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Sports, Study,
or Sleep
Understanding the Student-
Athlete’s College Experiences
Dinur Blum
Sports, Study, or Sleep
Dinur Blum
Sports, Study, or Sleep

Understanding the Student-Athlete’s College
Experiences
Dinur Blum
California State University Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-61325-9 ISBN 978-3-030-61326-6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61326-6
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
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retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
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Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
For everyone who encouraged me, supported me, and believed in me even
when I didn’t.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge and thank Linda Braus, Meera Mithran,

and the rest of the publishing team at Palgrave MacMillan for helping
turn my idea into this book. I would also like to acknowledge and thank
Christian G. Jaworski and Dr. Adam G. Sanford for their help in proof-
reading and editing chapters; this book could not have happened without
your help and guidance, and I appreciate it greatly. This book is based on
and expands upon my dissertation completed at University of California,
Riverside, The Books or the Ballgames: Understanding Student-Athletes’
Experiences in School (2018).
vii
Contents
1 “Why Should We Have to Go to Class If We Came

Here to Play Football?” What This Book Is About 1
What Do We Think We Know About Student-Athletes? 3
NCAA Grade Requirements for Eligibility 7
Methodology 7
What Is This Book About? 8
References 11
2 “If I Wanted to Play, I Had to Bring Home

the Grades”: Interviews with Former Student-Athletes 13
Messages About Academic Success 14
Messages About Athletic (Sport) Success 15
Structural Support Offered and Perceptions of Teammates’
Successes and Attitudes in Class 20
When Class and Sports Schedules Conflict, and the Role
Scholarships Play 22
Priorities: School or Sports 24
Differences Between Easier and Harder Classes 27
Defining Academic Success 28
Defining Athletic Success 30
Discussion 32
References 34
ix
x CONTENTS
3 “Emptying the Tank”: Current Student-Athletes 35

Messages Received from Family and Coaches 36
Differences Between Community Colleges and Four-Year
Schools 37
Pressures Student-Athletes Face 41
How Student-Athletes View the Role of Counselors
and Advisors 44
Teammates Who Struggle Academically 50
Defining Academic Success 53
Defining Athletic Success 54
Defining Professional Success 57
Reference 57
4 “Going into Classes Blind”: Comparing

Student-Athletes’ Challenges and Experiences 59
Obstacles Faced and Pragmatic Responses: Scheduling Classes 59
Time and Energy Management 62
Being a Student-Athlete: A Challenging Balancing Act 63
The Importance of Grades and Education 66
The Importance of Grades for Teammates and Coaches 69
Final Impressions and Looking Toward Solutions
from the NCAA, Faculty, and Student-Athletes Themselves 72
5 “Professional Sports Are a Well-Paying Temporary

Job”: Messages from Coaches 77
Power-Five Football and Men’s Basketball 77
School vs. Sports: What Gets Emphasized? 88
Differences Among Different Schools 89
“What Patterns Have You Noticed in Patterns in Terms
of Who Succeeds the Most in Classes and Who Struggles
the Most?” 92
How Do Coaches Define Success for Their Student-Athletes? 97
What Do You Want People to Know About Coaching
in College? 98
How Has Your Role Changed Since Campuses Closed? 100
How Can Coaches Help Student-Athletes? 102
References 103
CONTENTS xi
6 “The Importance of Having a Plan B”: Academic

Personnel Who Work with Student-Athletes 105
Power-Five Schools vs. Everyone Else 106
Advisors’ Goals for Student-Athletes 111
How Do Schools Help Student-Athletes Reach Higher Grades? 113
Three Challenges Student-Athletes Face 115
Challenges Student-Athletes Face: School Transitions 122
Advisors as Academic Liaisons 124
References 127
7 Reimagining College Sports and Student-Athletes 129

Maximizing Effort in the Classroom: Fighting the Apathetic
Student-Athlete Image, and a New Way of Examining
Student-Athlete Attitude 134
NCAA Policy, Team, and School-Specific Suggestions 137
References 141
Appendices 143
Bibliography 149
Name Index 153
Subject Index 155

CHAPTER 1
“Why Should We Have to Go to Class If We

Came Here to Play Football?” What This Book
Is About
Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play

FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are
POINTLESS. (Clayton 2012)
In 2012, then-freshman and third-string quarterback Cardale Jones of

Ohio State University posted this message from his Twitter account. As
a freshman (first-year undergraduate), Jones was new to being a college
student. As a third-string quarterback, he was not receiving playing time
as he would need. Two injuries (to the two quarterbacks ahead of him
on the depth chart listing who gets the bulk of the playing time at each
position) would give him the playing time and to be noticed by profes-
sional football (NFL) scouts. Years later, he claimed this tweet was born
out of frustration for how he had done on (of all things) a sociology
exam, and he became their starting quarterback. Jones’ tweet highlights
a discrepancy for many student-athletes, and serves as the catalyst for this
book, which focuses on how student athletes have to be proficient at both
academics and athletics, and the obstacles they face succeeding in school.
In 2014, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported
that more than three thousand (3000) of its undergraduate students,
including student-athletes, had been funneled into so-called “paper
courses” (Ganim and Sayers 2014), in which little, if any, work was
required to pass the class. These courses allowed student-athletes to
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to 1

Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Blum, Sports, Study, or Sleep,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61326-6_1
2 D. BLUM
remain academically eligible for intercollegiate competitions, as they artifi-

cially inflated students’ grade point averages. As a result of an investigation
by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the University
of North Carolina received accreditation probation for one year in 2015.
While the university was exonerated in 2017, following its own investiga-
tion into these classes, the mere fact that these classes were offered was a
source of concern and potential embarrassment for the school. Student-
athletes were funneled into majors like Swahili, but when asked if they
could speak or write in Swahili, many said no. Effectively this meant
that students, especially student-athletes, were graduating with degrees,
but had not improved on their academic or professional skills, and
were lacking both skills and knowledge. While North Carolina provides
a high-profile example of an institution promoting its student-athletes
for minimum effort in the classroom, it is hardly the only school in
which non-students helped student-athletes remain eligible by completing
assignments or tests them (Wolverton 2014).
College sports are a lucrative business, especially if one focuses on
football and basketball at “power-five” schools. The power-five is the
collective name for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 10, Big
12, Pacific (Pac) 12, and Southeastern Conference (SEC). The member
schools for each conference can be found in Appendix A. As of 2020,
NCAA makes almost one billion dollars in ad revenue from the annual
men’s basketball national tournament (“March Madness”). This is in
addition to the lucrative television broadcasting rights for the tourna-
ment on national television, along with individual TV deals that member
conferences have for broadcasting regular season games, and from gate
revenue and merchandise sales (Lisa 2020). The basketball money (mainly
generated from the March Madness tournament) is added to the money
produced from football, and is distributed to participating schools. On its
website, the NCAA boasts it awards roughly 3.5 billion dollars in athletic
scholarships to more than 180,000 student-athletes (NCAA.org), but
only began rewarding academic achievement in 2019–2020 by increasing
the amount schools receive from television broadcast rights (NCAA.org).
Prior to this, academics took a clear back seat to sports, with only $25.1
million allocated to “academic enhancement.” This money was divided
among all 65 teams in the tournament, meaning each school received
between $350,000 and $400,000 for academics. For smaller schools, this
money is a nice boost, but it pales in comparison to the revenue spent
1 “WHY SHOULD WE HAVE TO GO TO CLASS IF WE CAME … 3
on the sports themselves. Student-athletes are pressured to succeed, espe-

cially those competing in high-profile sports and at high-profile schools.
This pressure comes from media attention, zealous fans, intense coaches,
and the players themselves. On the other hand, academics take a back
seat to sports. After all, fans are not watching these student-athletes take
tests or give class presentations, and coaches do not get contract exten-
sions when their student-athletes ace classes, nor are they fired if a student
struggles in a class. Coaches are rewarded with contracts or extensions for
winning and or penalized and fired for losing games.
While the NCAA invests heavily in athletes, fewer than 2% of the
undergraduate student-athletes go on to play professional football (NFL)
or basketball (NBA) in the United States, and while others have profes-
sional athletic careers overseas in basketball or in other sports, the
overwhelming majority of student-athletes embark on careers other than
“professional athlete.”
What Do We Think We Know

About Student-Athletes?
The academic literature paints a rather bleak image of college student-
athletes. Studies done from the 1980s through early 2000s explain that
student-athletes begin college with expectations of doing well in their
sports and school, but their various experiences on campus, such as being
talked down to by their professors or classmates, push them away from
school and into their sports, where they are treated as more compe-
tent than in the classroom. These studies suggest student-athletes have
little control over the courses they take, with academic advisors choosing
“easy” classes for them, in order to give them a way of staying eligible
(Adler and Adler 1985; Benson 2000; Watt and Moore 2001).
This led to continuing the stereotypes that student-athletes either
could not handle academically-challenging courses, or that they did not
care about doing well in classes, choosing instead to focus on their sport.
What fueled this further is student-athletes perceived their teachers as
not caring whether they attended class, because roll was not called, and
assumed they could do extra-credit work if they fell behind in class,
because of their status as student-athletes. This led to student-athletes not
being taken seriously by their professors as students, compared to their
non-athlete peers (Aries et al. 2014). In schools where student-athletes
dorm together, they create a subculture in which academics take a back
4 D. BLUM
seat to sports (Engstrom and Sedlacek 1991; Sedlacek and Adams-Gaston

1992; Gayles 2009). Because of this subculture, and feeling their efforts in
the classroom are devalued by classmates and professors, student-athletes
are reportedly more focused on establishing a reputation and identity as
athletes in their sports, and their personal relationships influenced their
commitment to their sport—as respect and validation rose, so did sport
commitment (Comeaux and Harrison 2011).
In addition to the academic literature referenced above, there are
examples from popular media that illustrate the problems with collegiate
sports. Documentary series such as At All Costs and Last Chance U on
Netflix show the high-stakes world of youth and collegiate sports, placing
the spotlight on the sports but downplaying academics. Last Chance U
shows community college football players who are competing at a lower
level, with less media and fan attention, in order to transfer successfully
to a four-year school, preferably a power-five school with a scholarship.
Student-athletes shown in the series are woefully unprepared for class,
needing their advisor (Brittany Wagner, in the two seasons filmed in
Mississippi) tell them to bring pencils and paper to class, and likening
class attendance and participation to practice in terms of being prepared.
During the show’s third season (first season filmed in Kansas), the head
coach exhorts his players to do well in their classes, angrily yelling at
players who are struggling in their classes by having players who are
late to class or skipping class do extra exercises at practice (e.g. lunges
before running plays), starting practice before sunrise, or announcing
players’ failing grades in the locker room in front of all of the players
and coaches. It is unclear whether the struggling students are singled
out for struggling, or whether the problems of being underprepared are
widespread. Nevertheless, the struggling student-athletes on Last Chance
U are not alone in having difficulty in their classes. The problems may
be exaggerated for the sake of compelling watching, but they are real
concerns.
At All Costs follows the world of youth basketball, as children as young
as seven years old play in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball in a
series of high-stakes auditions, trying to get noticed and evaluated by
professional scouts and high-profile college coaches. AAU sports work
around academic schedules, with high-profile tournaments taking place
over summer. This means that formally, grades are not a consideration for
the players in these tournaments. AAU is more formal than playground
leagues, and players are constantly trying to stand out individually within
the context of a team sport, while having new sets of teammates and new
coaches from year to year. In order to stand out as individual stars, top
players have to be recognized by their teammates and coaches, and treated
as stars (Brooks 2009). This means there is a large social component to
star players that is complementary to their talent in the sport—the recog-
nition of this talent and the placement of the player into a position to
show it off. In basketball, star players take more shots than their team-
mates, because their teammates defer to them, and their coaches structure
the offense to flow through these players. In football, star wide receivers
have more passes thrown their way than other receivers on the team; in
baseball, star hitters bat anywhere from 1 to 6 in the lineup, depending
on their speed (top of the lineup) or power (middle of the order), and
star hockey players more ice time in games than some of their teammates,
especially when their team is on the power play following an opposition
penalty. This extra ice time allows more opportunities for star players to
score goals and is seen as a reward from coaches.
AAU tournaments are huge opportunities for visibility and publicity for
participating players. These tournaments are how athletes “get known”—
or get recognized favorably—by college coaches. AAU basketball is a
higher level of competition than playground basketball, and involves
offensive and defensive strategies based around players’ skills and abili-
ties to work together as a collective unit (Brooks 2009). Colleges recruit
heavily at these tournaments because they are viewed as high-level compe-
tition based on age groups in a centralized location (e.g. Las Vegas,
Orlando, Los Angeles). Games in these tournaments have scores and
player statistics kept and are refereed by certified officials, some of whom
are trying to work their own ways up into the college and profes-
sional ranks. AAU teams are coached professionally, with ziprecruiter.com
reporting coaches earning an average of around $40,000 for this work.
Players get known and recognized for their prowess on the court or field,
not for their acuity in the classroom. For some players, sports offer a
chance for community recognition, a chance to be supervised and busy
outside of school hours (thus keeping them out of trouble), and a highly
recognized and visible path to upward social mobility. It does not matter
that the odds of making a power-five football or basketball roster are
small, and the odds of playing professionally even smaller; sports are on
TV, and are seen as accessible and available ways of “making it”—attaining
high status and a high payday. Coaches are aware of the odds against their
players advancing, but engage in what May (2008) calls “the dirty trick”
6 D. BLUM
(May 2008: 151) of telling the players to focus on their sports-related

