According to a NY Times article ("College Athletes Stuck With the Bill After Injuries", July 15, 2009), some athletes are beginning to learn that the costs of competing on a collegiate level does not only rest upon how much of their body they can sacrifice for their school's team. Even on the top level, the NCAA level, some student athletes are learning that they are in fact not medically insuranced by the university. Even if they are, some university's will only cover minor injuries.
According to the article, a Colgate University rower Erin Knauer, became seriously injured while performing a 5k erg test. She suffered from posviral myositis, which sent sharp debilitating pain throughout her lower back and legs. According to a clinical summary by David Saperstein (http://www.medlink.com/medlinkcontent.asp), this condition could potentially lead to permanent disability. Although it is suspected of being caused by a virus, the causative virus is currently unknown.
After her rehibilitation, her medical bill came out to a staggering $80,000. After maximal coverage by her own student insurance, she was forced to pay $55,000 from out-of-pockets. The university refused to pay on grounds that it was an illness and not a sport-related injury. This is absolutely ridiculous since we can not yet identify the viral culprit and it should be clearly obvious the heavy strain from a sports-test played a huge immediate role in the muscle pain.
Athletes are demanded by personel of their school to abide by the school's moral and rules, to represent their school in the best way possible, and to put their bodies on the line for the school's reputation in the sports arena. All of this, and when the athletes get injured, there is little help from those whom they are supposed to represent. Granted, especial in these economic times, insuring athletes is a very costly endevour but schools have been making huge amounts of money on "free" professional athletes. Athletes in professional leagues are making millions per player, and these universities are using athletes that they pay (in scholarship or other types of support) from $0 to thousands. So many of these school's can definitely afford the insurance.
On the club level, the argument becomes more difficult. Some of these club sports do not bring in significant income for the school. If the club is very prestigious, it might attract athletes to the school and thereby increase prospective student interest. But, university clubsports are still required to follow clubsport rules, especially in regards to how they represent the club and the school, as well as put their bodies on the line.
Sports is sports. Whether your play brings in the big bucks or not. There is always high risks of bodily injury at every practice and competition. If the university will offer to pay student athletes to represent it, it must consider that probable injury is a cost too. A cost that, ethically, the university should bare to some extent, at least.
