Duke has a culture overflowing with bountiful intellect and contagious influence. It is a community of established professionals and students on their way to a life of abundant success themselves. We are scientists and writers and engineers. Future doctors and lawyers. And, apparently, we are sports fans.
I would be hard-pressed to find a Duke student that didn’t root for Duke basketball—with good reason, of course. Coach K and the basketball team are not successful merely by chance.
The determination Coach K instills in this University as a whole is thrilling and inspiring. It is contagious, and it without a doubt reverberates for athletes and non-athletes alike. Coach K inspires a reputation of respect and responsibility and resolve, and it resonates—as it should—with Durham and beyond. He certainly inspires other student-athletes, and right now, rightfully so, the rest of Duke Athletics demand your attention, too.
The atmosphere surrounding Blue Devil athletics right now is electric, and if you’re not responsive to that, you’re not paying attention. Between being a student-athlete and a student journalist, I spend a great deal of time reading articles written about Duke and Duke teams. I hear people talk. In my reading, I have seen an overwhelming number of people say we talk about sports too much. I hear that athletes are given too much credit. I hear that athletes “have it made.” I hear “we should stop talking about sports and start talking about academics.”
I understand and believe that college is for academics first. There is no salient argument to say otherwise, but calling student-athletes irresponsible jocks is an assertion so naïve that it makes me question how the people who talk like this can possibly be at an institution like Duke. I am baffled at how they can endure a life of such sheltered arrogance. These people exist. Perhaps you’re one of them.
If you are, put down the sports section. Stop reading this article. Maybe even transfer. Go to Princeton or MIT. This University is about prestige and perpetuating excellence. And so is Duke Athletics. Duke’s about competing and winning. And so is Duke Athletics. You’d be senseless to say Duke isn’t about sports.
Much of this University is so strikingly socially white collar. It is often dangerously pretentious and nauseatingly overflowing with privilege and connection. But in the classroom, students here are blue collar. And so are the student-athletes.
Duke is about competitive, hard-hitting, blue collar athletes challenging teams in competitive, hard-hitting, blue collar games. This is the kind of Coach K-inspired dedication and diligence that will help student-athletes leverage their experiences in job interviews and the greater picture of life. We know about teamwork. We know about things being out of our control. We know about taking control of things. And we know how to get things done in time, on time and in overtime.
Student-athletes aren’t naïve. We understand that few of us will go pro in our sport. We get it. We still get on the field everyday and sweat and bruise and get after a tough morning in biting cold air or rain or hot, balmy sunlight. And then we go to class.
For all those who scowl at sociology or anthropology or psychology majors—go find the student-athletes who study these subjects and tell me they don’t work hard. Go find them and tell them they’ve simply got it made. Go tell them how you feel about them getting a free education—but know that not everyone gets a free education. In fact, very few do. Many of us aren’t given a penny, and we don’t care. We do it for the game. It’s about the intrinsic value of accomplishing things other people can’t do. We do it because we don’t want to stop playing.
My team is one of engineers and biologists and evolutionary anthropologists. The athletic department is filled with future doctors, lawyers and politicians—not to mention the individuals who do go pro. But right now, we’re kids. Just kids. We’re 18 to 22-year-old kids putting in the work—amateurs for now, going professional in something else sooner or later. There’s no way I’m going pro in my sport. No chance. We’re amateurs, and we know it. We do it because we love the game. We do it because we love Duke.
Embrace the role of athletics at a top-level institution. Understand that athletics and teams build character and community. The number of student-athletes who commit violations across this country are a fractionally small subset of individuals who get weeded out by their thinly veiled desire for individual benefit. The rest of us are blue collar kids. Diligent and dedicated and realistic 18 to 22-year-old kids who deserve more respect than saying this University isn’t about sports.
We deserve more credit than a sparsely-filled set of bleachers. More respect than a tailgate where student priorities ignore actually attending the game. Our football team is 7-2 and has been on a tear this season that demands your attention. Pay attention. Our soccer teams and wrestlers and field hockey players are grinding through seasons. Few of us will go pro. We just love the game. Pay attention.
Wear that Cameron Crazies shirt you got from the bookstore after receiving your acceptance letter. Wear it to a game—any game. Pay attention to those kids on the field. They might be your boss one day. But for now, we’re just kids—just students like you who are chasing down our dreams. We’re just running pretty damn fast while we do it.
Ashley Camano is a Trinity senior. Her column runs every other Tuesday. Send Ashley a message on Twitter @camanyooo.
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