The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- December 7, 1998

Common bond

Student-athletes from all levels face similar challenges and opportunities

BY KAY HAWES
STAFF WRITER

What does the student-athlete featured on the front of Sports Illustrated have in common with the student-athlete featured on the sports page of the local paper?

Some believe they are as different as night and day. Beyond the fact that they are both "student-athletes," what does a Division I football player have in common with a Division III softball player?

A closer look reveals that as diverse as student-athletes are, their similarities overwhelm their differences.

All are motivated individuals who are driven to compete. Most are working to successfully balance athletics and academics, and all are working to be the best athlete they can be. Also, most have an extremely slim chance at a successful career in professional athletics.

And, winning a championship, losing a close game, and coming back from an injury to have a record-setting season-- all of those experiences feel the same, whether you rush for 100 yards at Georgia Tech or pitch a shutout for Wisconsin-La Crosse.

At the NCAA Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida, last May, student-athletes from all divisions, all sports and both genders were surprised to find themselves seeking answers to similar questions, sharing common concerns and making lifelong friends. One of the refrains heard over and over was, "I feel like I've known these 300 people my whole life."

Indeed, where else could you find 300 young people who -- almost to a person -- show up on time, are incredibly picky about the food they eat, take copious notes, prefer water over soft drinks, and think nothing of arising before dawn for an hour-long workout?

To learn a bit more about these incredible individuals, we consulted student-athletes all across the country to learn more about the common challenges, common problems and unique opportunities of the 320,000 individuals who participate in NCAA intercollegiate athletics.

Learning to win and lose

Student-athletes and former student-athletes say that the experience of intercollegiate athletics forges a bond that lasts long after graduation -- regardless of the sport or the division.

"You have a bond with other people who played sports in college," said Cris Pellegrino, a swimmer from Tufts University who graduated in May.

"It's a common bond that forms when you realize the commitment and dedication you share. My team might have been on the news and yours was not, but we still had that experience in common. I think the non-student-athlete doesn't understand the common bond that student-athletes have -- regardless of division -- from having so many similar experiences."

Added swimmer Erik Weinick, who graduated from Cornell and is pursuing a law degree, "From sport to sport or league to league, the experience is common. Everyone has experienced that long bus ride to the school at the far end of the conference, everyone has eaten bad food somewhere, and everyone at some point has questioned why they're doing this. In the end, you get a common experience."

Stormie Wells, who played volleyball for the University of Northern Colorado before graduating last year, has had the opportunity to get to know many student-athletes through her work with the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Wells said the bond begins with shared experiences related to competing as children.

"You probably competed in sports camps during your summers, went to practice every day after school, and your parents probably valued athletics and supported you," she said.

Wells also said that those who continue in athletics at the college level share several basic traits, including learning to win and lose.

"I'm convinced that winning and losing feels the same," she said. "No matter what level you play at, winning and losing and working toward a goal feels the same. If you're playing college athletics, you have that goal to win. You have the same sort of makeup, the same sort of drive."

Damani Leech, who played football at Princeton University before graduating last spring with a degree in public policy, agreed.

"As athletes, we're definitely on common ground as far as the issues that we face," he said. "The degree of the challenges may be different, and that may make it seem like things are different, but they're not."

Charles Wiley, a fifth-year football player and industrial engineering major at Georgia Institute of Technology, said that the Leadership Conference helped him understand that student-athletes have so much in common that they can turn to each other for possible solutions.

"Even though you were from different schools and different divisions, you had the same concerns," he said. "Some of the issues we are working on at Georgia Tech are the same ones that other people have."

Often, because the level of competition or the level of public attention is different, people incorrectly perceive that student-athletes from different sports and different divisions have little in common, said Mike Lawrence, a senior who plays golf and majors in social ecology at the University of California, Irvine.

"All of our problems are going to be pretty similar," he said. "You don't put two and two together because we look different, but we all have the same general issues with class schedules, competing, making the coach happy and getting good grades."

A balancing act

Another reason student-athletes have so much in common is that they often lead lives that are quite different from their classmates. The pressures of meeting every academic obligation and every athletics obligation are the same at every school. Time management skills must reach a level of sophistication that is often not seen in traditional college students.

"A lot of people who aren't in athletics don't see how we have to budget our time," said Sara Keenan, a senior soccer player and accounting major at the University of San Francisco.

"Other athletes understand that it's a big commitment. When I'm in soccer season, I'm on the field almost as much as I'm in the classroom. Other student-athletes know exactly what I'm talking about. I think that regardless of what sport you're in, you have many of the same needs and concerns."

Student-athletes must also make difficult choices about what activities they are able to participate in and what they must forgo.