skills, to keep them motivated, hopeful, and contributing to the team.
For many aspiring athletes, the first time their grades can formally affect
their playing opportunities is high school. By the time student-athletes
reach high school, they have participated in a series of competitive audi-
tions, and are recognized, praised, and evaluated primarily as athletes,
not as students. Student-athletes are socialized into a specific social world
as they compete, modeling and imitating behavior designed to advance
them in the sports world (e.g. basketball players working on their jump
shots before or after practice; football players lifting weights or running
before or after practice) (Beamon 2010). The energy and time devoted
to honing these skills is not necessarily repeated in the classroom. Some
student-athletes develop their personal identies around being athletes
and struggle to develop an identity as students (Beamon 2012), and
this is reinforced with consistent practices and competitions where they
are treated as aspiring competitive athletes. These student-athletes are
rewarded and praised for their athletic prowess, but scant attention is paid
to their academics beyond eligibility or being recognized as an Academic
All-American, a student-athlete with an exceptionally high grade-point
average.
Student-athletes interviewed in this book highlight their families and
schools as socializing influences. Family is the first group we are born
into, and offer a strong socializing influence from an early age. This means
when parents emphasize the importance of school by insisting on finishing
homework before playing, and offer an environment where doing home-
work well is possible, student-athletes learn to prioritize schoolwork. It
doesn’t mean student-athletes love to do homework, but they know that
their academics matter if they want to play. During high school, student-
athletes begin to learn the issues of managing their time and energy,
and this stays with them into their college career. However, high school
classes meet more frequently, and student-athletes’ schedules are more
regimented in high school than in college, meaning that in high school,
student-athletes have their time structured somewhat uniformly within
their teams. In college, student-athletes have differing course schedules,
and often live with their student-athlete peers in dorms that are separate
from non-athlete students. The attitudes their teammates have permeate
the practice field and the weight room, but also their living areas, and they
are surrounded by messages and attitudes from their teammates and other
student-athletes. If high-status players on a team (e.g. team captains; star
players) are seen as caring about their grades, then younger teammates
follow suit. If these players miss classes or aren’t regularly studying, that
is interpreted as student-athletes not caring about their classes.
NCAA Grade Requirements for Eligibility

Before a student-athlete can compete for a university, they have to meet
certain eligibility requirements for the NCAA. The current requirement is
that student-athletes have a C+ (2.3 GPA) average in 16 core courses and
score 900 (out of 1600) on the SAT. If the grades are lower, then the SAT
score has to be higher, and vice versa. This means that outside of these
16 courses, it does not matter how a student-athlete does in school. 10
of these core courses must be completed prior to the student’s seventh
semester (by the end of junior year). Seven of these ten courses have
to be English, math, or natural of physical science courses. Outside of
these core courses, student-athletes are neither rewarded for high grades
nor penalized for low grades in terms of NCAA eligibility in order to
qualify to be collegiate student-athletes. The NCAA focused on grades
for eligibility in the 1980s.
The NCAA’s Proposition 48, enacted in 1986, introduced a minimal
level of academic qualifications for freshman participation in college
athletics. This built on a series of academic policies that set to strike a
balance between academic success and athletic eligibility. Prior to Propo-
sition 48, student-athletes were required to earn a 1.6 grade-point average
across their high school courses. After that, the grade-point average
requirement was raised to 2.0, but only in a set number of courses. While
these changes ostensibly show that student-athletes needed higher- and
higher-grade point averages in order to compete, realistically, it means
that student-athletes can focus on a few classes, do poorly in others, and
still remain eligible to play sports. If nothing else, this means there is
incentive for student-athletes to focus most of their studies on the core
courses, as the other courses don’t give them a boost if they excel in
them, nor do they jeopardize their athletic eligibility or scholarship if they
perform poorly in those classes (Mondello and Abernethy 2000).
Methodology
I approach this project from two different perspectives. I am an avid
sports fan and part-time amateur sports photographer of professional
8 D. BLUM
and college athletics. I am also an instructor at the university level. I

grew up watching college football and college basketball in the San Fran-
cisco Bay Area, regularly attending Cal Golden Bears, Stanford Cardinal,
and San Jose State Spartans football and basketball games. To this day
I remain an avid Golden Bears fan (roll on, you Bears!). When I am
not teaching or working on research, I am a part-time amateur sports
photographer, primarily for hockey and minor league baseball, but I have
also photographed college football and basketball games over the years.
Sports photography has allowed me to develop relationships with current
and former student-athletes, both during their time as students and after
their graduation.
I interviewed 38 student-athletes (20 former, 18 current), 11 coaches,
and 10 academic personnel (advisors and learning specialists). Each inter-
view typically lasted 1–2 hours. Everyone interviewed in this book is
identified with pseudonyms. I describe, but do not name, the univer-
sities they attended, currently attend or work at in terms of NCAA
division, power-five status or not, and rough geography. This allows inter-
viewees to discuss potentially-sensitive information, as a few measures of
confidentiality are offered. All this is done in an attempt to protect the
confidentiality of interviewees and their responses, as well as give them
some control over how they are portrayed in the current study. Methods
are more thoroughly discussed in Appendix B.
What Is This Book About?

The major research questions that I ask and try to answer in this book
are:
• What messages do student-athletes receive from family, coaches,

teammates, and advisors about succeeding in classes, compared to
succeeding in their sports?
• What hidden challenges do student-athletes face in the classroom?
• How do student-athletes define success for themselves in terms of
their sport, classes, and after graduation?
• What should non-student-athletes know about being a student-
athlete?
• How can student-athletes be helped in the classroom?
If Cardale Jones’ tweet and attitude in 2012 is typical of student-

athletes in their early collegiate years, his aggravated tweet becomes less
surprising. These are student-athletes navigating a higher level of school,
and a higher level of competition, than they have faced up through high
school. They have had to develop intelligence in the context of their
sport, and now have to worry about grades on top of playing sports
competitively. They have had to navigate the politics of their sport, all
while learning different ways of playing their sport(s) of choice, and do
so year after year with new teammates and coaches. Now that they are
in college, this continues with pressures to stand out individually, win
games collectively, and succeed in the classroom. Ways to help these
student-athletes focus on academics may be a combination of controllable
factors: interesting majors, having the university adjust schedules so more
difficult courses are offered in the off-season, encouraging support in
academics among teammates and developing friendships and relationships
that emphasize school, and simply allowing for maturity over time.
Chapter 2 interviews twenty former (graduated) student-athletes,
looking at the messages they received on succeeding athletically and in
the classroom from people who matter to them; how they viewed their
own teammates’ efforts in the classroom; how they define success athlet-
ically, academically, and professionally; and what earning a degree means
to them. These included, but were not limited to, former football players
at power-five schools.
Chapter 3 interviews eighteen current student-athletes, mostly those in
non-power-five schools and who were mostly in non-big money sports.
Like Chapter 2, it examines the messages student-athletes receive as well
as the messengers, but also examines differences faced in attending a
junior or community college compared to a four-year university and the
pressures these student-athletes face as both students and athletes, as well
as how they define success and what they want people to know about
being a student-athlete.
Chapter 4 gives a brief comparison between the patterns found in
Chapters 2 and 3, and looks at time and energy management for
student-athletes as an area to focus on and improve. It offers simple
solutions to help student-athletes and non-athletes manage their time,
so college courses are less overwhelming. This chapter also serves as a
bridge between student-athletes and the adults they work most closely
with during their academic careers: their coaches and various academic
personnel, such as advisors, who work for athletic departments.
10 D. BLUM
Chapter 5 interviews eleven coaches, to get their perspectives on the

importance of a college education for their student-athletes, and the
patterns they see from their student-athletes. It asks coaches what chal-
lenges their student-athletes face in the classroom, and also looks to
understand how these coaches define success for their players while in
college and afterwards. It also asks them how they have seen their job or
role change since campuses closed in March and April 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The early part of Chapter 5 focuses on revenue-
generating sports at power-five schools, and the later part focuses on
interviews with coaches at non-power five schools.
Chapter 6 talks with ten academic personnel who work exclusively
with student-athletes. These are advisors and learning specialists who
work with the university, but not a specific academic department, helping
student-athletes graduate. Like coaches, these academic personnel offer
their views on challenges student-athletes face, and offer insight into how
to help student-athletes succeed in the classroom.
The last chapter in this book looks at the patterns in student-athletes’
challenges, and offers solutions in terms of helping student-athletes grad-
uate, as well as graduate with higher grade-point averages than are
currently seen. It pushes for a reimagination of college sports by looking
at the course-load requirement student-athletes take while their sport is in
season, a new way of allowing student-athletes to register early for classes,
and new ways of funding academic excellence for universities and specific
teams in terms of grade-point averages and graduation rates.
This book challenges the literature suggesting that student-athletes
struggle in classes due to their attitudes or their lack of ability. It high-
lights time and energy management as an area student-athletes need help
developing, and suggests ways the NCAA and their schools can help them
excel in the classroom. It also sheds light on the hidden aspects of the
student-athlete experience, and offers insights into how student-athletes
can also succeed in the classroom. Finally, it examines how student-
athletes structure their class schedules and decide what to study—whether
they are following a major due to intellectual curiosity and interest,
whether there are pragmatic concerns such as team schedules, or both.
References
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Aries, Elizabeth, Danielle McCarthy, Peter Salovey, and Mahzarin R. Banaji.
2004. A Comparison of Athletes and Nonathletes at Highly Selective
Colleges: Academic Performance and Personal Development. Research in
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Beamon, Krystal. 2010. Are Sports Overemphasized in the Socialization Process
of African American Males? A Qualitative Analysis of Former Collegiate
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281–300.
Beamon, Krystal. 2012. “I’m a Baller”: Athletic Identity Foreclosure among
African-American Former Student-Athletes. Journal of African American
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Benson, Kirsten F. 2000. Constructing Academic Inadequacy. Journal of Higher
Education 71 (2): 223–246.
Brooks, Scott N. 2009. Black Men Can’t Shoot. Chicago and London: The
University of Chicago Press.
Clayton, Andy. 2012. Ohio State’s Third-String QB Cardale Jones Tweets That
Classes Are ‘Pointless’ … Saying He Went to College to Play Football.
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Ganim, Sara, and Devon Sayers. 2014. UNC Report Finds 18 Years of Academic
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madness-ncaa-194402803.html.
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Implications of Cureton v. NCAA. Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal 7
(1): 127.
Sedlacek, William E., and Javaune Adams-Gaston. 1992. Predicting the Academic
Success of Student-Athletes using SAT and Noncognitive Variables. Journal
of Counseling and Development 70: 724–727.
Watt, Sherry K., and James L. Moore III. 2001. Who Are Student Athletes? New
Directions for Student Services 93: 7–18.
Wolverton, Brad. 2014. Confessions of a Fixer. The Chronicle of Higher Educa-
tion, 12/30/2014. Accessed 1/7/15. http://chronicle.com/article/Confes
sion-of-aFixer/150891/.
CHAPTER 2
“If I Wanted to Play, I Had to Bring Home

the Grades”: Interviews with Former
Student-Athletes
This chapter focuses on the messages received by student-athletes who

had graduated by the time they were interviewed for this project. These
messages were imparted during their playing days, and I asked them to
discuss the pressures and obstacles they faced. I examine patterns across
different sports and schools. This chapter focuses on the messages college
student-athletes receive from people close to them, and looks at the
effects of these messages, specifically:
1. What messages did student-athletes who graduated from college

receive about success in terms of academics? Who gave them these
messages? Were these messages explicit or implied?
2. What messages did they receive about success in terms of their sport?
Were they encouraged to focus on athletics in the hopes of a profes-
sional sports career, or were they guided toward academics? Who
gave them these messages? Were these messages explicit or implied?
3. How did student-athletes who graduated prioritize academics or
sport, based on the relative importance of these messages? How did
they choose which classes to take?
I interviewed 20 former student-athletes who had already graduated

to dive into their experiences of messages they received on these ques-
tions, and compare them with the academic literature where applicable. I

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61326-6_2
14 D. BLUM
also asked these former student-athletes how they defined success in the
classroom, on the field, and professionally. These former student-athletes
are atypical in one key sense: most of them have had some professional
athletic career following graduation (13 out of the 20). Less than 2%
of student-athletes make the NFL or NBA, so having 65% of intervie-
wees play a sport professionally stands out as atypically successful. Some of
these players competed professionally outside of North American profes-
sional leagues, and many played in North American minor leagues. These
minor leagues are professional and affiliated with teams in the big leagues
(NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB); some interviewees were drafted and trying to
play their way up to the major league in their sport. The student-athletes
interviewed in this chapter are success stories in another way, even for
those without a professional sports career—as they had earned a college
degree by the time they were interviewed.
The former student-athletes interviewed in this chapter participated in
different sports and attended different universities (public and private).
They participated in different athletic conferences and in different NCAA
divisions, which affected scholarship availability, and were located in
different areas of the United States. These former student-athletes
discussed messages they received from their coaches, teammates, friends
outside of sports, families, and significant others. The next section focuses
on academic literature as it relates to the research questions set forth
earlier in this chapter.
Messages About Academic Success

