Last name
and page
number on
each page
Tyler Hodge
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Mr. Cuttic
Proper Header
Communications 8
Title (properly capitalized)
9 May 2007
Introductory Paragraph
Skipping College for the Pros
Have you ever noticed that most players who skip over college for the pros don’t end up
with a good education? If players would sustain an injury or wouldn’t be able to play ever again,
they would not have a college degree for a job. Similarly, a lot of players in the past have
skipped over college for the pros and sat on the benches. Finally, pro scouts look for strong
physical and mental demands, and most players out of high school aren’t ready for these yet.
(These few examples prove that graduating high school athletes should not be drafted directly to
the pros.) (thesis statement)
Early entrance into the pro sports is usually used because they could earn a lot of money
because they would be in the career longer than those who start later. “Considering the relatively
brief careers of professional athletes, teenagers who are good enough to play at the highest level
should be able to exploit that market (“Teenage Athletes in Professional Sports” 9). Another
reason that student athletes have an earlier entry into the pros is because there’s always a demand
for young talent. Lastly they can be exposed to scouts and big time coaches looking for good
talent.
Sample parenthetical citation: he used the article title and the page number
since there was no author
Although there are advantages to skipping over college, there are many downsides to the
experience. One of the downsides to the issue is not receiving a good education. Student athletes
usually need extra time to develop their skills before arriving to the pros. Critics suggest that
skipping over college is lowering the quality of overall pro sports competition. “They’re missing
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their whole college career, so they’re lacking fundamentals. Fundamentals are something we take
for granted at this level (7). Focusing on academics and also college-level sports competition will
allow athletes to develop both a personal and athletic opponent while preparing themselves better
for pro sports. Since he didn’t use a new source yet, he used only the page number for
his parenthetical.
The second problem with this issue is not receiving a college degree. If signing with an
agent and being drafted into a professional sport before graduating college, students would not
receive a college degree. If an athlete is ever hurt in the act of the professional sport and receives
a life-ending injury, he or she would not have a back up job. Furthermore the rules say that
athletes could always fall back into going to receive their college degree, but most adults
wouldn’t at that age. Most of the well known players received a college degree first before they
entered the pro career such as Allen Iverson, Koby Bryant, Scottie Pippin, and Jason Kidd. In
addition, most opponents express the existing age limits in major sports in the United States
might make them want to turn pro at an early age. If age limits did not exist, athlete students
would rather worry about their energy and their athletic pursuits instead of their studies. Critics
predict that many colleges and high school academics would be affected as young athletes search
for a sports contract and would lower the quality of education and put that last when it should be
a top priority. “Literally thousands of wannabees will give up concentrating on their studies, both
in high school and college, for that one-in-a-million chance to get in the NFL. And they will be
the losers.” (7).
Yet another conflict in this issue is players skipping over college and sitting on the
benches in the pro level. While players could be receiving a great college experience and could
be having quality playing time in college, players are to sit on the benches in their first two years
of the pro career. “Jermaine O'Neal, star center for the Indiana Pacers, skipped over college for
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the pros and was drafted in the first round to the Portland Trail Blazers. But he sat on the bench
his first four years before getting traded to the Indiana Pacers and starting in his fifth season as
an NBA star” (“Get a Life” 2-3) .There is no point of skipping over college because college
offers them a lot more playing time than they would receive in the pros.
An additional problem to this issue is that the players can be both physically and mentally
unprepared. An NFL athlete would tower over a high school athlete. If a high school athlete
would want the physical features like a pro athlete, he or she would have to be in the weight
room almost every day and possibly take questionable supplements. One example of someone
getting hurt is Tyson Chandler, a high school basketball star who’s skipping college for the NBA
draft this season. Though he did well in high school, he didn’t get to play his state championship
game due to an ankle injury (“Show Him the Money” 1).
The last problem with skipping over college for the pros would be the mental demands at
the pro level. Even if an athlete has an unbelievable amount of motivation and determination to
thrive with success, it’s very hard to picture an 18-year-old athlete withstanding the hard-hitting
230 pound linebackers day to day. It would be hard to concentrate while running hard, training
for almost twice the length of the high school drills, and dealing with all that the players, who are
lucky enough to start, and still have to deal with such as the stress from fans and the media. An
example is Kevin Garnet, 2004 MVP (Most valuable Player), who skipped over his college
career and had a difficult time in his early career of the NBA. Perhaps if he had went to college
and had more time to practice his skills he might have an even better jump shot than he does
today (Bae 1
Imagine you’re a high school senior who’s just been accepted to skip over college for the
Conclusion
Paragraph
pros and would start for the Denver Nuggets. Most people would be ecstatic for this opportunity,
Restated thesis
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(but it’s not always the right choice.) Schools should truly consider talking to students in this
situation about the consequences of following through with this opportunity. Many conflicts
could arise from this such as a poor education level, an unfair physical disadvantage, no college
degree, sitting on the bench while they could have quality playing time in college, and
unpreparedness for the physical and mental demands in the pro level. Perhaps if students would
consider these issues, they could avoid a possibly regrettable choice.
()
Other General Information to Notice about This Essay:
Focus
 The second paragraph, “Early entrance…” addresses the opposing side’s argument;
the remaining paragraphs then show his views (supported by facts and examples)
Content
 He has six body paragraphs in addition to his introductory and conclusion
paragraph; essay is at least two and one-half pages long
 Each paragraph has an example to go along with the description
Organization
 Notice the use of transitions at the start of each paragraph
Style
 Varied word choice and sentence structure (length and beginnings & endings)
Conventions
 Few grammar/proofreading errors
Format
 Font is size 12 ; font style is Times New Roman (no bolding)
 Spacing is double
 Paragraphing is used (each new paragraph is indented
student hit “tab”)
 Margins are set to 1” on both sides, the top, and the bottom
five
spaces;
Notice that sources are in alphabetical order (B, S, T)
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Works Cited
Bae, Isamu. “High School Athletes Should Go to College, Not the Pro Level.” Silver
Chips Online. 1 June 2004. http://silverchips.mbhs.edu
(Retrieved 30 March 2007).
Reverse indentation is used
“Show Him the Money.” Prep Star chandler to College. March 2001: 1 and 2.
Pro basketball. AOL Time Warner Company. Mount Carmel Area Jr/Sr High School.
Mount Carmel PA. 3 March 2007.
<http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news>.
“Teenage Athletes in Professional Sports.” Issues and Controversies on File 28 May
2004. Facts for Learning. Facts on file News Services. 3 April 2007
<http://factsforlearning.2 facts.com>.
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