Football players have a reputation for being beer-guzzling, obnoxious, rowdy, sexist machos, but I think this characterizes the football players we all went to high school with rather than our peers now. People brought this stereotype with them from high school. After mom and dad finished unloading the SUV, there were a lot of obnoxious drunken buffoons around campus. Not all the co-eds bonging beer and playing beer pong in Bryan were football players.
If you insist on stereotyping football players, at least have some respect for the physical conditioning they went through while you were still enjoying the last two weeks of your summer vacation.
Two weeks before school started, the football players arrived at Guilford for football camp, deemed boot camp by many players. Maintenance and housekeeping were still working on preparing the dorms for the fall so the players stayed in the gym for four nights. They were up at dawn and had meetings to discuss plays until lunch.
After lunch they practiced until dinner and then lights-out at 10:30 p.m. Practice continued like this for the four days they stayed in the gym. After they moved into their rooms, practice continued for 14 days solid until classes began and then they had practice at 3:00 p.m. every day.
Football players work hard to balance their athletics with their academics.
“In the beginning of the season it is especially hard,” said sophomore wide receiver Joe Joyner. “After a month or so I just got use to having less time to do the things I wanted to do.”
It’s hard enough managing a full course load, but adding a full practice schedule and games to their student life routine is testament to how much they love the game.
Many football players came to Guilford instead of a Division I school because they knew they’d get play time. Unlike Division I schools, Guilford does not make cuts, which means no one is turned away from joining a team.
“D-I football is more of a job,” said Joyner. “You’re a true student athlete in D-III. You don’t get any money so you play because you want to and for the fun of the game.”
For many football players the game makes their college experience more engaging. Players also benefit from skills they learn with real-world applications. For instance: working around a practice schedule helps students develop time management skills.
Students came to Guilford from all over the world for various reasons. Many students were drawn to the Quaker ideologies of egalitarianism and diversity. Other students may have decided to come here because of Guilford’s history of addressing social justice and change.
“I came to Guilford because the campus is beautiful and there’s a strong sense of community here that was lacking from the other schools I visited,” said senior Adam Lerner.
“The main reason I chose Guilford was because they offered me the best financial aid package,” said senior Chris Lett.
Some students came to Guilford because it is known for activism among the student body. Some came to play a sport. CCE students came to further their education to become more competitive in the work force.
Every student has a different reason for being at Guilford. It is up to us as a community to embrace all the diverse members of the Guilford community and to respect them for the dimension they add.
Guilford students claim to be opened-minded and accepting of others. It’s hypocritical when students express their disdain for football players simply because they are football players. It’s the type of prejudice Guilford works so hard to combat.
We, as a school, work hard to break through barriers, but it would do us good to look at the social divide we create between ourselves within our small community.