As discussed in Chapter 1, the academic literature paints a picture of
student-athletes as having low confidence in their academic abilities—a
situation that is worsened by the culture of their athletic peers, the opin-
ions of their non-athlete peers, and their professors’ reactions to their
presence in class and their requests for help. This seems to drive student-
athletes into abandoning academic pursuits, something they do not feel
competent in, and focusing mainly on the game, where their competence
is recognized and praised. Student-athletes enter college with the hopes
of being viewed as competent or excellent both in their sport and in
the classroom, but after regularly encountering negative opinions about
their academic performance, many choose to focus exclusively on athletic
success and become detached from their classes. The repeated negative
2 “IF I WANTED TO PLAY, I HAD TO BRING HOME THE GRADES” … 15
messages and doubts wear down their desire to do well in the class-
room. This is the story told in the academic literature (Adler and Adler
1985; Engstrom and Sedlacek 1991; Gayles 2009; Gayles and Hu 2009;
Beamon 2010).
However, this was not the case for the former student-athletes inter-
viewed in this chapter. They mentioned grades mattering to their parents,
romantic partners, and other people close to them, as far back as junior
high school. Even if these people had not graduated themselves, the idea
of a college degree as a hallmark of success was emphasized for student-
athletes, and they responded accordingly. Many parents used sports as
a reward for doing well in the classroom, and would disallow sports if
grades weren’t sufficiently good.
Messages About Athletic (Sport) Success

The interviews in this chapter suggest that for graduated student-athletes,
the messages they receive from intimate others, such as their imme-
diate family or significant others, play an important role in how they
view the value of both sports and education. Interviewees highlighted
family, college teammates, and high school as influencing them to succeed
academically and athletically, with most (70%) mentioning their family—
especially parents—as pushing them to succeed in the classroom. This is
perhaps expected, as siblings would assume (1) the presence of siblings,
meaning student-athletes who are only children would not have siblings,
and (2) parents are who children learn from first, so anything parents say
carries a lot of importance. Joe, a former football player at a power-five
school in Northern California, explains:
The emphasis for my mother (she was the boss) was always school, she
did not care about sports at all. Sports was a bargaining tool – it was a
real thing – she took me off of track because I got a bad grade on a pop
quiz. I got an A in the class, but my mom meant business. She did it one
more time in 7th grade with basketball. Growing up, I loved sports, and I
got the message – if I wanted to play, I had to bring home the grades. In
8th grade I wanted to go to [Private University], and I wanted to get the
grades for myself – they had the best of both worlds, top notch athletics
and academics, and that pushed me to dominate on the field and in the
classroom.
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For Joe and many former student-athletes, sports were viewed as a reward
for getting good grades, with the priority being on schoolwork and
grades. Joe emphasized the bad grade was on a quiz, not for an entire
course, yet that was sufficient reason for his mother to remove him from
the track team. Joe’s interview shows how parental influence can affect
how student-athletes view sports and school, and he mentions his high
school as fueling his competitiveness in the classroom and on the field.
Similarly, Alex, one of Joe’s teammates, said his parents emphasized
school over sports:
I couldn’t play until homework was done, and I couldn’t play if my grades
slipped. They saw the importance of sports, but cared far more about
grades. My family is all about schooling, so I had many influences [with
respect to grades]. Ultimately, graduating was a bigger goal, although
playing at the next level wasn’t far behind.
Matthew, who played football at a Division 1-A school in Idaho,

echoed these sentiments when he explained, “My parents knew I loved
sports and threatened to take them away if I didn’t do well academi-
cally.” The threat of having sports taken away by parents served as an
incentive for some student-athletes to keep their grades at a sufficiently
high level. From a young age, the message of sports acting as a reward for
grades being sufficiently high for someone in a position of power was sent.
And student-athletes view this as a fair trade-off: spend time making sure
homework is done and that you’re ready for a test, and you get to practice
and play the sport(s) you love with your teammates. The difference with
college sports is as children, the authority is parental and based on close
ties by people at home, while in college, the authority is the NCAA and
the coaching staff of each team, neither of whom lives with the student-
athletes themselves. In both cases, the message of grades being a priority
are sent, but sent from different parties.
Parents were not the only influence on student-athletes’ grades outside
of school; student-athletes’ romantic partners cared about their grades as
well. Alex explained:
My wife, girlfriend at the time, pushed me very hard to get my degree

within the five years of my athletic scholarship. My parents would check
on me but had very little affect [sic] since they were too far away. My wife
just wanted me to stay healthy while playing, success on the field wasn’t as
important to her.
This was echoed by Derek, a basketball player at a Division-1AA public

university in Southern California, who explained, “My girlfriend always
pushed me to getting good grades and finishing my degree while playing
ball.” This kind of support assumes a student-athlete (1) is in a committed
and serious relationship while in school and (2) their partner values
education highly. However, it does show the power of love and having
strong, consistent support from people close to the student-athlete. It
shows these partners and families are not looking for the payday from a
professional sports career, as much as they want these student-athletes to
succeed in the classroom as well as in their sport(s).
Trevor, who was a baseball player at a power-five school in Texas,
emphasizes the importance of his teammates (rather than a romantic
partner or family) and maturity. Trevor explains that “[My] teammates
held their own with grades. My teammates who were sophomores and
up excelled pretty well in the classroom. The freshmen were just feeling
it out and not working too hard.” In his statement, Trevor highlights
there is a range of attitudes about succeeding in the classroom among his
teammates, but what is interesting is the newer students did not maximize
their effort. Instead, that came after a year or so of getting used to being
student-athletes.
Ty, who played baseball at a Division-2 school in Ohio, drew attention
to messages from his parents, coaches, and teammates as influencing him
to succeed in the classroom, stating:
When I was 13, 14, I looked up to my coach – dad was my biggest role
model – he was an amazing guy, we’d practice, and he’d talk to us about
life after. He was huge in my maturation, especially during those years. He
said you need to do your best to excel in whatever you do – if you don’t
try in class, what makes you think you’ll try on the field? My parents took
it bigger than that, and if I didn’t do schoolwork or chores, I would miss
a game… In college, my role models in college were the head coach and
pitching coach. Pitching coach taught me the work ethic – he’d work us
hard, and I loved it. As far as grades go, they were more important than in
high school, but to a lot of guys – for 25%, very important, 50% were flip
of the coin – “I’ll do more than a C average to be eligible, but if it’s less
than a 3.0, then no big deal) I think 2.5 put you on academic probation.
The last 25% were like “whatever”, I’m sure they were smart enough to
pass, but cared more about playing/partying.
18 D. BLUM
In Ty’s case, as with many other student-athletes, coaches and parents

consistently preach academic effort and excellence, while teammates had
more of a mixed reaction. Some student-athletes put in more effort for
their classes than others, and that reflects in their grades. Kyle, who played
hockey at a Division 1-A school in Massachusetts, focuses on the roles
coaches played in players maintaining their grades, telling:
Grades were very important as if you didn’t meet a certain GPA set by
the coaches, you could not play. So, obviously, you had to take your grade
seriously and coaches would randomly check classes throughout the year
to make sure that you were attending, and if you were caught not in class,
not sitting in the first three rows, or wearing a hat in class, you would face
some sort of punishment. All the guys on the team knew they had to take
classes seriously and attend or you basically would not play.
Matthew shows this emphasis on education was not universal, explaining

that his “coaches weren’t that strict – if you missed class or an assignment,
they would punish you, but they wanted us to play. They would have
us do extra running/conditioning if we missed class and were caught.”
This punitive approach for being caught with low grades contrasts with
Ty, who says his coaches emphasized academic success, but did so in a
positive manner by naming student-athletes who had reached the Dean’s
List or improved their grades throughout the season so they could be
recognized by their teammates. Coaches preached a consistent message
of maximizing effort and achieving good grades was preached, but there
was no mention of punishment short of academic probation if grades were
below a certain threshold. This highlights a discrepancy in how grades are
handled by coaches—are messages consistently encouraging, supporting,
and motivating student-athletes to try in their classes and taking note of
improved grades? Or are messages only negative, using corporeal punish-
ment for assumed laziness in classes, reduced playing time for low grades,
or a combination of these?
Trevor, Matthew, and Kyle highlight the roles that coaches can play in
emphasizing grades as a marker of academic success, largely enforcing
academic goals by using varying degrees of punishment for student-
athletes not living up to the coaches’ academic performance standard.
While coaches can check on student-athletes attending classes and their
grades, any discipline the student-athletes faced is limited to either extra
work during practices or limiting playing time. While the incentive of
playing time can potentially influence whether a player would be seen

by professional scouts, neither punishment—reducing playing time or
increasing exercises—ensure that grades remain at a high level, and the
interviewees’ comments suggest athletic eligibility is the baseline coaches
emphasize to their players. Coaches enforce compliance with grade-point
average through coercion, either through additional exercises, which
players do not enjoy, or through reducing playing time, which hurts
players both in the interim (as players want to compete), as well as in
the future (as there is less tape for professional scouts to evaluate them
with), and players are stigmatized for missing games for any reason other
than serious injury or personal or family matters. Thus, a student missing
games due to low grades may be viewed as a disciplinary issue, or as being
unable to balance the responsibilities of academics and athletics, and that
may warn other teams to stay away from said player. Rather than viewing
struggling academics as a price paid for academic success, the label applied
suggests a level of immaturity on the player’s part, especially if the label is
applied repeatedly. A student-athlete missing a game or two for academics
may be viewed as lazy or problematic, with no context offered for why
grades may be lower than desired.
Matthew further explains, “It’s not like our teammates were pushing
each other to go to class or get better grades—we had the coaches and
the department down our throat about grades, so players weren’t on each
other’s cases. The guys who were slacking off had extra study hall hours,
and some guys had people showing up to their apartments telling them to
go to classes.” Student-athletes highlighted study hall hours being offered
for student-athletes who need to raise their grades, as well as highlighted
surveillance—not only are student-athletes watched on the field and in
the classroom, but run the potential risk of personal home (dorm room)
visits by their coaches if caught missing classes. Rather than viewing team-
mates not emphasizing academics as a sign of apathy, the lack of informal
social control was viewed as a sign of camaraderie among teammates.
For them, if the coach is already on someone’s case, why should they
have more people, especially teammates (their colleagues), asking them
about classes? This civil inattention to grades is less apathy about success
and more an empathetic, compassionate, and understanding apathy of
camaraderie. Student-athletes know when their teammates are struggling
with classes, but are sympathetic, as they know coaches act in a panoptic
fashion, keeping tabs on who attends classes and is on top of their grades,
so they feel less need to be extra eyes for the coaching staff themselves.
20 D. BLUM
Structural Support Offered and Perceptions

of Teammates’ Successes and Attitudes in Class
Colleges’ athletic departments, especially those with larger budgets (1-A
schools in general; power-five schools specifically) offer tutoring to all
student-athletes. While coaches care about academic success to some
extent (discussed in further detail in Chapter 5), what matters to many
student-athletes is how they view their teammates’ successes in sports
and in the classroom, and those teammates’ attitudes towards academic
success. I emphasize “to some extent,” because while coaches offer
support programs in terms of study halls, and while they do surveillance
on their players, they do not offer any flexibility in terms of missing
practices to accommodate class requirements. Thus, players are offered
many sticks if their grades slip, but few carrots or rewards for maintaining
high grades.
The student-athletes interviewed in this chapter had specific obser-
vations of their teammates’ successes and attitudes in the classroom. A
common theme from student-athletes is at least half of their teammates,
if not more, take their studies and grades seriously, and have no conflict
between succeeding academically and athletically. It’s not success in either
sports or school; it’s trying to succeed in both areas. Some interviewees
placed themselves in the camp that did not take academics seriously at the
beginning of their college career, but as they advanced through college,
they placed more importance on succeeding in the classroom. However,
teammate attitudes were mentioned after family and romantic interests,
suggesting that while spending time with teammates and seeing their atti-
tudes can influence a player, those who matter more are people close to
the student-athlete as a person—family or romantic interests. Bruce, a
football player at a Division-1 public university in California, explains:
The majority of my teammates did well and were great students. My

coaches always did class checks and checked our notes from class. They
made sure we gave them our course syllabus and kept us accountable for
assignments. It took me two or three years to take my academics serious.
Once I got the hang of it, I did well. I struggled initially and found it
difficult to manage my time. To be eligible, you needed to maintain a 2.0
GPA (C average) Most of the guys took their academics serious. The ones
that didn’t usually became ineligible or dismissed from school…I would
say 85% of the team was serious and cared about school. The other 15%
was more concerned with football. Initially, I was part of the 15% and just
wanted to schedule classes that I knew weren’t that difficult.
Kyle echoes this when he says roughly half of his teammates could
either care or be ambivalent about their classes, and about one quarter of
them did not care beyond eligibility. Matthew echoes this by saying:
To be eligible, I believe cumulative GPA (grade point average) had to be