"For most of us who have gotten this far, we've had to sacrifice different things -- although I don't call them sacrifices anymore," said Molly Carr, a senior in elementary education who plays basketball and softball for Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

"You are constantly working to become the best you can be. You're just not 'normal' anymore. Sometimes I feel like I'm studying every second of the day that I'm not in practice. But I think it helps you grow as a person. You look back and say, 'I did it.' And you didn't think you could."

Those sacrifices may mean missing functions that other students take for granted.

"When we had a meet the same night as the Christmas formal, we couldn't be in both places at the same time," Weinick said. "But we were glad to be there for the last hour of the formal."

The day-to-day time management crunch is probably the biggest issue for student-athletes, and student-athletes at all levels experience it.

"I think a lot of people think we have it easy," said Chad Larkin, a junior communications major who plays golf at the University of Dayton. "They think it's easy for us to get our schoolwork done and go to practice. But they don't see the seven hours of practice that we might put in on our own every day. I want to be the best on my team, and that means extra practice on my own. It's a lot of fun, and it's also a lot of work."

Indeed, successful student-athletes are successful time managers, according to Jean Conway, academic and life skills coordinator at State University College at Oswego. "Regardless of gender or sport, they all deal with the issue of managing their time," she said.

"Even if they were good time managers as student-athletes in high school, when they get to college -- because of other developmental changes, like leaving home and living with a roommate -- it really stresses their time management skills. I hear that from my field hockey players, my hockey players, everyone," said Conway, who also worked with student-athletes when she worked as an intern at Syracuse University.

Conway said student-athletes also have a mind-set that puts a premium on success and achievement.

"They're the type of people who like to take on a lot of things," she said. "Student-athletes are achievers and they're motivated."

As student-athletes mature, they often find that they develop the skills necessary to make it all work.

"You have to be more responsible than the average student," Lawrence said. "If you're not giving your sport 100 percent, you're not going to make it. And if you're not getting your schoolwork done, you're going to sit. Now that I'm a senior, I find that I worry a lot less. I know what's worth worrying about and what's not."

Successfully balancing athletics and academics can mean getting more out of college than other students do.

"I personally do not find it difficult to balance academics and athletics. For me, they complement each other," said Amy Huchthausen, a senior in exercise and sport science who plays softball at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. "Of course there is sacrifice. There always is when you love two things and are asked to prioritize them on a daily basis.

"Some people feel that being an athlete limits your college experience and you miss out on a lot of other activities. I disagree with that statement. Being in athletics enhances your college experience. It makes it more complete and fulfilling."

Social butterflies or wallflowers?

Working to balance academics and athletics can have a down side when student-athletes slight the normal social activities that are typical of the college experience, Conway said. Learning to live with other people, learning to make friends and learning to deal with the opposite gender can either be enhanced by the athletics experience or be limited by it.

"Some student-athletes spend so much time on their sport that they haven't made time to make social connections with roommates, suitemates or classmates. Sometimes when you're so busy with your team, it precludes your ability to make relationships with other people," Conway said. "I think that happens at Division I and at Division III."

When it comes to managing athletics, academics and a social life, a sense of balance is key.

"The balance is a very big challenge," Leech said. "Some people focus too much on athletics, and some people forget you're supposed to do all three. It's difficult, and you have to sacrifice in each area."

Student-athletes understand sacrifice, and sometimes the part of life that is sacrificed is family life, since weekends and holidays that were once spent with family are often spent with teammates.

"There's time away from your family," Wells said. "You can't just go home on the weekends when you're competing. If you've had a bad week you can't just pack up and go home to see your parents like other students can."

Weinick agreed that making time for social activities could be a challenge, but he also noted that his commitments to athletics helped keep his social life in check in a good way.

"There is a crunch of time, and this whole issue of trying to be a super model citizen balancing athletics and academic demands and also trying to have a social life, but the athletics was a good moderating influence on the social activities," Weinick said.

"As a whole, I think student-athletes are more disciplined out of necessity. You're more disciplined for your sport, for your academics and for your citizenship."

With the right amount of time management and discipline, athletics can provide a more active social life for some student-athletes.

"In my experience, part of our team bonding was our social life," said Rob Morrissey, who played soccer for Vassar before graduating this May with a history degree and is now an intern with the Western Athletic Conference. "The years that our team did well, we would all go out together and get to know each other. It was so nice to have that camaraderie."

Unfortunately, this time-consuming dedication and time spent bonding with team members can make other life transitions -- such as the end of the season or an injury -- difficult for student-athletes.

"One other common challenge is this whole issue of dealing with injuries," Conway said. "When an injury occurs and you are so affiliated with a particular team, that can be a devastating thing and may result in depression."

