Recently, the idea of college athletes getting paid has attained a large amount of media attention. These athletes make money for their college or university, so why are they not getting paid! But most importantly, why are we stopping there? Who says that as Andover athletes we don’t deserve to be paid? Do we not bring endless joy and happiness to the students of Andover? I mean who doesn’t love seeing us destroy Exeter. Or maybe sometimes lose. There’s nothing better than standing in the freezing cold and seeing the football team try their hardest. Or pretending to understand the rules of field hockey. But arguably, the most deserving group is my team, the Andover Ultimate team. Being a varsity ultimate athlete is hard work. Throwing a frisbee in a circle for a couple of hours a day is an insane time commitment that is taken for granted. I mean sometimes during spring break there is pre-season in Florida. If that’s not torture I have no idea what is. If college athletes deserve a payment, why don’t we? I know for a fact that Division 1 Ultimate players across the country could be raking in millions of dollars, and there’s got to be some of that money for us. What about all the money made from parents? Or maybe vendors? Merchandise? To be honest I’m not sure, but there is definitely something! Ultimate is tied for the 24th fastest growing sport in the country, and with stats that like that, it is ridiculous to not give us our well-earned respect. I say that we, as varsity student-athletes, deserve a payment for the extreme amount of stress and pain Andover Athletics makes us endure.