2.0 (meaning C-average) and quarter grades were the same, 2.0. I know
some circles of teammates had school as first priority, while the majority
of the team valued football much more. There were a few that didn’t care
about school at all but they don’t last too long, so the common theme is
good grades off season and bad grades during season.
The idea of maintaining the 2.0 for eligibility was frequently

mentioned, as were teammates’ attitudes toward grades. Other student-
athletes, like Jason, a Division-1 football player in California, also mention
taking easier courses while in season to maintain eligibility, rather than
getting bad grades in season, and compensating with higher grades during
the off-season. This suggests that while the NCAA discusses cumulative
grade-point averages, players can improvise a way to maintain a high
grade-point average while they play by taking easier classes during the
season, and more difficult or rigorous classes in the off-season.
If messages received from family and significant others can be viewed
as informal motivation and social control, then the formal motivation
student-athletes receive and formal social control they are subject to
revolve around the need to maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average
(C) to maintain academic eligibility and scholarships. Few of the inter-
viewees mention their coaches having a higher-than-minimum GPA for
eligibility, suggesting that for these coaches, eligibility is the goal, and
anything above it is acceptable, but not emphasized.
Student-athletes who played football and basketball (regardless of
NCAA division) mention the 2.0 baseline exclusively, while those in
other sports mention having team-specific grade-point averages that were
substantively higher than the NCAA threshold. For example, Ty, a base-
ball player from a Division-1A public school in the northwest, explained
that on his team, “Grades were very important; team GPA was very highly
stressed. A team GPA of 3.0 was a team goal.” Al, who played college
baseball at a Division-1A public school in the Midwest, explained that:
22 D. BLUM
Grades were extremely important to our coaches in college. Not only did
good grades ensure that we were gonna [sic] be able to play baseball, but
it also made our coaches look good if their players had good grades. We
had mandatory study hall hours every week, along with tutors for certain
classes we struggled with. Big universities made it hard for a student to fail
at school due to all the help they give you to make you successful.
Tim echoes Al and Ty’s sentiments, saying:
It was all football all the time, but it was also all academics all the time. It
was NEVER ‘you’re an athlete, we’ll let you skate by.’ It was academically
rigorous, but we were expected to keep up. We had study halls, they helped
us as much as possible… I don’t even think we had an issue with grades.
I don’t remember anyone having trouble – we had tutors, we had all the
support we needed. I was on two different teams [football and track and
field], never an issue.
When coaches emphasize academics for their student-athletes, they do

so partly out of practicality—making sure their players are eligible to play,
and thus, offer the team the best chance of winning—and partly out of
wanting to present themselves well publicly, as coaching student-athletes
who do well in their classes. This would offer the message that student-
athletes are expected to excel in the classroom and on the field, with
tutoring offered as a resource on campus.
When Class and Sports Schedules

Conflict, and the Role Scholarships Play
When classes and practice or game travel schedule overlap, student-
athletes were proactive in talking to their professors. In addition to
notifying their professors with an official letter from the school’s athletic
department, saying which days they would be away from campus for
games, student-athletes deal with scheduling conflicts with their profes-
sors if travelling for a game meant missing a day (or more) of classes,
and making alternate arrangements if they missed an exam or a paper.
Arrangements included taking tests before their classmates, taking tests
after returning from their games, or, for extended absences, taking tests
in the team hotel while being supervised by a coach.
While this academically-proactive approach may be attributed to
student-athletes wanting to portray a positive, responsible self-image,
there are also practical considerations to this behavior. By discussing

scheduling conflicts and making alternative testing arrangements, student-
athletes portray themselves as responsible to their instructors. This image
could lead to greater leeway if needed, and signals that student-athletes
care about academics—at least enough to maintain eligibility. This positive
image could affect how both instructors and coaches viewed the student-
athletes, and allow for more compassion if a student-athlete missed a class.
Unlike the academic literature, the student-athletes interviewed in this
chapter did not mention having hostile instructors when they requested
alternative testing dates/assignment due dates due to conflicts between
academics and athletics. Rather than assuming that sports and academics
are constantly conflicting with one another for student-athletes’ attention,
being proactive allowed for both facets of being a student-athlete to work
together.
Given that athletic scholarships are the main avenue student-athletes
have towards maintaining their academic and athletic careers, staying
healthy while maintaining academic eligibility is crucially important.
Bruce explains that “Grades were not important to me until I wanted
a football scholarship. Prior to that, I was a below average student.” Alex
echoes similar feelings, stating that “as long as grades earned are C or
better, then coaches, presumably, were happy, and players could continue
to get playing time.” Alex links his academic performance to his health,
explaining, “my grades plummeted my sophomore season after I broke
my leg. I wasn’t travelling with the team on the road, so I was either
in bed all day or partying, because I knew I wasn’t playing anyway.”
Having less supervision by his coaches and teammates influenced Alex
to neglect academics, and he eventually lost his athletic scholarship. He
argues if he had not been injured, he would have maintained higher
grades, because there would have been incentive to keep the grades at
eligibility (or better) levels so that he could play with his teammates. But
once he realized his career would end from his injury, the incentive to
remain eligible disappeared, as he would not be able to play, regardless of
his performance in the classroom. Without that motivation, Alex did what
many young students do, and socialized or stayed at home, depending on
mood.
24 D. BLUM
Priorities: School or Sports

Literature shows student-athletes’ relationships with others are an impor-
tant factor in how they set their priorities between sports and schooling
(Comeaux and Harrison 2011), and the findings in this chapter support
this point. Student-athletes interviewed in this chapter mentioned the
need to remain eligible academically in order to compete, and schedule
their coursework accordingly. The need to remain eligible to compete
affects how student-athletes prioritize their sport while in season, and
explains why academics are prioritized during the off-season. While in-
season, interviewees describe scheduling their classes around practice
times, so they could be with their teammates and prepare for upcoming
games. Out of season, players report taking more challenging courses or
those related to their major, as there are no set practice or game times,
and no travel for games or competitions.
The structure of consistent practices and games provides some support
and framework for time management in terms of support from team-
mates and coaches, but academics were not necessarily prioritized while
in-season. Instead, while in-season, the primary focus of coaches and
players is winning, and student-athletes will do what they can to remain
academically eligible, but have no incentive to go beyond that. During
the off-season, without the constraints of practice, travel, and game times,
athletes take more challenging courses as they can devote more time and
energy to hitting the books in the off-season. Further, they mention their
teammates’ attitudes toward classes as being important both for their own
class choices as well as the general attitude of the team toward school.
Derek explains that “Class choices revolved heavily on practice sched-
ule…off season is when we would take hard courses, and during season I
always looked for electives or teachers that were recommended because
of their understanding with athletes.” Derek’s comment suggests that
courses taken are not based necessarily on academic interest in the
course material, whether the course was major-specific, or because of
the course schedule during the week. Rather, professors’ reputation in
terms of attitudes and personality toward working with student-athletes
takes precedence. Having flexible due dates for assignments and showing
empathy and understanding for student-athletes’ pressures are things
student-athletes value. Kyle explains choosing his courses “based around
practice time and having some down time,” and Jason echoes this,
explaining, “grades were largely secondary to playing time. No one
was being evaluated on the field for their performance in the class-
room. I think there was a broad spectrum of attitudes regarding grades
and classes—some obviously caring more than others.” Jason’s comment
highlights that student-athletes are aware that people are paying tickets to
watch them compete as athletes, rather than seeing them succeed academ-
ically as students. Given that, many student-athletes care more about
being able to play, as they are competitive but also get evaluated posi-
tively regularly (by coaches, teammates, and fans), and academics might
be an afterthought for some of them. However, Jason also emphasizes
there is a range of attitudes, so it is inaccurate and unfair to assume a
universal student-athlete attitude toward academics.
Virtually every interviewee in this chapter mentioned scheduling
courses around practice times. This is a practical concern for student-
athletes, especially those in team sports. Attendance at practice is manda-
tory, as players need to develop both individual strengths as well as work
with their teammates. This means any practices missed do not just affect
individual student-athletes. They affect the team, because the team is
forced to substitute a different, potentially less-experienced or less-skilled
player, either in practice or in a game. This places the team at a compet-
itive disadvantage. Given that teams are comprised of student-athletes
in various stages of their academic careers, it is not feasible to have all
members of a team take the same classes during the season. However,
practice times remain a constant constraint that student-athletes must
consider, so they schedule classes around their practices, knowing their
participation in practice is expected daily.
Bruce says his teammates cared about grades depending on what they
were studying:
We had a handful of pre-med on the football team, and they took grades
seriously because of wanting to attend med school. Eligibility never played
a factor for 99.9% of football players, and our track guys – 1/3 of our
guys were pre-med. We had engineers and scientists, everybody worked
as hard in the classroom as they did on the field. We had both clever
guys and smart guys: clever guys find a way to do well without putting in
the same effort…they would figure out what classes to take with a high
GPA, but with much less work. Smart guys maxed out [gave full effort] in
their classes for their grades, while clever guys found ways of getting good
grades without doing that.
26 D. BLUM
Bruce highlights teammates as influencing attitude toward succeeding

in the classroom, as well some of the pragmatic considerations student-
athletes have. For Bruce, some teammates choose less-demanding classes
while in season to maintain a high grade-point average. This higher grade-
point average allows for eligibility and makes both the student-athlete and
their team look good to others. Taking courses that are easier in some
shape or form, whether through instructor flexibility with test dates, ease
of tests and assignments, professor’s attitudes, or a class being interesting
and/or in a student-athlete’s major, are all considerations student-athletes
have when selecting their schedules. This is due to the need to remain
eligible while regularly practicing and competing. Student-athletes spend
a lot of time and energy on their sport while in season as they train
and compete, and they have to do so while keeping their grades at a
certain level (2.0 average). However, once out of season, the NCAA pays
less attention to these student-athletes’ grades, as there are no upcoming
games a student-athlete risks missing if their grades are not up to par, and
so many student-athletes choose to take more difficult classes when they
are in their off-season. Doing so allows them to expend more energy
in the classroom, as there are no games for a given academic term,
and practices are less frequent. This approach highlights student-athletes’
pragmatic considerations of academic and athletic eligibility.
Tim focuses on course workload in terms of his teammates’ attitude
in knowing where to maximize efforts and where to perhaps not be as
intensely focused on academics. His distinction between clever and smart
based on effort put into classwork suggests that to be smart is both a
matter of understanding the material and putting effort into classwork.
On the other hand, being clever means having academic competence, but
finding classes that demand less work to have visible academic success
(a high grade-point average) without having to put the same amount of
work or effort in. Being clever exemplifies rationalistic thinking—how to
get maximum output or results from minimal input or efforts, or finding a
balance between effort and results that keeps the student-athlete eligible.
However, this way of thinking is needed, given the demands of main-
taining a certain grade-point average to be eligible to play and receive
an athletic scholarship. In order to do so, many employ this rationalistic
thinking, not necessarily out of laziness, but out of getting the best results
for their efforts.
Differences Between Easier and Harder Classes

Student-athletes differ in how they schedule their classes and the rationale
behind it, whether going with value-rational thinking (education is good
in and of itself, and should be prioritized because learning is valued by
the student-athlete) and maximizing efforts in all classes due to interest in
the material, or whether to go with instrumental-rational thinking (grades
are necessary in order to keep playing, which is what the student-athlete
wants to do) in selecting some classes that allow for good grades earned
with less than maximum effort spent. Most (15) of the student-athletes
in this chapter emphasized they enjoyed taking courses in their major
specifically, due to interest in the major and thus, its focal classes. Because
of the interest in the material, the classes seemed easier, because they
were more willing to maximize efforts in order to learn more. However,
four student-athletes interviewed in this chapter mention they did not
consider any of their classes especially easy, whether in terms of interest
or workload. In addition to course material, six of the athletes indicate
that a professor’s openness to students voicing opinions in class made
courses easier for them. Chris, who played football at a power-five school
in California, explains:
Well I wouldn’t say that any class was particularly “easy”. Most of the
classes I took involved interesting material and themes that made it “easy”
to want to study and get involved in the class. My time management skills,
which were already well-tested in HS were further honed at [School],
which made it so that I rarely felt overwhelmed with my class load, leading
to each class being relatively easy to handle and manage by my ability to
devote the necessary time and energy.
Thus, even though the workload and requirements for classes may
not be particularly light, and the course material not easy, interest in
the material fueled academic interest for Chris and others, and this made
difficult classes seem easier, as the effort was voluntarily offered. Howard,
who played hockey at a public university in New England, echoes similar
thoughts to Chris when he explains, “Some of the easiest classes for
myself were the classes that were in my major, psychology. I think the
main reason for this was because I was very interested in the material
so I enjoyed studying these topics.” For student-athletes like Chris and
Howard, class difficulty is related to whether a class is in their major,
fueling an interest in the topics of the class. This intellectual curiosity
28 D. BLUM
mattered more their professors’ reputations, class timing (both in terms

of days and time of day) or workload. This highlights the importance
of student-athletes selecting their majors individually, rather than having
advisors or others choose for them, as classes in the major pique and
fuel student-athletes’ interest in the material, allowing them to excel
academically. Chris also highlights an aspect from high school that trans-
lates well to succeeding in college—developing time-management skills.
Student-athletes have multiple time demands from their sport (practice
time, weightlifting and conditioning time, travel time, and game time) as
well as taking a full course load. Knowing how to manage one’s time and
energy is paramount in order for a student-athlete to succeed in both of
these roles.
Al offered a different opinion on what made his classes easy, as he
emphasizes the freedom to express opinions in the classroom:
Any classes that allowed me to form my own opinions were usually easy.
For example, if we were learning about theories or political views and asked
to compare one to another, I always found it easy to back up my own belief
or preference. It wasn’t about workload necessarily. It was about how the
information applied to me.
Like many other student-athletes, Al did not focus on the workload

for a class in determining how easy it was, instead focusing on how
comfortable he felt expressing his opinions in class and if course material
was applicable to him. Thus, this shows that while student-athletes may
look to make their course schedules “easier”, what constitutes “easier” is
defined differently, whether it is workload, instructor attitudes in terms
of accommodating schedules and due dates, comfort in the classroom,
or interest in the material. The next two sections focus on how grad-
uated student-athletes define success for themselves academically and
athletically.
Defining Academic Success

