SA Best Practices - Athletic Relations

Описание: The main goal of this project was to diagnose the issues that exist between athletes and non-athletes at Rice, and come up with a series of solutions to remedy these problems. We identified a variety of issues, many of which vary between sports. Primarily, we found that certain sports are more integrated into the non-athlete student body than others. Additionally, we found that stereotyping plays a huge role in the divide between athletes and non-athletes to the point that the two groups don't feel any need to associate with one another because they feel vastly different from one another. From the athlete perspective, attendance at varsity sporting events is an issue that they feel needs to be addressed. We came to these conclusions by completing a series of individual interviews with varsity athletes from each sport, as well as the head or assistant coach from each sport. We compiled additional surveys from athletes, and input these results into software for analysis. Through these methods, we found evidence of similar attitudes regarding athlete integration, stereotypes, and ways to address these issues. Similarly, we sent out online surveys to each college geared specifically for students uninvolved in varsity sports in order to determine the perspective of the general student body on athlete integration in addition to athletics at Rice on the whole.

Because the dilemma of athlete integration is so deeply rooted in stereotypes and habits, it cannot be quickly fixed. Despite the fact that the improvements to the system will not be seen immediately, taking the steps to remedy this issue is key to fostering the cohesive, friendly environment the Rice community strives to achieve. Several solutions that we proposed include the following: giving athletes the opportunity to room with non-athletes, creating a "day in the life" video of an athlete to show non-athletes the time commitments that athletes must make on a regular basis as well as a "day in the life" video of a non-athlete to show the time commitments of non-athletes, and creating more activities that integrate both groups of students so athletes and non-athletes get the chance to socialize and build relationships with one another. We hope that our proposed solutions will be a great step toward increased attention between athletes and non-athlete relations on campus.