African American Male Community College Football Student-Athletes: An Exploration Of Factors That Facilitates and/or Impedes Academic Success

This qualitative exploratory case study is focused on two small cohorts of African American male football-student athletes at the College of San Mateo participating in the Writing In The End Zone learning community. The participants who were students in remedial English and divided into academically "On-Track" and "Off-Track" cohort groups, were asked to identify what they believed were the facilitators and/or impediments to their academic success.;The constant comparison methodology was utilized to determine similarities and dissimilarities in the perceptions of these two cohort groups. This research was critical because African American male community college student-athletes make up a large portion of the very vulnerable African American male community college population. African American male community college students in general have been consistently identified as having the lowest matriculation and graduation rates in the country. This study discovered that regardless of the cohorts' status academically, all of the participants identified themselves as football players first and students second. They all agreed that football was the reason they were even enrolled in college and both cohorts chose the same impediments and facilitators.;They identified the impediments to their academic success as economic distress, poor academic preparation, difficulty balancing academics, football and other personal and family responsibilities, the perception of football as the way out of poverty, and consciousness of the negative stereotypes of African American males.;The facilitators were identified as a strong dependency on support of coaches, teammates and teachers and family (mothers in particular), basic economic support, determination to succeed against all odds, and perceptions of football as the way out.;This research was designed to tap into a previously unexplored area in community college research that revealed the rarely heard voice and perspectives of the African American male community college football-student athlete. This qualitative exploratory research serves as the foundation for the much needed future research on the African American community college student-athlete in general and African American male football-student athletes in particular.