Just as student-athletes have different definitions for what makes their
courses easy or difficult, they also define their successes differently, both
in the classroom and in their sport. Chris found his college experience
transformative, and explains the importance of earning a degree for him:
A college degree meant and still means a lot to me. Beyond the inscrip-
tions and lettering on the degree itself, when I look at that hallowed piece
of paper I am reminded of thousands of memories, both positive and chal-
lenging, that resulted in my four years at [school] to be tremendously
transformative, especially from a personal maturity standpoint.
Bruce echoes similar sentiments to Chris, explaining:
Given where I was raised, what I had seen & what I’ve been through…a
degree was much more than a piece of paper. It gave me validity. That
I wasn’t just some gang member from LA. That I was competent and
powerful. Capable of doing anything in the world if I put my mind to it.
I don’t think many my peers felt the same way about their degree as I
did about mine. Only 3% of the student population was black, most were
athletes. Even out of that 3%, most were not raised by a single parent in
Watts & Inglewood. Personally, my degree(s) means the world to me.
Student-athletes have immense pride not only in both their on-field

successes and their successes in the classroom. While George highlights
personal growth he noticed, Bruce compares social expectations based
on how and where he grew up and outperforming them by earning his
degree. Howard emphasizes his pride in earning his degree because of
his family background and what a degree means professionally outside of
sports, stating:
I was determined to get my degree because my father and mother never

went to college and I wanted to become the first in my family to graduate.
I took a lot of pride in doing the best possible job I could in school
throughout my studies with this in the back of my mind to make my
family proud. As I look back on it some six years ago I believe my parents
are really proud of me and my brother for graduating college, and being
very successful because of the opportunities it has given us.
While pride in achieving a college degree is a common theme, it is

not universal. Matthew explains for him, a college degree did not open
as many doors professionally as he had hoped, and thinks his struggles in
the classroom were due to being in a new place, both geographically and
in terms of class and sports demands:
30 D. BLUM
I think I was better off not going to college, but I do appreciate my

experience – it’s a culture shock, and the friends I made were amazing, I
had a few friends who played in the NFL. It kind of worked out, but I’m
paying for it – I’m working a job where I get paid $14 per hour (code
enforcement for a home owners association), so I can go to school for my
teaching credential.
While Matthew has doubts about whether he should have attended

college, he expressed interest in returning to school for an advanced
degree in education. Similarly, other student-athletes interviewed in this
chapter returned to school for advanced professional degrees in law and
medicine, suggesting they, like other undergraduates, used the Bachelor’s
degree to springboard their professional careers. Matthew was the only
student-athlete interviewed in this chapter who expresses some hesitation
or doubts about his college experience. Most student-athletes mention
pride in earning their degree because of their families, further suggesting
that the family is a source of inspiration and amplifying the message
of earning a college degree, even if—or perhaps, because of—them not
earning a degree and seeing how difficult life could be. Other sources of
pride for student-athletes include personal growth and seeing the degree
and education earned leading to a professional career, even if outside
of sports. Significant others were mentioned alongside family, suggesting
that those who are close to student-athletes personally, though not neces-
sarily professionally, express more pride in the academic achievement of
earning a degree. While coaches emphasize academic success, the student-
athletes interviewed in this chapter did not mention their coaches or
teammates as a source of pride for the degree. This does not imply that
coaches or teammates are ashamed or apathetic about academic success;
rather, it highlights that those who are more intimately known by a
student-athlete carry more weight in terms of pride in these achievements.
Defining Athletic Success

The academic literature does not ask how student-athletes define success
for themselves athletically, academically, or professionally. It assumes that
the goal of all athletes is to win and to play sports professionally, but
this is not explicitly discussed. Further, just as easiness of classes varied
among interviewees, as did sources of pride for academic success, so did
their definitions of athletic success. Tony, a former football player at a
power-five school in California, explains what athletic success looked like

to him:
My definition of athletic success was as varied as it was one singular

percentage. My first goal was to not get cut from the team during week
1. I ended up finding myself in the starting lineup (…only through the
grace of God, I can assure you!!). From then my goal became earning
the starting spot and being placed on scholarship…As I talk through the
varying stages of what I deemed to be success athletically, the singular
metric of success that seemed to hang over my head as if a neon sign ever-
illuminated was my field goal percentage. As a kicker, that number loomed
over me with impending power and I was desperate to make sure it was
“good”; before my senior year I deemed “good” to be above 85%.
As a kicker, Tony was in a unique spot, as he focused on an individual

statistic within the context of a team sport. This is similar to a basketball
player focusing on their shooting percentage or points per game, rather
than strictly looking at the team’s win-loss record. While players certainly
look at their playing stats throughout their seasons and careers, there
are more components that go into how well a quarterback, receiver, or
running back do because of their on-field interdependence on each other
and the offensive line. For specialists like kickers and punters, on-field
successes or failures are attributed solely to them as they are the focus of
attention on kicking plays. A wide receiver can have a poor game because
their quarterback had a rough day, but for a kicker, no such understanding
exists. After all, no one knows who the long-snapper or the holder are,
and the kicker is in the spotlight. Tony defines his athletic success based
on how many kicks he successfully made and whether he kept his schol-
arship. Conversely, Howard a hockey player from a Division-1 school
in Massachusetts, explains for him, athletic success meant “[being] the
best possible guy on the ice every night. It was not all about points but
how I was going to make my team better and ultimately I would be
successful.” While all student-athletes are competitive, neither Tony nor
Howard define their personal success by team record. Instead, they either
focus on something tangible (a higher individual success rate or statistic)
or on something intrinsic to them—knowing their efforts helped their
team win.
Athletic success can be related to a financial incentive (i.e. receiving
and maintaining a scholarship) that is related to on the field success (in
Tony’s case, determined by his field goal percentage), but it also includes
32 D. BLUM
the idea of “being a good teammate” in addition to being a proficient

kicker. Being a good teammate means supporting teammates on the field,
checking on their emotional well-being (especially when struggling), and
could include encouraging success in the classroom or allowing privacy
in that area, depending on their teammates’ wishes. “Athletic success” is
multi-faceted and means more than statistics, although individual statistics
are a metric of success. However, sometimes success does not show up in
box scores. Student-athletes like Howard, Derek, Jason, and Kyle explain
that the best player on the team may not show a lot of offensive success
some nights, but may be instrumental on defense, and as long as the
team wins, that is a successful game. The best student-athletes are not
necessarily those with the gaudiest numbers, but instead are the ones who
make their teammates better. For some of these former student-athletes,
being successful athletically meant consistently giving their best efforts
when playing, even if their individual statistics did not stand out.
Discussion
Academic literature asserts, “social imitation theory maintains that indi-
viduals learn roles and behaviors vicariously by observing them and their
consequences” (Beamon 2010: 297). The student-athletes interviewed
in this chapter were socialized to emphasize sports by their teammates,
while their families and romantic or marital significant others empha-
sized academic success. While few of the interviewees mentioned their
coaches caring about grades beyond eligibility, none of those interviewed
said they felt pressured by coaches to prioritize athletics over academics.
Student-athletes’ decisions about the balance between the books and the
playing field are largely based on pragmatic considerations, such as taking
harder classes in the off-season. However, their intimate personal connec-
tions with family and significant others have an influence on whether they
exercise that pragmatism, or emphasize athletic success over academic
success.
Maturity and aging also appear to have some effect on increasing prag-
matism and academic focus for some student-athletes; as they progress
through college, sports’ importance diminished and putting a priority on
getting good grades increased. This is related to receiving feedback about
whether a professional athletic career is feasible, whether from coaches,
scouts or teammates.
Most of the interviewees discussed participating in professional leagues

as a big motivator for pursuing their sport, but again, intimate personal
connections created pressure to finish school and get the degree. Having
a major that interests them encourages them to focus on academics, as
Cory’s comment about his interest in psychology indicates. Apart from
scholarships that allow student-athletes to remain in school and on the
team, none of the interviewees mentioned money as a motivating factor
for playing college sports. Rather than an immediate payday, student-
athletes emphasize the hope of competing professionally following their
collegiate careers, and the joy of their success and competence in the
game, which motivate their athletic endeavors.
Virtually all (19 out of 20) of the student-athletes interviewed in this
chapter are explicitly proud of graduating with a degree, and speak of their
collegiate experience in reverent terms. However, this reverence seems
to conflict with the idea of scheduling easy classes when in season, or
figuring out which classes demand less work. This can be explained as
student-athletes needing to be pragmatic when going through school, in
terms of taking full course loads and working long hours both as students
an as athletes, but being able to reminisce about the academic journey
after it had been completed, and feeling proud in navigating both rules as
intercollegiate athletes and as undergraduate students concurrently. Even
student-athletes who may have been ambivalent about their grades at
some point in their academic career discuss the pride they feel in grad-
uating and earning a degree. Some of the interviewees discuss continuing
their education, either earning a professional school (medical school or
law school) degree or a graduate degree, and credit their experiences as
athletes as getting them used to working long hours, dealing with high-
pressure situations, assessing a lot of rapidly-changing information, and
adapting to it or thinking quickly on their feet.
The student-athletes interviewed here report that intimate relation-
ships, their majors, and having classes that interested them served as
motivators to keep them focused on academics. Additionally, student-
athletes had to consider the timing of their classes, both with respect
to practices in-season and in terms of ease of maintaining their eligi-
bility while in-season. The pragmatic adjustment of taking harder classes
in the off-season makes sense, and colleges should investigate the possi-
bility of structuring course loads such that these classes are offered in the
off-season for student-athletes. The next chapter examines similar themes
from student-athletes who are currently enrolled in school.
34 D. BLUM
References
Adler, Peter, and Patricia A. Adler. 1985. From Idealism to Pragmatic Detach-
ment: The Academic Performance of College Athletes. Sociology of Education
58 (4): 241–250.
Beamon, Krystal K. 2010. Are Sports Overemphasized in the Socialization
Process of African American Males? A Qualitative Analysis of Former Colle-
giate Athletes’ Perception of Sport Socialization. Journal of Black Studies 41
(2): 281–300.
Comeaux, Eddie, and Keith C. Harrison. 2011. A Conceptual Model of
Academic Success for Student-Athletes. Educational Researcher 40 (5): 235–
245. https://doi.org/10.2307/41238944.
Engstrom, Catherine, and William E. Sedlacek. 1991. A Study of Prejudice
Toward University Student-Athletes. Journal of Counseling & Development
70 (1): 189–193.
Gayles, Joy Gaston. 2009. The Student Athlete Experience. New Directions for
Institutional Research 144 (Winter 2009): 33–41.
Gayles, Joy Gaston, and Shouping Hu. 2009. The Influence of Student Engage-
ment and Sport Participation on College Outcomes Among Division I
Student Athletes. Journal of Higher Education 80 (3): 315–333.
CHAPTER 3
“Emptying the Tank”: Current

Student-Athletes
While Chapter 2 focused on student-athletes who had finished their

college careers when I interviewed them, this chapter focuses on 18
student-athletes (seven women, eleven men) who are enrolled college
students at the time of their interviews. These interviews were done
prior to college campuses closing in March 2020 due to the COVID-
19 pandemic. The student-athletes interviewed in this chapter primarily
compete in baseball, basketball, and track and field. Most (15) of these
student-athletes attend schools that are lower than Division-1, meaning
they are not competing for or against power-five schools. Their level of
competition means there is less media attention on them, there are fewer
athletic scholarships available (especially compared to power-five schools),
and sports are not the financial drivers of their universities the way football
and basketball are for power-five schools. For this group, athletic scholar-
ships are offered one year at a time (rather than multiple years at once),
and are renewable based on athletic and academic performance. These
scholarships are highly competitive given their scarcity, and can cover
tuition, books, room and board, and student fees, either completely or
partially.
Similar to Chapter 2, this chapter focuses on the messages that current
student-athletes receive from people close to them, considerations taken
when choosing course schedules, how important grades are for them and

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61326-6_3
36 D. BLUM
for their teammates, what their teammates do when they struggle academ-
ically, and how advisors help them succeed in school. It concludes by
asking current student-athletes what being a student-athlete means to
them, what they would like people to know about the student-athlete
experience, and comparing similarities and differences among former and
present student-athletes.
Current student-athletes range from those in their first year of college
to those in their fourth year. More than one-third of these student-
athletes (seven of the 18) attended a junior or community college prior
to transferring to a four-year university. The chapter also discusses the
similarities and differences in their experiences between these two types
of schools.
Messages Received from Family and Coaches