And, the end of the season during an athlete's senior year can feel like the end of college.

"The end of swimming hit me harder than the end of college," Pellegrino said. "I had been involved with it since I was seven years old. Swimming is a big time commitment and it was something that had been a part of my life for so long. It's almost indescribable to someone who's not a student-athlete."

Communicating with coaches and faculty

While learning to develop relationships with their peers may be a challenge, student-athletes also have to learn to communicate with their faculty and with their coaches, not always an easy task.

"Student-athletes often have problems communicating with faculty," Conway said. "I think that it is hard for students to do, especially for first-year students."

And, student-athletes often have to develop a rapport with faculty members -- letting them know when they'll be out of town competing or getting assignments in advance.

"You have to be a better communicator," said Lawrence. "You learn to communicate with your teammates, you learn to communicate with your coaches, and you learn to communicate with your professors. It doesn't matter whether it's a professor or a coach, everybody always wants progress reports."

In addition to communications issues, dealing with the expectations and different personalities of coaches is a common concern of student-athletes.

Those in attendance at the Leadership Conference showed great interest in the coaches' panel, asking numerous questions and even extending the session past its allotted time. Student-athletes in every sport and all divisions had concerns about their coaches.

"The role of the coach is an important issue to student-athletes," said Beth Bonner, a senior volleyball player and business/communications major at Centenary College (Louisiana). "The role of the coach and the relationship of the coach to the student-athletes, those are always going to be issues, even if you have a good coach."

Wells noted that an overly enthusiastic coach can make balancing commitments difficult for student-athletes. "I was fortunate in that I loved my coach, but sometimes you aren't that fortunate," she said. "Sometimes the professors and the coaches are pulling you in different directions."

Image is important

It's clear that being a student-athlete can be both rewarding and stressful, and how a certain student-athlete chooses to unwind can become fodder for the media, regardless of the size of the school.

"Even though it may not be fair, the stuff that we do outside our athletics arena is important," Bonner said. "You have to know that if you slip up one time, it's going to be public knowledge."

As one student-athlete pointed out, it doesn't matter whether you're in the newspaper at your school or in USA Today, it still feels like everyone is watching you.

At some smaller schools, student-athletes actually get more attention because arenas are smaller, fields are accessible and competition can be more intimate. Either way, there's a sense that image -- on and off the field -- matters.

"The prominent Division I student-athlete, their fear is national attention (given to a negative action), whereas on a Division III campus, it looks bad to the campus and you don't want to perpetuate the dumb jock stereotype. You don't want to have that kind of a reputation," Morrissey said.

Wiley added, "Being at a Division I school and being on TV as much as we are, kids see you and you have a certain image to uphold. You must accept that responsibility."

The attention and celebrity status also gives student-athletes an opportunity to be role models, whether they are role models on campus, in the community or throughout the nation.

"I think so much emphasis is placed on sports that you assume a leadership and role-model role and responsibility," Carr said. "When I go out and I play, there's all these people watching and all these little kids watching. And what they see they imitate. You always have to be careful what you're showing them. You can be a role model no matter what sport you're in or where you're at. You're not going to affect everybody, but you can affect that one person."

The struggle to uphold a certain image also can have negative ramifications for some student-athletes.

"Image is a huge issue for our student-athletes," Conway said. "Image can keep them from accessing other support services. Student-athletes are fairly self-reliant individuals. They have been taught in an athletics culture to 'take care of it themselves.' I think Division III student-athletes deal with that and I think Division I student-athletes deal with that as well."

Equals on the court

Another area where perception of division is much greater than reality is between genders.

It hasn't been that many years ago that student-athletes were nearly all male. But for this generation of student-athletes, women are generally respected for their athletics abilities and thought of as equals.

"There's just a level of respect between you," Morrissey said. "You understand that this is a collegiate athlete, and they have the desire to compete and be the best, just like I do."

In fact, Morrissey's "model student-athlete" was Chapel Love, a woman who excelled in both field hockey and lacrosse at Vassar while excelling at academics as well.

"She was someone whom I respected and admired as a role model not only to youngsters but as a role model to her peers as well," he said.

Student-athletes regularly attend each other's events at many schools, creating a sense of unity that transcends sport or gender.

"The men here (at Centenary) really respect our programs and we have good relationships with the men's teams," Bonner said. "The men's coaches help that by encouraging them to come out and watch our teams."

At Georgia Tech, the campus SAAC has created an e-mail schedule of all the athletics teams' games to make it easier for other student-athletes to attend.

"We try to create unity within our athletics program," Wiley said. "As football players, we know that fan support is important, and we want to come out and support other teams as much as possible."

