By Jeremy McDonald

Let me ask you a question:

How important is junior college/Community College sports?

I say a lot.

In areas like Southern Oregon, there are junior colleges, or community colleges as they’re called in Southern Oregon, but not really much in way of atheltics at them.

Look at this, in the Sacramento region with Sierra College, American River College, Sacramento City College and Yuba City for example all have atheltics to their schools.  You wouldn’t know that they are two-year schools.

In Southern Oregon, if you play sports in high school, you either hope to jump to Southern Oregon University or Oregon Tech, get something from Shasta Junior College  (a California school) or one of the schools up north.

With Junior College/Community College atheltics, they help out like academics do at these schools: As a bridge for the four-year University whenever its a NCAA Division-IA, IAA, D-II, D-III or NAIA, its a bridge academically and physiologically.  It allows one’s body to mature for the next step of the process.

Look at Cam Newton, quarterback of rhe Carolina Panthers, he jumped straight to a four-year school and had to go back because he wasn’t ready.  He went to a JuCo (Junior College), got better and returned to the four-year level and was better.

Why?

Because he went to the Junior College/Community College level and benefited because of it physically and mentally.

They’ll be some sense of being overwhelmed, but that transition from a two-year to a four-year won’t be so overwhelming that it feels like they’re going to fail the moment they step onto campus.

Is athletics important at the Junior College/Community College level in areas like Southern Oregon and everywhere?

Yes, they are. Junior College’s are a huge bridge academically, physically and mentally for student-athletes so they won’t struggle once they get to the four-year level so they won’t feel so overwhelmed once they get there.

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon and B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism and Health/PE in 2011 and 2013.  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81.