Following are comments from Melody Smith, a student-athlete at Austin College, made during the school's recent athletics convocation:

However, it is tonight that we acknowledge and applaud you, the student-athletes, for your representation on the playing field and in the classroom, and it is your complete dedication to both the academic and athletics realms that necessitates this honor.

We all participate in athletics for different reasons. For some, it is simply a pastime. For most, it is that burning desire to compete and once more emerge victorious. We have all seen the determination in one another's eyes when the agony of defeat has struck yet again. But, as athletes, you have refused to succumb, and you step on the field yet one more time for the love of the game. Through injuries, pain, pierced pride and exhaustion, you have endured and represented your college well.

And your hard work does not end when the season is over. You practice for two hours only to go home and study for another four and then get up again for a 6 a.m. workout. It is this dedication to academics that has earned you the respect of not only the student body but also your professors and coaches. You truly encompass the Austin College vision. You are known first as academicians and second as athletes.

And as athletes, it is sometimes hard to accept this role. There are no scholarships or Nike sponsors -- just gray sweats and a couple of T-shirts. The charter buses and airplane flights are few and far between -- just white vans and a lot of secrets and a lot of memories. But it is the desire to play that motivates you. There is one thing common in this room tonight, and that is that all of you have represented this school in a favorable light both as students and as athletes.

And we honor you tonight for these and many other reasons. Thank you for your commitment and your unwielding wish to compete.