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Varsity Syndrome: The Unkindest Cut

Columbia College and The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

The Varsity Syndrome refers to a selection process operating within sports which systematically denies opportunities for participation to the larger portion of the population. Only those with exceptional talent, who also tend to be male, can reap the rewards of sport participation that should belong to all. This process of selection begins in youth sports and culminates in professional sport events, or high level amateur competition, which are limited to a very few individuals. Those who do make it in sports are given deference that far exceeds their worth or importance to society. This further isolates them from the mainstream of the population and, in fact, creates an elite group. Once in this group, athletes are often exploited by the sports organizations and media who view athletes as entertainment and com mercial resources to be packaged and sold for economic or political purposes.

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 445, No. 1, 15-23 (1979)
DOI: 10.1177/000271627944500104


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