Family and coaches provide voices that student-athletes listen to care-
fully. This makes them socializing forces in terms of academic success,
regardless of whether the student’s family (often parents) had earned
a university degree or not. Parents tended to emphasize and prioritize
academic success, typically with sports as an afterthought. One notable
exception is Stacey, who runs track for a Division-1 school in Southern
California. Her parents, both without college degrees, emphasize athletic
success heavily to her, because earning an athletic scholarship is a pathway
to earning a college education. Even when parents prioritize sports, they
allow for a college education. Stacey’s parents assume this education will
be the springboard for her future success in life, more than running track.
The student-athletes interviewed in this chapter are quick to mention
that their coaches emphasize academic success, beyond maintaining eligi-
bility, with coaches reminding student-athletes that they are expected
to be students before they are athletes (e.g. prioritizing classwork and
grades over the games). Coaches back up this message by accommodating
student-athletes who need to miss an occasional practice due to class obli-
gations, and not punishing them with reduced or eliminated playing time
when they miss practice for class-related reasons. Unlike the student-
athletes interviewed in Chapter 2, the interviewees in this chapter do
not mention romantic significant others, teammates, or friends as pushing
them to focus on either school or on sports. This might be due to age
and educational differences based on high schools and colleges, or the
Another random document with
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groove running forwards along the back of A; this apparatus serves to bring
food to the great funnel-like mouth. The next segment (twelfth) carries a
dorsal and ventral "sucker," representing the parapodia. Each of the
segments 13, 14, 15 carries a membranous fold encircling the body. By the
constant movement of these "fans," which have nearly the same diameter as
the tube, a current of water is constantly washed over the animal. The fans
represent the notopodia; the neuropodia are bilobed rounded knobs. The
region C consists in the adult of about thirty segments, all alike, and less
modified than the preceding. The animal is the most truly tubicolous of the
Polychaetes, and is much modified on this account. No locomotor chaetae
are present, though the great wings and notopodial processes of region C
contains chitinous bristles, which, however, do not project;[384] the anterior
region with its stiff chaetae, and the neuropodial uncinal plates of the rest of
the body serve in its movements up and down the tube, while the "suckers" fix
the worm temporarily to the wall of its house.
Chaetopterus is highly phosphorescent (see p. 295). It is further interesting on

account of the green colouring-matter, which is extracted by alcohol. Two
commensal Polynoids occur in the tube, viz. Polynoë glabra and P. cirrosa.
The larva is "mesotrochal" (with a ciliated ring round its middle), that region of
the body lying in front of the cilia giving rise to the region A, whilst the rest of
the body gives rise to regions B and C.
Fam. 4. Magelonidae.—This family includes only the very peculiar worm,

Magelona papillicornis Fr. Müll., which lives buried in sand, between tide-
marks, in various parts of our coast and that of the United States. Its chief
features are the large, flat, spoon-shaped prostomium; the long peristomial
cirri, slightly expanded terminally, carrying papillae along one side; the
enormous, eversible buccal region, which is an important respiratory organ.
The blood is of a madder-pink colour, and the blood-vessels in the thorax are
greatly dilated. The body of the worm is divisible into two well-marked
regions, owing to differences in the chaetae.[385]
Fam. 5. Ammocharidae.—This family contains only one species, Owenia

filiformis D. Ch. Some of the anterior segments are longer than the hinder
ones, though the arrangement of chaetae is alike throughout. The mouth is
wide, like that of Chaetopterus, and is surrounded, except ventrally, by a
membrane, so deeply notched as to give rise to flattened filaments containing
blood-vessels. These "gills" appear to belong to the peristomium. The small
worm in its sandy tube is plentiful on our coasts in about 20 fathoms. Off
Greenland and the Mediterranean.
Sub-Order 3. Terebelliformia.
Fam. 1. Cirratulidae.—These worms have a cylindrical body, more or less

attenuated at each end; the segments are distinct, and similar throughout,
with capillary chaetae on each side in two bundles, carried by small papillae.
The prostomium is conical, the peristomium usually without cirri. On more or
fewer segments the dorsal cirri are long and filamentous, and function as gills.
There is a single pair of anterior nephridia: the septa and genital ducts are
repeated throughout the hinder part of the body. The worms usually live in
burrows.
Cirratulus.—The prostomium is long, sometimes annulated. In addition to the

segmental filamentous "gills" there is a transverse row of long "tentacular
filaments" across one of the anterior segments, and it has been suggested
that they are really prostomial tentacles which have shifted backwards. They
and the gills twist about in a very active fashion during life, and look like small
independent worms, especially when they are detached. C. cirratus Müll, is a
brown or dirty yellowish worm about 4 to 6 inches in length, usually to be
found under stones, partially embedded in the mud or sand. The prostomium
carries a pair of linear groups of "eye-spots"; the first chaetigerous segment
carries a transverse row of tentacular filaments, and the red gill-filaments
commence on the same segment. Common. C. tentaculatus Mont. is a larger
worm, dark red in colour, and is distinguished from the preceding by the
absence of eyes and by the fact that the tentacular filaments are on the
seventh chaetigerous segment, while the gills commence more anteriorly.
Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Fig. 174.—Cirratulus tentaculatus Mont. (½ nat. size). (From Règne Animal.)
Chaetozone setosa Mgrn. occurs in the North Atlantic. Dodecaceria

concharum Oerst. is about an inch in length, olive-green or brownish in
colour, and is not uncommon amongst roots of Laminaria. It is stated to live
also in tortuous tubes bored in shells and stones, but whether it makes these
tubes is uncertain. The worm has two thick tentacular filaments, and the
thinner gills are only on four segments. Hekaterobranchus shrubsolii Buch.
[386] is a small worm some ½ inch long, found at Sheerness, where it occurs
at low tide in soft mud; here it forms a loosely coherent tube, though it also
moves freely in the mud. Its chief features are (1) a pair of long, ciliated
"cephalic tentacles," probably peristomial, and similar to the "tentacular
filaments" of Dodecaceria; (2) a pair of filamentous gills (dorsal cirri) on the
first chaetigerous segment; (3) a pair of large green nephridia in the anterior
segments. The describer placed it amongst the Spionids, but the above and
other features point to Cirratulid affinities.
Fam. 2. Terebellidae.—The body is cylindrical, and generally larger in front

than behind. The prostomium is generally flattened, and forms a mobile upper
lip, which always carries a transverse series of many tentacles; it may bear
"eye-spots," but never palps; the lower lip is formed by the peristomium.
There are one to three pairs of gills, which are usually more or less branched,
on as many segments.[387]
The chaetigerous lobes are small; the dorsal ones contain capillary chaetae,
which are frequently confined to the anterior segments, whilst the ventral
chaetae are uncini. The ventral surface of the anterior segments is thickened
by glands which secrete the mucus employed in tube-building; the number of
these "shields" and of the dorsal bundles of chaetae have to be noted in
identifying the worms. There are one to three pairs of large anterior nephridia.
A very strong "diaphragm"—usually more or less pouched—cuts off this
anterior region of the body-cavity from the rest, and is the only complete
septum in the body; from three to twelve pairs of small generative ducts occur
behind it. The family is tubicolous, foreign materials being generally used in
the formation of the tube.
Fig. 175.—Amphitrite johnstoni (½ nat. size). g, Gills; t, prostomial tentacles.
(From Cunningham and Ramage.)
There are six genera which are fairly common round our coast, and their
identification may be facilitated by means of the following table[388]:—
A. Capillary Amphitrite.
equal in size.
chaetae 3 pairs, 24 notopodia.
confined to which are Terebella.
the anterior unequal in size.
Gills 17 notopodia.
part of body; ramose. Gills equal.
commencing Nicolea.
2 pairs. Eye-spots.
on the fourth
17 notopodia. Gills unequal and of
segment. Pista.
peculiar shape.
B. Capillary
chaetae arborescent; 3 pairs. Leprea.
throughout
the body; Gills
commencing filiform; in transverse series in
Thelepus.
on the third two segments.
segment.
Amphitrite johnstoni Mgrn. (Fig. 175) is brown in colour, about 4 to 6 inches in

length, and nearly ½ inch in breadth anteriorly. Each of the gills consists of a
curved stem; from the convex side of which arise a number of branches,
themselves dichotomously divided, the final branches being long (Fig. 176,
A). There are twelve ventral "gland shields." The worm is fairly common
between tide-marks, below stones in muddy places: the end of its tube of mud
projects above the surface. Atlantic.
Terebella (Polymnia) nebulosa Mont. is distinguished by its bright red colour,
spotted with white; it is 6 or 7 inches in length, and ½ inch across. Large
specimens of this beautiful worm may be obtained at Weymouth and
elsewhere on the south coast, where it lives in about 14 fathoms. Each gill
appears much more arborescent than in the preceding (Fig. 176, B); it
consists of a main stem, from which comparatively few branches arise; these
subdivide frequently, and the terminal branchlets are quite short. The "gland
shields" are fourteen to sixteen in number. The tube is of mud. North Sea and
Mediterranean. T. (Leprea) lapidaria L. is 1 inch in length, orange-red in
colour; and has 12 ventral shields. The tube, of fine mud, lies horizontally on
the under surface of stones.
T. (Lanice) conchilega Pall. (the "sand mason") forms a very characteristic

tube of sandy particles, small pebbles, and pieces of shell. It is buried in the
sand, but a short portion protrudes, and bears, set round its edge, a fringe of
branching sandy threads (Fig. 153) commonly seen on sandy shores between
tide-marks. The worm may be distinguished from the preceding species by
the fact that the series of fourteen to seventeen gland shields are red, and
continuous from segment to segment. The gill is shown in Fig. 176, C. North
Sea, Atlantic, and Mediterranean.
Fig. 176.—Gills of various Terebellids. × 4. A, Amphitrite johnstoni Mgrn.; B,

Terebella nebulosa Mont.; C, T. conchilega Pall.; D, Nicolea Mgrn. (the
finer branches are not indicated); E, Pista Mgrn.; F, Terebellides Sars
(after Malmgren). g, Gill; m, mouth; t, tentacles.
Nicolea venustula Mont. has only two pairs of equal, arborescent gills (Fig.
176, D); the tentacles are comparatively few. The animal, which is about an
inch in length, is cinnamon-yellow with white spots, and has seventeen gland
shields. 20 fathoms, North Sea and Mediterranean. Pista cristata Müll. is
readily recognised by the shape of the gills (Fig. 176, E), of which there are
only two pairs. Each consists of a long peduncle, bearing a number of
dichotomously dividing, rather spirally-arranged branches, the whole having
the appearance of a "bottle-brush." The worm is 2 to 4 inches long, of
greyish-red to yellow colour. Atlantic east and west (even at the mouth of the
Congo), and Mediterranean. Thelepus cincinnatus Fabr. is about the same
length, pale red in colour, marked on its back with clear areas, giving the
appearance of lacework. The gills are represented by numerous unbranched
filaments arising separately in two transverse rows. The tube, which is
adherent to shells, etc., along its whole length, is of thin, transparent, and
flexible material like mica, covered with foreign bodies, and even with Polyzoa
and Hydrozoa. 30 fathoms, Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Polycirrus aurantiacus Gr. is sometimes placed in a special sub-family, as it

has no gills. The numerous tentacles are very long, and arise from a great
hood over the mouth; the capillary chaetae commence in the first segment
and extend for about half the length of the body; the uncini commence in the
ninth segment. The ventral "shields" are paired. The animal is highly
coloured; its phosphorescence and its distastefulness have already been
mentioned on p. 294. In Terebellides stroemi Sars, four comb-like gills arise
from a single common thick peduncle on the back of the second segment
(Fig. 176, F). The ventral surface of the body bends upwards anteriorly so as
to bring the mouth to the dorsal surface. 13 to 16 fathoms, muddy bottoms,
North Sea and Mediterranean.
Fam. 3. Ampharetidae.—This family differs from the Terebellids chiefly in the

shape of the head and in the presence of a bundle of strong chaetae (or
paleae) on each side of the head in front of the gills, of which there are four
on each side. Each gill is a simple filiform process, considerably longer than
the tentacles, which are very few in number. Amphicteis gunneri Sars,
Ampharete gracilis Mgrn., and Melinna cristata Sars, occur on our coasts.
Fig. 177.—Pectinaria belgica Pall. Slightly enlarged. a, Neuropodial chaetae; b,

notopodium; ch, paleae; g, gills; sc, scapha; t, prostomial tentacles; I,
peristomium. (From Malmgren.)
Fam. 4. Amphictenidae.—This contains the interesting genus Pectinaria, in
which the head is protected by great golden chaetae on the second segment;
they are flattened, curved, and pointed, and are arranged in a single
transverse row on each side, serving as an operculum to the tube. The
posterior end of the worm has undergone great degeneration, and is
represented by a small leaf-like "scapha" which serves to close the tube
posteriorly. The worm is 1½ inches in length and consists of only twenty
segments, of which seventeen are chaetigerous. The tube is nearly
cylindrical, but wider anteriorly than posteriorly (Fig. 152, p. 288); the sand
grains are uniform in size, and are embedded in the secreted mucus in a very
regular way, the surface being smooth both inside and out. These tubes can
be carried about by the worm, but may be found projecting from the sand at
very low tides. P. belgica Pall. forms a straight tube, whilst in P. auricoma Müll.
the tube is larger and slightly curved. The former species appears to be
confined to the North Sea; the latter occurs in deeper water, and is also
present in the Mediterranean.
Sub-Order 4. Capitelliformia.
Fam. Capitellidae.[389]—Capitella capitata v. Ben. occurs pretty frequently in

