todayathletesconcerns-blog

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College Athlete Vaughn Wellenreiter has been playing Volley ball for 12 years now. He currently only plays for Club teams and is competing this summer in the Men’s National Volleyball tournament in Minneapolis.

Csun student Vaughn Wellenretier is finishing up his six and final year at csun. He will be receiving his Bachelors in Information Systems. Vaughn came to CSUN after being invited by Jeff Campbell to join the Men’s Volleyball team.

Vaughn works at Chick-fIl-a as part time. He uses this to pay for personal and school expenses. Vaughn was a walk on, in the men’s volleyball team. Only four scholarships are released for the Volleyball team while many other sports have various of scholarships. All depending on the popularity of the sport as described by Vaughn.

Vaughn describes that there are team mates that he worked with that worked, did school full time, and did drills with him as a daily routine. Vaughn thanks his parents for the support they were able to provide so he wouldn't have to work during his College Volleyball career.

Vaughn looks at his time stub, to see the amount of hours he had worked.

Vaughn Currently is engaged and lives with his Fiancé.

Vaughn and his current club team won Nationals in 2015 and hopes to win again this year. He has to pay out of his own pocket to compete in these leagues. He has some expenses covered by a fellow teammate/coach who helps gather the team together to compete in nationals.

Vaughn was in the Final Four in the NCAA for Men’s Volleyball. At the time he was competing for University of Hawaii after being released from CSUN. Vaughn Explained the different benefits he received from Hawaii. The school would give them Stipends, about $30 a day when they were out traveling to other schools to cover food expenses. While CSUN just paid for food for the whole team after a match to a local fast food joint or something.

Vaughn was the Club president for MISA( Management Information Systems Association).

Vaughn is cramming down some information before his final.

Vaughn who stopped playing College Volleyball doesn't regret his decision. He went back to CSUN after playing for Hawaii to finish school since Hawaii didn't accept some credited classes he took previously. He also found it difficult to play the game and do school. Vaughn wishes that sports with high revenue should compensate students for there hard work on doing school and playing. Especially those sports that help bring in big crowds to the school. Vaughn also thanks his high school coach Jorge Ostrovsky for pushing him and spending time with him in perfecting his game.

Photostory by: Daniel Valencia.

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5. Q: Do you think Division 1 college athletes are receiving too many benefits from the Universities? (Scholarships, food/living expenses) 

A: Many of these collegiate athletes practice something like 60 hours a week and many are accumulate debt even with their scholarships. I mean come on its their talent after all that brings in all the billions. It seems like they are exploiting the athletes by profiting from their skills and form of being a celebrity, not giving them any money out of all of it. 

6. Q: Is it fair to pay female athletes the same amount as male athletes? Even if that program doesn’t generate as much money as a men’s program. Or vice versa

A: I advocate all the time for women and girls in sports so my answer will not change. They should absolutely get the same amount point blank. Many people might not argue with that but if you watch women in college sports they are way more fundamental then men sports. I think its easier on the eyes. 

7. Q: Would paying these athletes detract from the purity of the game?

A: I do’t think so many of them make it to this level because they have some form of dedications and work ethic. Many of the athletes in college who get injured run the risk of losing their scholarships which are mostly given out yearly in most cases.

8. Q: Should Universities pay and award those athletes who achieve a GPA of 3.0 or higher in their classes? 

A: Yes. If they set up a system to make the athletes be held accountable I’m all for that. Don’t just throw money at them I think guidelines is important and it’s best to start learning that as early as  possible.It is critical to take in consideration that only so many people can play professional sports for a living so the NCAA so be strict on grades for the student athletes’ benefit.

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College Athletes Getting Paid

By Jesus Partida

Student athletes throughout College campuses in the United States do not get compensations for their efforts in collegiate sports which make a lot of money.

Most of the money made in college sports come from the broadcasting rights throughout different networks.  Other sources of income for the college sports come from ticket sales to every sport.

“They make so much money for the school that I think they should be reimbursed for that… or they are worth for the school,” said Vaughn Wellenreiter a former volleyball player here at CSUN.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has a statement on its website (http://www.ncaa.org/amateurism ) of the reason they do not think it is for the best to pay students for the hard work they put into playing a college sport.

On the website, they define the word amateurism and what they believe it stands for in collegiate athletics.  They make it all about the academics first and athletics second which is wrong since many of the athletes go to college with the mind set of playing their sport.

Recently ESPN paid the NCAA $5.7 billion for the broadcasting rights of the new college football playoff through the 2025 season (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Football_Playoff; http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/12/media/espn-college-football-playoff-pays-off/ ).

The NCAA also received $10.8 billion from CBS and Turner Broadcasting System to air the division I basketball tournament through the 2024 season and recently they extended the deal all the way until 2032 with an extra $8.8 billion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_March_Madness_(CBS/Turner) ).

This is just touching on the most popular college sports in the country that grab a big amount of audience throughout the country.  These two sports bring a lot of money in for the NCAA and the conferences where the universities play.

In the past, there was other forms of income for the NCAA when they sold the rights to the video games industry and that is how some college video game came out (I had one of them).  This is without mentioning the ticket sale on the many stadiums around the college campuses. Most of those college football stadiums have a capacity of just about 100,000 people and that makes a lot of revenue.

It is clear, these two college sports make a huge amount of money and the problem is that the athletes that perform with their talent do not receive any money in return.  Wellenreiter also mentioned that he understands that if there was a payment for college athletes it would depend on the sport they played.

http://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/17/paying-college-athletes-lawyers-academics-say-its-time-to-pay-them.html

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Head Coach Torino Johnson

1. Q: Do College athletes get all the benefits they deserve as far as receiving to little compensation? 

A: No they do not receive all the benefits they should because for one they cant even receive any kind of monetary compensation. That means that collegiate athletes currently cant accept sponsorship deals or any other kind of publicity related payouts. They put in the work in earn the opportunity to get those deal I can’t understand why they aren’t allowed to accept them. Players are punished for accepting those awards like seen with my favorite NFL running back Todd Gurley and former USC running back Reggie Bush.

2. Q: Would it be fair to other students if athletes got paid? 

    A: Yes I see it as being fair because we are talking about what a group of students are contributing to a college. They are not just receiving money by doing noting they dedicate so much like their body, time, and college experience honestly. 

3. Q: If the NCAA paid athletes, should it only apply to division 1 schools?

    A: A college athlete is a college athlete it does not matter what division you play in. I could argue someone in division 3 sports plays harder and dedicate more time to his craft than division 1 athletes. Very often we find the grittest players from small programs. 

4. Q: Do you think college athletes should be paid for playing a sport since athletes generate millions of dollars for Universities? 

     A: College programs Basketball and Football especially take in billions of dollars each year through marketing, broadcast contracts, ticket sales and merchandising. I believe the March Madness tournament just by itself generates more than $1 billion in a year more than the Superbowl. 

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PACIFIC PALISADES CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS HEAD COACH TORINO JOHNSON