Athletes are tasked with balancing the rigorous juxtaposition of classes, practice, training, and game days; that’s more than enough to tire even the strongest athlete. We have no days off, and during the on-season we’re usually awake from sun up to sun down. Due to these tiring, never-ending scheduling conflicts, athletes deserve extra cub cash and transfer meals to use at the dugout.
Often, our practices are scheduled before or during dinner, leaving us little time to make our way to the Caf during hot food hours. We frequently have to leave hours before dinner is served to commute to games. This leaves us with few options besides packing a dinner for the bus, or eating at the dugout when we return.
Eating at the dugout is an option, but athletes are only given the same amount of transfer meals as students who don’t have these same obligations; an amount that runs out shortly.
Athletes in no way are superior to other students, but there are concrete time restraints for athletes that don’t allow us to go to dinner in the cafeteria. We’re expected to use our regular $50 of cub cash and 15 transfer meals a semester, but this is grossly insufficient for those athletes who cannot ever make it to the Caf.
Every practice and every game, athletes are putting their bodies at risk. To stay at our physical best, we need solid, balanced meals every day; our bodies need more nutrients than other students, and we should be compensated with more transfer meals and cub cash to fulfill these needs.
In addition to the time restraints, some athletes get nervous before games and can’t eat much, if at all, before they play. After games, the only thing usually open is the dugout, but athletes need transfers or cash to eat there.
I’ve experienced other colleges and universities with more dinning hall hours that extend later into the night, allowing student athletes greater access to nourishing meals. ENC should make similar allowances. If we cannot extend the hours during which the Caf serves hot food, students should receive more transfers to the Dugout. There are circumstances that work against athletes that make it difficult, if not impossible, for us to make it to dinner, and for this reason alone athletes deserve more opportunities.
Athletes are more likely to be tired and perform poorly during sporting competitions if we don’t get enough calories, carbohydrates, fluids, iron, vitamins, and protein. Considering the amount of energy athletes expend on our sports, we need to be properly fed, and one of these ways is to provide us more opportunities to be able to eat; this starts with more cub cash and more transfer meals for us.