the sand under stones near low tide-mark. It is a red worm, about 1½ to 2
inches long, greatly resembling a Tubificid Oligochaete. It may readily be
distinguished from other Polychaeta by the strong genital chaetae in the male,
which replace the notopodial chaetae of segments 8 and 9; those in the
former segment are pointed backwards, and in the latter forwards. There is
but a single pair of generative ducts in either sex in the eighth segment. North
Sea, Mediterranean.
Notomastus latericeus Sars is a longer worm, living in shallow water, off our
coast and in the Mediterranean. The anterior twelve segments are wider than
the rest of the body. The notopodial chaetae of the anterior segments of the
hind body form a ring. Dasybranchus caducus Gr., which occurs in the
Mediterranean, but not on our coast, reaches a length of 2 or 3 feet. It has
gills on the hinder segments above the neuropodia.
Mastobranchus Eis. is found in the Mediterranean.
Sub-Order 5. Scoleciformia.
Fam. 1. Opheliidae.—Comparatively short, rather ugly worms of a pearly
colour, no prostomial processes: parapodia obscure. The family is
represented in British waters by four species, occurring in shallow water.
Ammotrypane aulogaster Rathke, is about 2 inches long; the nearly cylindrical

body has a ridge running along each side below the chaetae. The conical
prostomium is tipped with a small knob, and carries at each side a ciliated pit
(Fig. 144, p. 273). Every segment, except the first chaetigerous, is provided
with a filamentous gill (dorsal cirrus). The segmentation is very obscurely
marked, for internally there are only three complete septa, placed far
forwards. The intestine is bent upon itself. In Ophelia limacina Rthk. the gills
commence in the eighth segment, and the longitudinal ridge does not extend
in front of this segment. The worm is about 1½ inches long, and occurs
between tide-marks. Travisia forbesi Jnstn., North Sea. Polyophthalmus
pictus[390] Duj. is very abundant at some parts of the coast. There are two
bundles of chaetae on each side of every segment; each bundle contains
three chaetae, of which only one projects to any distance. Paired eye-like
spots exist on the sides of twelve segments. The worm is about an inch in
length.
Fam. 2. Maldanidae (= Clymenidae).—Represented on our coasts by four

fairly common species. They form sandy tubes, which are embedded in the
sand with a short portion projecting. In some places they are so abundant that
at low water the sand has quite a rough appearance. The prostomium is
frequently truncated and depressed, and is always fused with the
peristomium. A horny plate may be developed on the upper surface of the
head, and the skin at the side of the prostomium is frequently raised into a
more or less prominent fold. The hinder end of the body carries a funnel
surrounding the anus. There are no gills or sensory processes on the body.
Some of the segments towards the middle of the body may be longer than the
rest. Peculiar serrated hooks of characteristic shape constitute the
neuropodial "torus." The buccal region is eversible.
Nicomache lumbricalis Fabr. is a rosy-pink worm with white spots anteriorly;

the chaetigerous ridges are red. The worm consists of twenty-six segments,
and measures 2 or 3 inches. It is very narrow and readily breaks in pieces.
The prostomium is laterally compressed; the anal funnel is fringed with a
number of short equal processes. Under stones in the Laminarian zone.
Fig. 178.—Anal funnel of Nicomache lumbricalis. (From Malmgren.)
Axiothea catenata Mgrn., which may reach a length of 3 or 4 inches,

resembles the above in general colour, though of a deeper tint. There are only
eighteen chaetigerous segments. The head has a membranous fold of skin
on each side, and the anal funnel is produced into longer and shorter
processes. Both these species are also found on the west side of the Atlantic.
Clymene lumbricoides Qfg. is about 8 inches long; pink, with a light ring round
each segment; the seventh segment is larger and reddish-brown. The
prostomium is laterally compressed. Anus on a cone, which rises from the
bottom of a funnel, the margin of which is entire. Atlantic.
Fig. 179.—Axiothea catenata. × ½. a, Anterior end; b, notopodial and c,

neuropodial chaetae; p, perianal funnel. (From Malmgren.)
Fig. 180.—Arenicola marina. × 1. Dorsal view. The anterior end is seen partly
from the side. III, The first chaetigerous segment; IX, the ninth
chaetigerous, and first branchial segment; XXI, the last branchial segment;
b, notopodial and c, neuropodial chaetae; g', g, the first and last gills; t, the
non-chaetigerous tail.
Fam. 3. Arenicolidae.—Here belongs the common "lug-worm" Arenicola

marina L., which occurs all round our coasts between tide-marks, and is so
generally used as bait in fishing. The worm, which measures 5 to 8 inches, is
of a dark tint, usually brownish-green. It burrows to a depth of some 18 inches
or 2 feet, and throws up a considerable quantity of "castings" or "sand-ropes,"
which are noticeable on every shore consisting of mud or muddy sand. The
body of the worm is cylindrical, thicker anteriorly; the segments are indistinct,
owing to the secondary groovings and furrows on the skin. The prostomium is
in the adult fused with the peristomium; this and the second segment are
achaetous. Then follow twenty chaetigerous segments with dorsal bundles of
capillary chaetae and ventral rows of short crotchets. The hinder region of the
body is achaetous and narrower than the rest, forming a "tail." There are
twelve (sometimes thirteen) pairs of arborescent red gills on segments 9 to 20
(21). Internally there are only four complete septa, and six pairs of nephridia,
which are of large size: the fore-gut is eversible. Atlantic and Mediterranean.
A second and smaller species, A. ecaudata Jnstn., occurs on our southern
coasts; it is readily distinguished by the absence of a "tail," the chaetae and
gills being continued to the end of the body.
Fam. 4. Scalibregmidae.—Prostomium ill-marked, fringed with small

processes. Parapodia represented by slight papillae; two bundles of chaetae;
usually cirriform lobes above and below them. Lipobranchius jeffreysii M‘I.
has a grub-like body pointed at each end; forms tubes of mud. Firth of Clyde
and elsewhere in North Sea. Sclerocheilus Gr. in old oyster shells. Channel,
Mediterranean. Eumenia crassa Oerst. has gills on first six segments. North
Sea. Scalibregma inflata Rthke. has arborescent gills on segments 4 to 7.
The anterior part of the body is dilated. North Sea.
Fam. 5. Chlorhaemidae.—The family derives its name from the green colour
of the blood, due to chlorocruorin. The representatives are comparatively
short worms, with capillary chaetae on all the segments, the limits of which
are not evident. The prostomium carries a pair of long grooved yellowish
processes, which are perhaps palps, and several green tentacles, acting as
"gills," arranged in a transverse series above the mouth (Fig. 134, F, p. 262).
The peristomium is achaetous; the whole "head" can be withdrawn into the
body. The chaetae of the anterior segments are especially long, and directed
forwards so as to form a "cage" for the head. The body-wall is covered with
longer or shorter papillae. Internally, the chief points of interest are the
presence of only two septa (Trophonia) or only one septum (Siphonostoma),
situated somewhere in front of the middle of the body, and forming a great
backwardly-directed pouch, which contains a part of the looped intestine, and
the nephridia, of which there are only two or four.
Trophonia plumosa Müll. is about 2 to 4 inches long, yellowish-brown in

colour, with a rough skin; the head is usually retracted. It lives in the mud
amongst Laminarian roots down to 50 fathoms. North Atlantic. Siphonostoma
(Flabelligera) diplochaitos Otto, has a transparent body-wall, so that the
coloured viscera are visible. The skin carries long papillae, which traverse a
thick jelly-like envelope secreted by it, in which numerous diatoms live
(symbiotically?); the surface is covered by particles of mud, etc. This species,
which may be found under stones at low tide, occurs also in the
Mediterranean.
Fig. 181.—Sternaspis scutata Ranz. × 2. (From Vejdovsky.) The left figure
shows the ventral surface; the right represents the internal organs as
seen when the body-wall is pinned aside, having been slit up along
its dorsal surface. a, Anus; c, gills; ch, anterior strong chaetae; ch1,
bundles of chaetae along the lateral margin of the shield; ch2, the
posterior marginal chaetae; d, oviduct; g, the external tube carrying
genital pore; i, coiled intestine; n, nephridium ("brown tube"); o,
ovary, amongst the coils of the alimentary canal; p, pharynx; pr,
prostomium, with mouth just behind it; s, shield (on left figure); s,
stomach (on right); sh, outline of shield seen through the ventral
body-wall (in right figure); x, chaetae embedded in the body-wall,
with nerves passing by them.
Fam. 6. Sternaspidae.—The single genus, Sternaspis, has not been

recorded on our coasts, but is of so peculiar a structure as to deserve a
description.[391] S. scutata Ranzani, occurring in the Mediterranean, is
rather less than an inch in length, and derives its name from the
possession of a pair of peculiar "horny" plates or shields on the ventral
surface posteriorly. Around their margins are set about thirty bundles of
long capillary chaetae. There are three half rings of stronger chaetae on
each side near the anterior end of the body. The mouth is overhung by
a very small rounded knob (prostomium), which in S. spinosa Sluiter, is
prolonged outwards on each side to form a grooved palp-like organ,
recalling that of Bonellia. The anus is placed posteriorly; and in front of
it, on the dorsal surface, are two bundles of many long thread-like gills.
On the ventro-lateral surface, in front of the middle of the body, is a pair
of finger-shaped processes containing the genital ducts. The anterior
segments of the body can be withdrawn into the body, as in the
Chlorhaemidae. Further examination leads to the conclusion that the
body of Sternaspis consists of about thirty segments, most of them
provided with paired bundles of capillary (neuropodial?) chaetae,
distributed as follows:—Each of the segments 2, 3, 4 has a half ring of
strong chaetae on each side; segments 5 to 7 are without chaetae;
segments 8 to 14 have chaetae embedded in the body-wall, but not
projecting. The shields cover the remaining segments; and along the
outer edge of each are some ten bundles of chaetae, and along the
hinder edge some five or six bundles, representing as many segments.
Thus the worm consists of about thirty segments whose outlines are
nearly obliterated (as in the Chlorhaemidae), and whose chaetae,
except those which are specially developed, are disappearing: while
posteriorly a great shortening of the body brings the bundles close
together. A continuation of this process, involving a further
disappearance of chaetae, leads readily to the condition met with in
Echiurus, one of the chaetigerous Gephyrea. Internally, further
evidence of the relation between Sternaspis and the Chlorhaemids with
the Gephyrea is afforded by the absence of septa, by the coiled
alimentary canal, and by the presence of a single pair of nephridia,
which in the latter group act both as excretory organs and as genital
ducts.
BRANCH B. CRYPTOCEPHALA.
Sub-Order 1. Sabelliformia.[392]
Fam. 1. Sabellidae.—The branchial crown consists of a usually

considerable number of filaments arising from a semicircular base. The
peristomium may be reflexed to form a collar, which is frequently
notched, so that a lateral and a ventral lobe on each side may be
distinguished (Fig. 133, B, p. 261). The thorax consists of nine
segments, and is provided with ventral "gland shields," which are
continued along the abdomen, where they are subdivided into two by a
ciliated "faecal groove," which sometimes bends to one side on
reaching the thorax, and may extend forwards along the dorsal surface
to the head: this groove serves to carry the faeces out of the tube. The
gill filaments are always provided with secondary processes, and may
be provided with compound eyes.[393] The tubes of the Sabellidae are
always of fine mud or of sand.
Sabella pavonia Sav. is about 10 to 12 inches long and about ¼ inch
across; the tube of fine mud is considerably longer and embedded
deeply in the mud, with its free end projecting to some 2 or more
inches, where it serves for the attachment of seaweed, Polyzoa,
Hydrozoa, etc. The colour of the animal is orange-brown; the gills,
which are about 1½ inches long, are green (due to contained blood)
marked with more or less extensive brown or purple-brown spots, which
may even hide the green tint. There is a pair of dark filaments arising
between the dorsalmost gill filaments, which have been erroneously
regarded as "prostomial tentacles"; they are, in fact, prolongations of a
peculiar membrane or lip round the base of the gills, which bounds a
groove leading to the mouth. These lip-processes (Fig. 133, B, l) occur
in other Sabellids. Atlantic, North Sea, and Mediterranean.
Fig. 182.—A, A gill filament of Branchiomma; B, of Dasychone. a, Axis; f,

secondary filaments; o, eye; x, dorsal appendices.
Branchiomma vesiculosum Mont. forms a sandy tube near low tide-

mark. The animal, measuring 6-7 inches, is rich brown, darker
anteriorly, abundantly speckled with white; the ventral surface is pink;
the gills are green or olive-brown, marked with white bands in a fairly
regular fashion. Each gill filament has, just below its tip, a compound
eye, consisting of several lenses and retinae. North Sea and
Mediterranean.
Dasychone bombyx Dalyl. is a short, comparatively stout worm usually

