellico River in Tennessee.
Photo courtesy of Andrew Parker
craft; a paddle; a life jacket; a hel
met; and a spray skirt. The spray
skirt, a rubber, skirt-like piece
worn around the paddler’s waist,
grips the rim of the hole surround
ing the paddler and prevents water
from entering the boat.
Although investing in so much
equipment for one sport may seem
daunting and impossibly expen
sive, used kayaking equipment of
fers good quality at bargain prices.
While the cost of a paddling out
fit, kayak plus gear, nears $2000
new, Colburn estimated the cost
of an entire used outfit at $500.
UNCA students are fortunate.
Paddling equipment is free for use
by students on school-sponsored
outings and costs only $ 10 per day
ing one’s bodyweight, one is able
to change the direction of the boat.
“Women have an amazing apti
tude for paddling,” said UNCA
junior Andrew Parker, a member
of the Paddling Club who claims
the number of women paddlers is
on the rise. “They have a lower
center of gravity and are better at
using their hips, so they pick it up
a lot faster than most guys.”
Mental conditioning has as
much to do with paddling as physi
cal strength. According to Davis,
good judgement is key to being a
good paddler. “I think it’s impor
tant to know your limits realisti
cally, know when to push them,
and know when to quit pushing
them,” said Davis. “You become
the best paddler you can be by pad
dling at your limits, not above or
below them.”
While the word “fun” bobs to the
surface at the mere mention of the
sport, kayaking is not without its
dangers. Whitewater presents many
hazards that can be fatal if not ap
proached with skill and knowledge.
Hydraulics (pits of water churning in
a washing-machine-like motion at the
bottom of waterfalls), filters (any
objects that water will flow through
but a boater will not, such as a fallen
tree), and undercut rock (rock that
water will flow beneath but a boater
will not) all pose a threat to paddlers,
but those who are experienced and
able to “read” water, or follow and
understand its currents in the river,
can successfully avoid or maneuver
such obstacles.
However, many paddlers attribute
part of the adrenahne rush of kayaking
to the unpredictability of the river.
No matter how adeptly one reads
water or “follows a line” (navigates a
preferred path in the flow of the
water), one never has control. “The
river can do whatever it wants to you
at any time,” said Parker.
The best advice for safety on the
river is to paddle with others who can
provide rescue for you and to stay in
the boat, even if the boat is going
over the rapids upside down and back
wards. One is better protected toss
ing about rocks and rapids in a large,
bouyant object such as a kayak than
in a life jacket.
Davis advises beginniners to ease
into kayaking by practicing skills on
flat water, and to stick with veteran
paddlers at least the first ten to fifteen
times they take to the rapids. The
practice sessions held by the Pad
dling Club every Wednesday night
from 7 p.m. to 9:40 p.m. in the
UNCA swimming pool are an ideal
way for beginners and veterans alike
to hone their paddling skills and pre
pare for the beauty and rush of the
whitewater.
UNCA’s Osborne named Big South Player of the Week
Mark Plemmons
Staff Writer
“Hey! This next one’s coming to me! It’s
going to land right in front of you, and you’re
not going to be able to do anything about it.”
This attitude, said Kim Osborne, one of
UNCA’s top volleyball players, is essential dur
ing a game.
“I like a particularly confident attitude,”
Osborne said, “because it’s very threatening to
look across the net and see someone who’s very
sure of herself I might be struggling in a
particular part of my game, but that’s not
something I want to let on to the other team. If
you can make eye contact with them, and you
can see no confidence in their eyes, then they’re
that much easier to completely shut down,
especially when it’s a big hitter or someone
who’s really important to the success of their
team.”
And her confidence certainly seems to be
working. In her first two weeks of play this
season, Osborne helped lead the Lady Bulldogs
to two consecutive second-place finishes at
both the Furman Invitational, and the UNC
Preview Classic. Last week, Osborne was named
the Big South'Player of the Week.
“I’ve heard people say before, ‘You look so
cocky out there on the court.’ That’s part of my
game face, really. And I wouldn’t use the word
‘cocky,’ I would just say ‘assured.’,” she said.
“Even when I’m struggling, I try to have that
appearance. But it is hard at times, especially
when we’re all struggling, to still have the
appearance that we’re going to be fine, we’re
still going to win.”
But Osborne’s strength of character didn’t
spring up overnight. For several years, before
coming to UNCA, she played volleyball in her
home town of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
“I started when I was in the seventh grade. I
was a cheerleader before that, and I found out
that I just could not sit still in the stands. I got
so excited over all the games, and I
thought I couldn’t just sit there dur
ing all that stuff,” Osborne said.
“My gym teacher in seventh grade,
he was really the one that got me
started playing athletics. He really
thought I had the ability to do it, and
I certainly was excited enough to do
it. So the next year I tried out for
volleyball. It’s taken off from there.”
After high s.chool, Osborne won a
volleyball scholarship to UNCA. Now
she wouldn’t have it any other way,
even though there’s a lot more hard
work involved than most people would
expect.
“Practice is every day, with one day
off every seven days. That’s an NCAA
rule. We practice every day of the
week except Thursdays, when we get
our day off. Because we travel so much
on the weekend, it’s more convenient
to get a day off during the week.”
And there’s not just practice.“We
lift weights two to three times a week.
And that’s to maintain rather than to
build muscle,”” she said. “Our off
season is when we build strength,
whereas the lifting we do during the
week, in-season, is just to maintain
•
It.
With so much physical exercise, not to men
tion homework, it’s hard to see how Osborne
has time to breathe and sometimes even find a,
moment to indulge herself in one of her many
hobbies, which include water-skiing, listening
music, reading, and almost any kind of
to
sports. But nothing will ever replace volleyball,
or the camaraderie of her teammates.
“I love the team aspect of the sport. I love the
fact that each of the girls that I play with, I have
a relationship with outside of volleyball. We
have a mutual respect for one another, a friend
ship,” said Osborne.
Big South Player-of-tlie-Week Kimberly Osborne Trish Johnson
“The fact that we’re all working together to
achieve the same goal gives us something in
common already. It’s like a separate commu
nity. And the competition is like an addiction.
I just love the game itself. There’s nothing that
catches my attention more than playing this
game.”
When asked about her best memories,
Osborne replies, “The best memories are yet to
come, because I’m really confident that we’re
going to win the championship this year. So I
haven’t experienced the best memory yet. That
will be in November.”