{"id":6876,"date":"2025-04-22T14:19:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T18:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/?p=6876"},"modified":"2025-04-22T14:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T18:19:40","slug":"elitness-is-not-only-present-in-the-classroom-but-also-in-athletic-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/2025\/04\/22\/elitness-is-not-only-present-in-the-classroom-but-also-in-athletic-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Elitness Is Not Only Present In The Classroom, But Also In Athletic Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One of my dad\u2019s best friends, Andrew, is Australian. Andrew is the 52 year-old equivalent of a D1 athlete\u2013 he is always swimming, running, and biking at top speeds, and loves nothing more than staying physically active. His children are no different\u2013 one is a college D1 tennis player and the other is a rowing star. My dad tells me that many Australians are like Andrew and value sports and physical activity, and that culture passes down to their children, even if they are living outside of Australia now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

He is not wrong. Sports are a very big part of Australian life. Something I noticed when studying my group\u2019s school, Everdeen, is that they have a bunch of sport options that aren\u2019t common in America. Cricket, which is not played in America, is the most popular sport in Australia (<\/span>What Is Australian Culture, <\/span><\/i>n.d.).\u00a0 I remember also being surprised that Everdeen offers surfing as a sport; however, surfing is another extremely popular sport in Australia. Many of Australia\u2019s popular sports are outdoors. Sports are more than just a hobby in Australia, as many Australian athletes have impressive performances at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games (<\/span>What Is Australian Culture, <\/span><\/i>n.d.).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In class, we have spent a lot of time discussing how elite institutions prepare you for elite roles, specifically in the workforce. Becoming an elite athlete is something else that is desirable, so it would make sense that elite institutions would have robust sports programs. At Everdeen, the athletics department boasts having 20 teams for each of their core sports (hockey, rugby, netball, and cricket). Having 20 teams for four different sports is not only a privilege, but also shows that they must have very high-levels of those sports, hoping that students go on to become professional athletes. All students at Everdeen are required to play sports for all three seasons, so this being a part of the school\u2019s culture may influence students to want to be competitive and achieve high levels in these sports. When reading one students\u2019 Everdeen interview, she stated that she plans to get recruited to college for soccer due to her success on Everdeen\u2019s team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Even for students who are not as excited about succeeding in sports, having fifteen different sports to choose from and many different levels is a privilege, from having the field spaces to practice and having enough resources to hire coaches and pay for equipment. In fact, any access to and prioritization of physical fitness is a privilege. Sports are associated with a healthy lifestyle of promoting healthy eating habits and obviously include exercise\u2013 we see that there is a direct correlation with social class and physical health. Many lower income individuals do not have the resources or time to exercise, or access to healthy food. Everdeen\u2019s impressive sports program not only speaks to the rich resources of the school, but also elite mindsets and attitudes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Sources:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

  1. What Is Australian Culture? <\/span><\/i>(n.d.). World Atlas. <\/span>https:\/\/www.worldatlas.com\/articles\/what-is-australian-culture.html<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ol> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \t <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t
    \n\t \t\t\t
    \n\t\t
    \n
    \n \n
    \n
    \n\t\t \"Olympics\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n \n \t<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \t <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One of my dad\u2019s best friends, Andrew, is Australian. Andrew is the 52 year-old equivalent of a D1 athlete\u2013 he is always swimming, running, and biking at top speeds, and loves nothing more than staying physically active. His children are no different\u2013 one is a college D1 tennis player and the other is a rowing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"builder_content":"

    One of my dad\u2019s best friends, Andrew, is Australian. Andrew is the 52 year-old equivalent of a D1 athlete\u2013 he is always swimming, running, and biking at top speeds, and loves nothing more than staying physically active. His children are no different\u2013 one is a college D1 tennis player and the other is a rowing star. My dad tells me that many Australians are like Andrew and value sports and physical activity, and that culture passes down to their children, even if they are living outside of Australia now.\u00a0<\/p>

    He is not wrong. Sports are a very big part of Australian life. Something I noticed when studying my group\u2019s school, Everdeen, is that they have a bunch of sport options that aren\u2019t common in America. Cricket, which is not played in America, is the most popular sport in Australia (What Is Australian Culture, <\/i>n.d.).\u00a0 I remember also being surprised that Everdeen offers surfing as a sport; however, surfing is another extremely popular sport in Australia. Many of Australia\u2019s popular sports are outdoors. Sports are more than just a hobby in Australia, as many Australian athletes have impressive performances at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games (What Is Australian Culture, <\/i>n.d.).\u00a0<\/p>

    In class, we have spent a lot of time discussing how elite institutions prepare you for elite roles, specifically in the workforce. Becoming an elite athlete is something else that is desirable, so it would make sense that elite institutions would have robust sports programs. At Everdeen, the athletics department boasts having 20 teams for each of their core sports (hockey, rugby, netball, and cricket). Having 20 teams for four different sports is not only a privilege, but also shows that they must have very high-levels of those sports, hoping that students go on to become professional athletes. All students at Everdeen are required to play sports for all three seasons, so this being a part of the school\u2019s culture may influence students to want to be competitive and achieve high levels in these sports. When reading one students\u2019 Everdeen interview, she stated that she plans to get recruited to college for soccer due to her success on Everdeen\u2019s team.\u00a0<\/p>

    Even for students who are not as excited about succeeding in sports, having fifteen different sports to choose from and many different levels is a privilege, from having the field spaces to practice and having enough resources to hire coaches and pay for equipment. In fact, any access to and prioritization of physical fitness is a privilege. Sports are associated with a healthy lifestyle of promoting healthy eating habits and obviously include exercise\u2013 we see that there is a direct correlation with social class and physical health. Many lower income individuals do not have the resources or time to exercise, or access to healthy food. Everdeen\u2019s impressive sports program not only speaks to the rich resources of the school, but also elite mindsets and attitudes.\u00a0<\/p>

    \u00a0<\/p>

    Sources:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

    1. What Is Australian Culture? <\/i>(n.d.). World Atlas. https:\/\/www.worldatlas.com\/articles\/what-is-australian-culture.html<\/a>\u00a0<\/li><\/ol>\n\"Olympics","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6878,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6876\/revisions\/6878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}