1 to 1½ inches long; reddish-brown in colour, with a darker spot on
each side of every segment. The gills are lighter with greenish marks.
This worm may readily be recognised, for each of the gill filaments
carries some six to ten pairs of dark compound eyes at intervals along
its length, and near to each pair there arise two short processes from
the outer side of the filament, which are known as "dorsal appendices."
The worm forms a tube of mud, more or less mixed with sand. It occurs
at low water and to some depth round the coasts of the Atlantic, North
Sea, and Mediterranean.
Chone infundibuliformis Kröyer may be recognised by the absence of

lobes on the collar, the presence of a membrane connecting the gill
filaments, and the passage of the faecal groove along the dorsal
surface of the thorax. The worm is 6 inches long, with purple gills,
spotted with yellowish-white. The tube is formed of yellowish membrane
covered with sand, and is fixed to stones and other objects. Potamilla
reniformis Müll. is about 3 inches long, with about twelve brown gill
filaments, some of which have eyes near the base. The tube is
transparent and horny, with sometimes a slight covering of sand. Found
in old oyster shells. North Sea, Atlantic, Mediterranean.
The genus Spirographis contains one of the largest European

Sabellids, S. spallanzanii Viv., which occurs off the Channel Islands and
in the Mediterranean. The two gill plumes are unequal; the large rone
forms an upright, spirally-coiled column.
Fam. 2. Eriographidae.—Myxicola infundibulum Mont. has its gill

filaments connected by a membrane reaching nearly to their tips. Each
gill plume forms a semicircle; there are no eyes; the peristomium does
not form a collar; no gland shields. The worm requires neither of these
structures, since it is practically a free-swimmer, envelopes itself in
mucus, and moves tail first. The faecal groove is not well marked,
though continued dorsally. In the abdomen the tori uncinigeri extend
dorsally and ventrally (beyond the neuropodial chaetae) and nearly
encircle the body. The animal is 4 or 5 inches long, dull green, with
purplish gills. Between tide-marks. North Sea and Mediterranean.
Amphiglena mediterranea Leyd. is only about ¼ inch long,

hermaphrodite, and has eyes on the peristomium and on the anal
segment. It is a very elegant little worm, and as a living object under the
microscope, with the cilia on the gills, is very beautiful. The gills consist
of six filaments on each side, provided with the usual double row of
ciliated processes.
Fam. 3. Amphicorinidae.—Small hermaphrodite Sabellids in which each
gill tuft contains only a few branching filaments. The simplest form is
Haplobranchus aestuarinus Bourne,[394] which occurs in the rather foul
mud at low tide in the estuaries of the Thames, the Liffey, and other
rivers. The animal is about ¼ inch long, with four finger-shaped
processes on each side, and a pair of larger, vascular processes on the
ventral surface. These five branches are gills (palps), although, owing
to the small size of the worm and simple vascular system, the four
lateral filaments have no blood-vessels. The animal consists of only
eleven chaetigerous segments, and lives in a tube made of mud
particles.[395] Fabricia sabella Ehrenb. (Amphicora fabricia Müll.) has
three gills on each side, each with a number of secondary branches of
different sizes, but so arranged as all to reach the same level. It has
eyes in its tail and swims backwards.
Fam. 4. Serpulidae.—The thorax is provided with an undulated

membrane on each side, chiefly employed in smoothing the inside of
the tube; it represents the dorsal and ventral cirri of these segments.
The gland shields are confined to the thoracic segments. In many
genera the dorsalmost gill filament on one or both sides is terminally
dilated and serves as an operculum. The tube is calcareous, and
attached to rocks, shells, etc., for a greater or smaller part of its extent.
Serpula vermicularis L. forms a pinkish tapering tube about 3 inches

long; the narrower fixed end is coiled. It is marked at irregular intervals
with encircling ridges, indicating cessation in formation, and has a
circular aperture. The worm itself is about 1½ inches long. The horny
operculum is conical, with its base upwards, fringed with short
processes. 20 fathoms in the North Sea and Mediterranean; also from
275 fathoms off the west coast of Ireland.
Pomatoceros triqueter L.—The white shell is adherent, with a distinct

keel along its upper surface; the aperture is overhung by a spine. The
tubes are abundant everywhere, attached to rocks, stones, shells, etc.,
between tide-marks and down to 18 fathoms. The animal is very
handsome, the thorax being deep blue, the abdomen red in the female,
whitish in the ripe male. The branchiae are barred and spotted with
blue, orange, and white; the operculum is calcareous, and furnished
with a couple of horn-like processes.
Fig. 183.—A group of tubes of Serpula vermicularis L., from the mouths of
two of which the animals are protruding, that on the right being seen
from above. br, The gill plume; m, thoracic membrane; op,
operculum; op1, corresponding gill filament of the opposite side; t,
tube. (From Cuvier's Règne Animal.) Nat. size.
Filigrana implexa Berkeley is a small worm, but the slender white tubes
intertwine and adhere together in masses 3 or 4 inches high, occurring
at low tide and down to 18 fathoms in the North Sea and
Mediterranean. The animal has only eight gill filaments on each side,
one of which on each side is slightly expanded to serve as an
operculum. The worm multiplies by transverse division.
Spirorbis borealis Daudin is a still smaller worm, the tube of which is

coiled in a flat spiral about 1⁄16 to ⅛ inch across; it is common,
adhering to Fucus, shells, and other objects. It is represented by fossils
in the Palaeozoic rocks. Cosmopolitan.
Protula (Psygmobranchus) tubularia Mont. is a Serpulid without an

operculum; it forms a straight or slightly and irregularly curved tube.
Atlantic and Mediterranean. Salmacina dysteri Huxley has no
operculum; it is a small worm incrusting seaweeds, or forming masses
like Filigrana.
Sub-Order 2. Hermelliformia.
The single family Hermellidae is represented by two species—

Sabellaria alveolata L., which is littoral, and S. spinulosa Leuck.,
occurring in 10 to 30 fathoms.
S. alveolata[396] is about an inch long; the thorax is purple, the

abdomen yellow to red. The narrow caudal region is bent sharply
forwards, so that the anus, situated at its tip, comes to lie at the orifice
of the tube, which is irregular and sandy. Great numbers of the animals
live together, so that the masses of their tubes may be 2 or 3 feet thick
and several feet long. They are well seen on the shore, at Paignton,
near Torquay, and on Hilbre Island, off the Cheshire coast. North Sea,
Atlantic, Mediterranean.
Fig. 184.—Spirorbis. A, the shell, enlarged. B, the animal, × 50. c,

Peristomial collar; e, eggs in the brood pouch at the end of the
operculum; g, gills; m, thoracic membrane (characteristic of
Serpulidae); n, the single pair of thoracic nephridia opening by a
median dorsal pore beneath the collar (common to all Sabelliformia);
o, ova in the anterior abdominal segments; op, operculum; s,
spermatozoa in the hinder abdominal segments; st, stomach. (From
Claparède.)
Order III. Myzostomaria.[397]
These animals are parasitic on Crinoids or Asteroids.[398] The single

family, Myzostomatidae, contains but two genera, Myzostoma F. S. Lkt.
and Stelechopus v. Gr.
Some of them move, more or less actively, on the surface of their hosts,
others live in a sessile condition between the joints of the arms or
pinnules, causing a greater or less malformation thereof, sometimes
leading to the formation of a more or less globular cyst like a plant-gall,
due to overgrowths of the joint, as in M. deformator v. Gr. and M.
cysticola v. Gr.: while M. pulvinar v. Gr. is endoparasitic in the intestine.
Two species occur on our common Antedon (Comatula) rosacea; one,
M. cirriferum Lkt., creeps about the oral surface, especially along the
food grooves of the disc and arms; the other, M. glabrum Lkt., lives
close to the mouth of the Crinoid, so that its pharynx can be inserted
into the oesophagus of the host; this species rarely moves from this
position, and carries a young one on its back.
Fig. 185.—Myzostoma glabrum Lkt., on the disc of Antedon rosacea. The

hermaphrodite individual (⚥) lies over the mouth of the Antedon, and
carries on its back at the anterior end a young one ( ♂ ) with only
male organs fully developed. ap, The anal papilla of Antedon. × 4.
The Myzostomaria are circular or oval, more or less markedly convex

dorsally, flat ventrally; Stelechopus, however, which lives on Hyocrinus,
is elongated. The margin of the body is provided with ten or more pairs
of cirri, short (M. glabrum) or long (M. cirriferum), and the general
appearance of the animal is greatly changed in some species by the
great elongation of the hinder cirri, into which the viscera may extend
(M. filicauda v. Gr.). On the ventral surface are five pairs of small
conical "parapodia," arranged, like the internal organs, in a radiate
manner. Each parapodium carries a couple of chaetae; one a hook, the
other serving as a "guide" for this hook. The four "suckers" on each side
are either glandular or sensory organs; and Wheeler considers them
homologous with the lateral organs of Capitellids; they are usually little
developed in those species which live inside cysts.
Fig. 186.—Myzostoma cirriferum. (After Lang and v. Graff.) The organs
are supposed to be seen by transparency. On the right side the more
dorsal organs are shown, and on the left, those lying more ventrally.
a, Anus; c, ten pairs of marginal cirri; f1 to f5, the five parapodia of
the left side, each with two chaetae; i, the branches of the intestine
on the right side; m, mouth; o, the opening of the oviduct (od) into
the rectum; ov, the uterus or coelom, filled with eggs, occupying the
spaces between the lobes of the intestine; p, the pharynx (acrecbolic
introvert) lying in the pharyngeal sac; r, rectum; s, the four "suckers"
of the left side; these, like the parapodia, really lie on the ventral
surface; st, stomach; t, the branching testis; ♂ , the pore of the
sperm-duct.
The mouth and anus are usually ventral; but in M. glabrum the anus is
dorsal, and in a few species both apertures are carried on to the back
by the great development of the ventral surface. The alimentary canal is
provided with a protrusible pharynx; the intestine is branched; amongst
its branches is the coelom, packed with eggs, and functioning as a
uterus (usually called "ovary"). The true ovary is a small mass of cells
on each side, a proliferation of the coelomic epithelium covering the
intestinal wall. A median continuation of the uterus passes backwards
above the rectum, and opens either into it or by an independent pore
dorsal to the anus. The "lateral oviducts" of Nansen are nephridia with
ciliated funnels opening into the coelom (uterus), and with pores
leading into the cloaca on its ventral surface; or, in M. belli Wheeler,
opening to the exterior. The two testes are branched, and each sperm-
duct opens laterally on a papilla, just outside the third parapodium of
each side. Wheeler[399] has recently shown that in the young
Myzostoma the spermatozoa ripen before the ova, so that it is
functionally a male; before the spermatozoa are all discharged the ova

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Sports, Study, Or Sleep: Understanding

the Student-Athlete's College

Sports, Study, or Sleep

ISBN 978-3-030-61325-9 ISBN 978-3-030-61326-6 (eBook)

Cover illustration: © Alex Linch/shutterstock.com

I would like to acknowledge and thank Linda Braus, Meera Mithran,

1 “Why Should We Have to Go to Class If We Came

2 “If I Wanted to Play, I Had to Bring Home

3 “Emptying the Tank”: Current Student-Athletes 35

4 “Going into Classes Blind”: Comparing

5 “Professional Sports Are a Well-Paying Temporary

6 “The Importance of Having a Plan B”: Academic

7 Reimagining College Sports and Student-Athletes 129

Name Index 153

Subject Index 155

“Why Should We Have to Go to Class If We

Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play

In 2012, then-freshman and third-string quarterback Cardale Jones of

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to 1

remain academically eligible for intercollegiate competitions, as they artifi-

on the sports themselves. Student-athletes are pressured to succeed, espe-

What Do We Think We Know

seat to sports (Engstrom and Sedlacek 1991; Sedlacek and Adams-Gaston

(May 2008: 151) of telling the players to focus on their sports-related

NCAA Grade Requirements for Eligibility

and college athletics. I am also an instructor at the university level. I

What Is This Book About?

• What messages do student-athletes receive from family, coaches,

If Cardale Jones’ tweet and attitude in 2012 is typical of student-

Chapter 5 interviews eleven coaches, to get their perspectives on the

Mondello, Michael J., and Amy M. Abernethy. 2000. An Historical Overview

“If I Wanted to Play, I Had to Bring Home

This chapter focuses on the messages received by student-athletes who

1. What messages did student-athletes who graduated from college

I interviewed 20 former student-athletes who had already graduated

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to 13

Messages About Academic Success

Messages About Athletic (Sport) Success

Matthew, who played football at a Division 1-A school in Idaho,

My wife, girlfriend at the time, pushed me very hard to get my degree

This was echoed by Derek, a basketball player at a Division-1AA public

In Ty’s case, as with many other student-athletes, coaches and parents

Matthew shows this emphasis on education was not universal, explaining

playing time can potentially influence whether a player would be seen

Structural Support Offered and Perceptions

The majority of my teammates did well and were great students. My

To be eligible, I believe cumulative GPA (grade point average) had to be

The idea of maintaining the 2.0 for eligibility was frequently

Tim echoes Al and Ty’s sentiments, saying:

When coaches emphasize academics for their student-athletes, they do

When Class and Sports Schedules

there are also practical considerations to this behavior. By discussing

Priorities: School or Sports

Bruce highlights teammates as influencing attitude toward succeeding

Differences Between Easier and Harder Classes

mattered more their professors’ reputations, class timing (both in terms

Like many other student-athletes, Al did not focus on the workload

Defining Academic Success

Bruce echoes similar sentiments to Chris, explaining: