NCAA takes action against the Ball State University’s women tennis program
We have heard of people being punished for slacking in their work but ever heard of people being penalized for working too hard? The United States of America is one of the most competitive nations in the world and they will stop at nothing to get to the top. Even if it means exceeding their own limits. The American youth is extremely talented there is no doubt about that but overburdening the youth can result in the loss of talent very early in their career as it may inflict physical and mental stress on them.
Tennis has become one of the most competitive sports on the face of the earth today. To attain a professional level in this sport requires a lot of systematic training and practice, because more and more talented and skillful players are seen to be entering this game. America has produced a number of great tennis players in the past such as Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras and it still has great players in the game like Serena Williams.
New talented players are put under a lot of training in the US. To keep the sports development under check there is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It is a semi-voluntary association including institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals who help organize sports events of colleges and universities all over the country. The NCAA headquarters are present in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana has been under the radar of the NCAA for quite some time now. The Ball State women’s tennis program has recently been put on probation for three years on the basis of excessive practice requirements and due to the fact that their former coach had been trying to make players lie to the investigators sent by the NCAA who went to observe the college tennis department.
The former woman’s tennis coach at the Ball State University, Kathy Bull, was fired last year as she had violated six of NCAA’s rules over a period of around five months from May to September. She felt that her tennis players were not playing enough and were not getting enough exposure. She encouraged them to spend more of their time training and entering tournaments. The NCAA required a weekly log of whatever practice schedule the team was following so that they could take care of any time mismanagement. Bull was making her students surpass the permitted practice hours and what is worse is that she requested her students to give a false log to the NCAA officials. By doing so, she not only put her career in jeopardy, but also put the future of the talented young tennis players at risk.
An excess of anything is neither good nor healthy. The Ball State students were still exceeding playing and practice hour limitations, because of the ongoing influence put on them by their previous coach, Kathy Bull, which is why they have been put under probation. By keeping a check on the tennis program at the university the NCAA believe that only then they can regulate the training hours.
The school itself has taken precautions regarding this problem and has reduced the women’s tennis activity hours from being twenty hours a week to sixteen hours a week during the new academic year. This penalty has been self-imposed by the school which shows their concern about the student body.
America cares for its youth, since the youth of the nation is what represents the future of a country. Hence, extreme measures are taken in order to safeguard the youth and to make sure that they are not being put through too much. Although, their training is strenuous, it is being controlled and regulated by specialized individuals who know where to draw the line in such situations where it is needed.
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