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Utah gymnastics team ‘swag’
August 23rd, 2010 | clothing, Gymnastics, NCAA
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18 comments ↓
Gee, all those students working through school and taking out loads of debt, must be thrilled that the gymnastics team is getting all that cool attire along with their free education. Yeah, I’m cynical…
I think they earn it. Free education? Try going to college on a sports scholarship.
I met a diver at senior summer nationals studying and doing homework for a college class BETWEEN competition dives!!
I’m glad to see he spoils his athletes.
Given the cost of education, I’d say the free education is a fair deal. I’ve seen students studying in between waiting tables – is one more deserving than the other?
Wanted to also add that many nationally ranked divers are NOT on scholarship, so I don’t know if this one was. Either way, many students would kill to work as an athlete for school. I know it’s not easy, but they are getting the equivalent of $20,000 a year. Not a bad trade off.
This girl was on scholarship. I don’t deny that there are those out there who would kill for an athletic scholarship, myself included. It took me years to pay off my school debts. I just really think that the athletes have earned their scholarships. They didn’t get there on charm – how many hours in the gym did their parents pay for before they could finally get a scholarship?
The university lets them in for free but the certainly get their money out of these athletes. The top athletes bring a lot of prestige to these schools.
Generally the swag is donated by a company, like Nike. Most of the time you have to be wearing that brand when working out, even in the weight room.
Tracy, this is an agree to disagree situation I guess. I went to a D1 school and while prestige might have been brought to the school, only a few sports brought in money (to be fair, Utah might be the only school that makes a profit from gymnastics). I’m not upset that they received full scholarships, but I don’t think it’s necessary to use the constantly hiked up tuition money of other students to fund certain things like excessive apparel or hotel stays the night before a game/meet – hopefully JO is correct about donations.
The athletes at my school deserved their scholarships, but in no way were they shortchanged. They had access to incredible training facilities, tutors and trainers and once a year took training trips to some nice, prestigious locations.
AM,
Wow, am I sensing a bit of jealousy. Like JO mentioned, all that apparel is giving to the university through their merchandising deal. And all that money for the hotels and trips come out of the athletic budget and not the academic budget so their is no effect on your tution. If you want to have the opportunity to enjoy all those privileges, I suggust dedicating your childhood like these girls to a sport so that you might reap these types of benefits.
Any school that has division one football and or basketball will see their other programs benefit. It is all about getting on TV. If you have a team that is going to be on national television (ie, football or basketball) regularily, the sporting companies will throw the free gear at them, and the other teams in the school will be provided for as well. It is all about publicity and advertising.
Really. These girls spent more than a decade in a gym to earn these scholarships, there parents sacrificed time and money to allow these kids to reach this level and these athletes get some gym swag and its not fair because they are on scholarship? really? US tuition is high..many of them live away from home and have additional costs that are not covered and if they are international they can’t even work.. so SWAG are not, promotional or not, this has nothing to do with scholarships and funding.. UTAH sells out their meets, they sell incredible amounts of apparel realistically they probably bring UTAH some profits… good for them!
The university and athletic programs are separate entities. Money that the university has cannot touch athletics. The athletic programs are separate businesses than the actual university. It has nothing to do with tuition prices. Also, as JO said, the contracts with adidas, nike, etc. require student athletes to wear their gear.
No jealousy PM. If the apparel came as a donation than that’s fine. But the hotels are not donated. I was a defender of athletic privileges through school, but think the athletes are given more than enough. Since, the point of college is academics, I don’t think it’s too much to ask that tuition not be hiked while facilities are being remodeled and training trips are being funded.
As for dedicating your childhood to a sport…well that’s good and bad. I’m thrilled to see a gymnast rewarded with a scholarship, but a student who has dedicated his/her life to academics is just as deserving and we know academic scholarships are not as plentiful as athletic scholarships.
Not speaking about gymnastics here, but are you fine with a football team having over fifty players given a free ride? How about a basketball player who will take remedial courses for 2-3 years before jumping ship to the NBA?
Kara – if they’re separate entities, why wouldn’t they just be a private team?
AM, you are unbelieveable. You just do not get it at all. Once again you show how jealous you are of these gymnast and athletes. Once again so that you can understand, your tuition hike has nothing to do with athletics. These trips and training facilities are built off the backs of these athletes and are from the revenue they generate. No of that effects your tuition. In fact some of the academic facilities are from the big bowl games some of these programs go to.
Really, the swim teams make enough to cover an immense aquatic facility? The question is should the revenue generated by the sports that make a profit be separate or should it benefit the entire university. Since education is the primary essence of college, why not? Even true scholar athletes have issues with how much money is wasted on athletes who just made it into college.
If you want to write this off as jealousy, that’s your deal. But if you’re willing to believe that athletics is more important than academics, that’s sad.
AM,
Once again you do not understand. I am just assuming it is just pure ignorance that you can not figure it out. No the swim team does not make enough money but we are talking about the athletic program in which if I recall the swim team is a part of. And noone here is has said the athletics is more important that academics. You were the one crying about how this sports programs are causing to hike adcademic tuition but failed to understand that they are somewhat self sufficient. I am sorry that I think you are jealous, I now know it is just ignorance.
Where have I said athletics causes tuition hikes? My point has been that money generated from revenue sports should be used to fund other things (including keeping tuition down) besides sports. Before I started school more years ago than I like to admit, college sports were championed for the reason that they benefit the school…whereas now they merely benefit the sports
program only.
Call me jealous, ignorant, whatever. I worked in the athletic department and while a lot of the athletes were coo, I felt sorry for many of them because they were
Got cut off, sorry…continuing on…
Not treated well. They were ignored, exploited, had little guidance in their career options, etc. I met quite a few hockey players, gymnasts, and swimmers who were going to be coaches even though they were sick of their sport and had no interest in teaching. I had no interest in trading places with them.
Call me an idealist (I’m sure you’re thinking of other things though), but I still think sports should benefit the entire school…and please don’t tell me they bring prestige. They bring name recognition, but it rarely benefits the students.
how much is it
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