When it comes to gender-equity issues, student-athletes can help look for solutions, Wells says. "I don't know that administrators ever pose the problem to the student-athletes. I think that would be a good idea," she said.

"And as student-athletes, you should be totally united. The males say, 'We're willing to cut our budget in some other way, but we don't want our roster capped.' They'd rather have their (walk-on) buddy stay on the team and the whole team get less socks or pay $10 extra for shoes. As women, we support the guys' efforts to keep their rosters. We also recognize that without Title IX, we wouldn't have the opportunities we do."

Part of the team

While there are many sacrifices, there also are many unique opportunities that go with being a student-athlete. Most student-athletes say they learned about dedication, discipline, motivation, hard work and team work -- all valuable qualities that will last a lifetime.

"Athletics taught me how to deal with different types of people," Pellegrino offered. "I learned dedication to the team aspect. I was definitely committed and dedicated to my team, and being able to pull from those experiences has really helped me."

Leech pointed out that success as a student-athlete carries over in other areas of a student-athlete's life. "To be a successful student-athlete, I think makes you one of the most talented people in the world because you have conquered it all. If you're looking at them as a potential employer, you know that student-athletes know about hard work, determination and sacrifice."

Divisions don't divide

Several student-athletes also pointed out that most student-athlete issues transcend NCAA divisions.

"When I first came to the Division III national SAAC, I was really apprehensive about the Division I student-athletes," Morrissey said. "I thought they would have big heads and big egos, and they're not like that at all. We hang out with the Division I athletes a lot."

Morrissey also pointed out that few student-athletes -- in any division -- can expect to play professionally.

"I think, across the board, we all understood balancing athletics and academics," he said. "The percentage of kids who think they're going to go professional is much smaller than people think. A lot of us -- in all divisions -- are interested in pursuing a career in athletics, but as administrators rather than players."

Instead of being concerned about professional prospects, most student-athletes at the Leadership Conference were concerned with the kinds of issues that Morrissey referred to -- academics and athletics. And the concerns were more similar than different.

"I definitely did not expect the experience that I got," Bonner said of the Leadership Conference. "I wasn't sure how we would all interact. I didn't think I'd have anything in common with somebody from say, Ohio State. But I realized that they had the same kinds of problems we do (at Centenary College)."

Divisions don't matter, Wiley says. "Everyone there was an athlete and that's how you were looked at," he said.

Carr agreed. "Even though there are differences, everyone has so much in common," she said. "We're all athletes. We're all students. It doesn't matter what division you're in -- athletics is athletics and academics is academics."

Athletes benefit while building image

Student-athletes share a desire to show that they are more than just athletes, and most student-athletes are involved in some type of volunteer work in their community.

"We are role models, and I think schools have to demand that we act like it and treat the communities around us like we are," said Mike Lawrence, a senior golfer at the University of California, Irvine.

"I think all student-athletes should feel obligated to do community service. We have that type of power and that type of influence to make a difference in the community. Athletes should feel like they want to do that."

"Student-athletes are constantly searching for ways to improve their image in their communities and on a national scale," said Amy Huchthausen, a senior who plays softball at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.

"It seems like we are always trying to prove ourselves to society, prove that we care about more than just our sport and more than ourselves."

"It seems that people either love us or hate us. They either respect our involvement in athletics and encourage us or hate that we do something that causes us to be in the spotlight. There is no middle ground with a lot of people, and that is often difficult to overcome."

Student-athletes can use their dedication and their leadership experience to make a difference at their school and in their communities.

"Through groups like SAACs and Captains Councils, student-athletes can improve their situation, if not for themselves then for another group of student-athletes," Weinick said. "If you want something done, go get involved and do something about it."

Giving back to the community helps student-athletes grow personally.

"You get a sense of fulfillment, and you feel like you're putting back, like you're making a difference," Lawrence said.

At the University of Dayton this summer, student-athletes volunteered to make a difference by conducting sports camps at a recreation center near campus. One of the volunteers was Chad Larkin, a junior golfer.

"The Westwood Recreation Center is located in West Dayton and is home to many children who lead underprivileged lives," Larkin said.

The area is home to drug dealers, and violence is an everyday occurrence. When student-athletes "adopted" the center, the children started talking about going to college, something that had never seemed possible before.

"Now these kids look toward the future," Larkin said.

The student-athletes involved in the project, which will eventually include a tutoring program, have to look no farther than the child in front of them to see that they are role models.

"They look up to us and want to do what we do," Larkin said. "We stress that it will only come through had work and staying in school. Overall, the kids like being with us and we like being with them. We hope that this program will just keep expanding."

-- Kay Hawes