When I first played basketball, I was far too young to understand the impact it would have on my life. The sport of basketball changed my life for the better, but that same sport I love is now going through changes of its own.
I was six years old when I first began playing basketball. My dad was a Division I player at West Point, and my mom was a Division II player at Texas Woman’s University. I have two younger brothers, one of whom is a teammate of mine at Virginia Military Institute, while the other is in his senior year of high school, still deciding where to continue his basketball career. It’s safe to say that basketball runs in the family.
The game of basketball and the good Lord above have gifted me with so many opportunities that I don’t deserve. College basketball has given me the chance to get an education, form relationships that will last a lifetime, learn life lessons at a young age, become a leader, see the country and serve within groups like the Student Athlete Engagement Group and the NCAA Board of Directors. College basketball has changed my life, and it will continue to be a primary reason I find future success. It has developed me into a young man who is equipped to step into life with confidence and a strong foundation.
I worry not about my own future, but about the future of athletes who will come after me. We are in a unique time when college sports are no longer enjoyed the same way they used to be. No one seems to know the rules. There is constant confusion about what is permissible and what is not. The media and fans are focused more on the latest court rulings than the outcomes of their favorite teams’ games. Somewhere along the way, we have lost sight of the purpose behind why we play and why we enjoy watching young men and women compete.
Passing the Protect College Sports Act will help reduce much of this confusion. College athletics is national in nature, yet the rules governing it have increasingly been shaped by different state laws, court decisions and policies. Student athletes should not have to become legal experts to understand what opportunities are available to them. If we compete under a national system, we deserve a national set of rules.
The Protect College Sports Act would provide that stability while also preserving many of the opportunities that today’s student athletes have fought to earn. It would protect our ability to benefit from our name, image and likeness, establish clearer transfer and eligibility standards, strengthen protections for scholarships and medical expenses, and give student-athletes a greater voice in decisions that directly affect us. Just as importantly, it would provide structure to a system that has changed at a pace few athletes, coaches or fans have been able to keep up with.
I believe strongly that student athletes should have opportunities that previous generations did not. Athletes should be able to benefit from their name, image and likeness. They should have reasonable freedom to transfer when circumstances change. They should have a voice in the future of the sports to which they dedicate so much of their lives. Supporting the Protect College Sports Act does not mean turning back the clock on college athletics. It means creating a framework that allows these opportunities to exist without sacrificing the stability that makes college sports special.
An old proverb says, “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” My time is running out when it comes to college basketball. I have many more yesterdays than I have tomorrows. But this isn’t about me. It’s about bringing stability back to a sport that I love. It’s about strengthening the foundation beneath college athletics for generations to come. It’s about providing shade for my little brother and the athletes who follow, so one day, they can rest beneath the trees we plant today.
TJ Johnson is a senior at Virginia Military Institute and plays on the school’s men’s basketball team.
