#1 Sport and studies are easier to combine
The American universities traditionally have teams for most sports. These teams are managed and trained by full-time coaches. They are an important marketing instrument for the colleges, as both the media and the American people are very interested in college sport. This is the reason the colleges give the coaches budgets that are unheard of in European countries. These funds are for team members to pay for fees and living costs. All the facilities the athletes need, for training, study and living are on campus, which means they can save valuable time. In the USA the timetable for lectures is in accordance with training time and matches, so there is no conflict, just the opposite to what is found in European Universities. At many universities there are tutors especially for athletes and they help the students to maintain the balance between sport and studies. Of course the students have to work to get good marks, but due to the targeted assistance, study is much more fun for the athletes.
#2 Foreign Language Knowledge is of fundamental importance
Everyone knows and studies have proved it, that young people are expected to have a good command of the English language. Knowledge of English is one of the central criteria for career development. Fluent English leads to safe jobs, higher income, a greater social mobility and an increased emotional intelligence. It doesn’t matter what you choose to study, whether it be engineering, medicine or sport, the ability to express yourself in English increases your chances of success. Nearly all international athletes achieve a very good level of English within 3 – 4 weeks, due to the fact that they are speaking English all day with their coaches, team members and friends in a relaxed environment. The great attraction of American colleges is that they are international and in nearly every course there will be students whose mother tongue is not English.
#3 Sports Scholarships in the USA save a lot of money
American universities annually award scholarships worth $ 900 million for sports from football to track and field. Athletes who belong to the top of their filed in their home country receive up to $50,000 to pay for fees, housing, food, books, etc. For many athletes studying in Germany, Switzerland or Austria it is a financial challenge due to inadequate financing. In the USA there are between 500 and 25,000 full scholarships per sport. This means athletes have reduced or no costs at all, which means they save a lot of money while studying.
#4 College sport produces Olympic champions
Some of today’s top athletes are former college athletes, for example Tyson Gay(100m Silver Medal Peking Olympics), Tiger Woods (the most successful golfer of all times went to Stanford), the Borlee brothers from Belgium (Track and Field 400m, University of Florida), Kirsty Coventry (Swimming, Auburn), Jason Kidd (Basketball, California) and Michael Phelps(record holding world and Olympic gold medalist, University of Michigan). They all received scholarships and profited from the advantages of attending a US-College. The German tennis layer Ben Becker*, also profited from a sports scholarship at the Baylor University in Texas and moved on to play world class tennis. American universities have not only helped these stars to get to the top but every year the best trainers in the world help more young athletes than any other nation to perform in world class sport.
The table of the Top Ten Olympic Schools confirms that a sports scholarship is the perfect preparation for becoming an Olympic athlete. Stanford is at the top of the list with 46 athletes. The University of Florida with 19 swimmers from 15 countries and the athletes from the University of Southern California won 21 medals in Peking. On the one hand the professional daily training is the optimal preparation for a career in sport after you finish college and on the other hand, if this doesn’t run according to plan due to injuries, the athletes have also completed an excellent academic training, which is an ideal base for a career in the business world.
#5 Climatic conditions
The climatic conditions in Germany are not really optimal and cause training deficits in winter and even injuries. Particularly in the southern States of the USA e.g. Florida, California, South Carolina, Arizona, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi there are cities which have an above average number of days of sunshine every year. Phoenix has 210 days without clouds. Constant training especially in winter is possible due to the pleasant climatic conditions. The motivation is higher and as a rule the performance better.
#6 Athletes receive the respect due to them
Due to the extensive press coverage and spectator popularity, university sport in the USA has a very high standing, higher than in any other country in the world. The whole of the university including the teaching staff and the administration, support the teams whenever possible. You only need to take a look at the TV rights in 2010 for NCAA Golf, Track and Field, Wrestling, Field Hockey, Swimming, Soccer, Tennis, Basketball and Football. CBS paid $10 billion for rights. A large part of these funds flow back to the universities and guarantees the top financial support for university sports.
* Scholarbook didn’t help Ben Becker to get an athletic scholarship in the United States. Ben is herewith used as an impressive example about the success one can achieve after his or her college career.