Professional Versus College Athletes

Professional vs. College Athletes Professional athletes and college athletes are two amazing groups of people. Professional athletes and college athletes have so much in common yet many things that are different as well. They both have an elaborate amount of detail in their life including: lifestyle, work ethics, self-motivation and many more that describe them as who they are as a player and as a human in every-day life. College athletes (student athletes) are some of the most astounding and prestigious people. From having ridiculously large amounts of school work and having to study for quizzes and finals at the end of the year to having to study their play books in their sports and having practice on top of that. Although many
Professional athletes have nothing but family and their sport to worry about. They don't have to worry about school work or anything else from college life ,because professional sports are their everyday job. Everything is much more fast-paced and much more difficult because there are so many great athletes with many of the same goals and mentalities. In professional sports most athletes have a drive to get better, whether it is for their family, their hometown, or even themselves. Other professional athletes may have a drive to get better just because of the money they get payed for doing it. The salary varies drastically from each sport. There are five major professional teams in the United States these include: basketball(NBA), baseball(MLB), football(NFL), soccer(MLS), and hockey(NHL). NBA stands for “National Basketball Association”, MLB stands for “Major League Baseball”, NFL stands for “National Football League”, MLS stands for “Major League Soccer”, and NHL stands for “National Hockey League.” The NBA has the best yearly salary with an average of $5.15 million and the average career lasts 4.8 years so they earn $24.7 million in their career. MLB players earn an average of $3.2 million a year with their careers lasting 5.6 years on average so they earn around $17.9 million in their careers. NHL players average $2.4 million a year with their careers lasting 5.5 years earning
They both have an extremely challenging life and struggle with balancing out their life. Professional athletes may have a tougher time playing better than other athletes in their league, because of competition; however, college athletes have the more challenging time trying to balance out their sport, family, friends, academics, and the occasional alone--time. Everything that student athletes and professional athletes do shapes them into who they are in everyday