Why does this entire board think that the 2 year sabbatical is an advantage for BYU?

Remind us again which year it was when you or your kid got their butt kicked by a returned missionary? Time to move on Bro. Not healthy.

Thank you for writing a response to this issue. I can tell that you are very passionate about this debate. I'm the one who wrote the long response on the previous page giving my perspective as an athlete in question. I want to clear up some things about the culture within my faith that may give you more of an understanding of what it is like to be in my shoes.

In the culture of my church, our main priority at this point in my young life is to start and grow a healthy and happy family. Another priority to do before that is to serve a mission. Both of my parents served missions, and I know that in doing so they blessed their lives and my life immensely. It was always a goal of mine to serve before I was ever aware of any hypothetical advantage in a college sport.

To be able to achieve both priorities, the simple way is to go on a mission right out of high school before entering into serious dating pools and starting your education. (In fact, many are encouraged to break up with their current boyfriend/girlfriend as they go out on a mission, as to eliminate possible distractions). This will also allow one to focus a straightforward education to career path once coming home. Thus, the culture is heavily skewed towards leaving earlier rather than later.

If you want to marry someone within the church, then this is also a must. The reality is, there aren't too many of us members of the church, and many of the amazing other members (especially girls, who don't serve missions as often as boys), are already taken and married after just 2-3 years of college. I realize that this cultural leap is a difficult one to understand if you aren't a part of it, so I'm asking you on your part to be respectful of doing that!

At the end of the day, if I was told that I would have had to surrender my running career entirely to serve a mission, I would have done that in a heartbeat. Knowing them personally, I will tell you right now that many of my teammates including Conner Mantz and Kenneth Rooks would have gladly said the same thing.

Running and athletics are just a small, small part of life. My opportunity to run for BYU will eventually become a thing of naught. However, my faith and devotion to my Savior, Jesus Christ, will last me until the end of my life, and into the life to come.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for church!:) Have a wonderful sabbath day!

Didn't read your post or this thread, but LOL at the use of the word "sabbatical" in the headline. "Sabbatical" implies intellectual or academic pursuit. Spending two years trying to pressure strangers into buying your storybook isn't a sabbatical. It's a sales gig.

I have made up rules in my head and demand that all NCAA schools follow them NOW! If you don't follow the rules I made up you are a CHEATER!!! And I demand that you all stop laughing at me!

I appreciate your, (and others,) insights into what you believe serving a mission entails. I would hope that we can all be respectful of other people's faith and experiences, even if we do not agree on everything. I think that this being a running forum, the conversation would be benefitted by keeping it around the sport rather than a debate of religion. Even though some messages have been hostile, I remain optimistic that the running community can come together and handle a fair disagreement that satisfies both sides.

My mission was focused on helping others. I served in a lot of different capacities, including labor, humanitarian efforts, and simply helping people understand the Bible in ways that they also saw fit. I actively sought after the middle ground and focused on the good in everyone, of which there was so much to see!

Copies of the Book of Mormon and the Bible were given out freely to anyone who requested it. The mission was an honest effort to share where I find my joy with others, and I would kindly ask that nobody treats the years of service I gave to that effort as a "sales pitch" or "duping innocent people". Everyone who I witnessed come and join did so of their own free will, and their lives were positively benefited for it. You are free to believe whatever you like, and I respect the knowledge you have all come to, and I ask that you do the same for me and my church.

As to solving the remaining disagreement as to whether the mission years should be counted or not, here's something interesting to think about: Because of the pandemic, I am only ahead of my grade as far as eligibility goes by 1 year.

COVID gave everyone in the NCAA during 2020 and additional year of eligibility. Due to my missionary service being during this time, I was not given that extra year, which I think to be fair. This leaves a year disparity between those who were in high school in 2020 and college athletes in 2020, as the ones in college during that time have an extra year that the high schoolers didn't get.

So, the "advantage" of years that I get from my mission actually, funnily enough, is only 1 year older than those from my grade, which happens to be the exact same "advantage" between college athletes during COVID and high schoolers during COVID- that being just 1 year. Just some food for thought!

That might be true for some, but the LDS athletes that I've known, come back from their missions are usually overweight and out of shape. Y'all need to also think, not every LDS athlete that goes on a mission goes to BYU, they go all over the place. Just some feel "drawn" to go to BYU, because it is a school of predominately people like them, plus it's easier to find their spouse there. Even out of those that want to go to BYU, only a select few are good enough to make the team.