Balancing School and Travel-Not an Easy Task

Finals are approaching and so is tournament time! This is the point in the season when student-athletes are faced with the stressful challenge of juggling the most important part of the quarter with the most important part of the season; but, the players are referred to as "student-athletes" for a reason. The student is placed in front of the athlete intentionally. While the players have been recruited and are getting paid to play basketball, academics always come first. 

"Being in season requires constant communication with professors with both the student athletes and myself," said Academic Services and CHAMPS/Skills Coordinator Amy King. "What is difficult about traveling is that the students don't always have internet access and it is my job to be in touch with their instructors so I can text them updates and make sure they are taking advantage of office hours once a week and study halls while they are on the road," she added. 

King has weekly meetings with each student athlete as well as the coaching staff. Each student is assigned an academic coach that they report to each week. The coaches then meet with King to collaborate and share the progress being made or any concerns they have with certain players. 

"It is important for me to have input because the players open up to me differently than they do with their coaches. Based on what they tell me, I send out an email once a week to professors just to touch base," she said.

The communication with instructors is especially important when traveling on the road. Long bus trips, no internet access and being mentally focused on the game are all challenges to staying on top of school work. 

"Study hall on the road is extremely difficult. We back down in season and they take 12 credit hours instead of 16. Then they take a summer class to make up for the 12 so they are still averaging 16 a quarter," King noted. 

When scheduling, King and the athletes adjust what days they take class in season so they miss as little as possible. Most of the games landed on Wednesdays and Saturdays which means players try to schedule on Mondays and Thursdays, for example. 

"Even with the adjustments we make, athletes miss anywhere from 5-10 classes throughout the season which is why communication is so important," King said. 

So, the athletes are missing 5-10 classes, practicing for three hours per day along with a minimum 12 class hours, making up homework on long bus trips, meeting once a week with an academic instructor, meeting once a week with an academic coach and are required to clock in a specific number of study table hours at Peden Stadium. Do you think they are earning their scholarships?

Not everyone thinks so. In several cases there has been tension between professors and student-athletes. There are several professors that refuse to honor the university approved official travel letters because they do not believe academics should ever take a back seat to athletics. This puts athletes in a difficult situation especially when they are required to take a class for their major with a professor that will not accept absences. To me this is absurd. It is one thing to not accept absences from a student-athlete who is struggling in the class and needs the extra focus on academics, but to blatantly categorize all student-athletes as too irresponsible to manage missing a few classes is insulting. Having played for two years I know that it is possible to maintain a balance. With the study hours and academic meetings I was able to maintain a 3.9 over the course of those two years on the team. Most student-athletes want to excel in the classroom for multiple reasons: the school is paying their tuition, they will not be playing basketball forever and plan on getting a job after college, the majority are naturally driven human beings, and the better you do in school the fewer study table hours are required.

"Students are assigned study table hours depending on their GPA. Right now, all of the sophomores and some of the juniors have meetings with me once a week, but there are members of each team that work extremely hard. Some don't have to come at all and others only have to put in a few hours a week," King said. 

If anything, athletics helps student-athletes do better in school. These women are constantly competing on the court and their competitive mindset transfers to the classroom. By playing a sport, athletes are forced to practice better time management and communication skills to keep a positive relationship with their professors and balance school work. Are there negatives to missing class? Yes, but I am arguing that the positives significantly outweigh the negatives. What are your thoughts?

Fun Fact: The Bobcats have only won ONE road game this year. Central Michigan will be a difficult task! (That is more upsetting than fun but still an interesting stat!)

Go Bobcats!  

Over the River and Through the Snow to Northern Illinois We Go!

What a trip!! Wow. Ohio traveled to Northern Illinois for a Wednesday night game and here is how the trip was supposed to go: Meet at the Convocation Center in Athens at 5:00 Tuesday night, drive to the charter plane and fly to Northern Illinois, wake up the next morning to beat the Huskies and fly back Wednesday night. Simple right?

Here is how the trip went: Huge snow storm, meet at 9:00 in the morning Tuesday and start the drive to Northern, stop in Indianapolis because the weather was too dangerous, wake up the next morning and finish driving, lose to the Huskies (who were only 2-8 in the MAC), another bus ride to Indianapolis through the night, crash at the hotel for a few hours and arrive in Athens at 2:30 in the afternoon Thursday. Ahh!!

Not only did these players and coaches lose one of the most "winable" games of the season, but they also missed roughly 5-8 classes and are fueled by approximately four hours of sleep. To add to hectic travel schedule, the lady Bobcats are already on the way to Bowling Green to face off against the best team in the MAC. And who said being a college athlete was easy?

So how exactly do the girls deal with all of the missed classes and down time on the bus?

"Each player is required to fulfill a specific number of study table hours based on academic performance. We recognize that the classroom is the first priority and that is why we are called student-athletes. The bus trips are a great way to get a few hours of studying in and we make sure the team gets those hours in," said Assistant Coach Karen Hewitt.

But having traveled with the team, I know how hard it is to focus on school work on a bus especially when there is no internet and your laptop only lasts as long as its battery. So, to help ease the pain of the trip, most of the parents send the girls home from games with more baked goods than you could ever imagine! The bus ride home consists of a snack every hour, at least. The first hour this trip we had famous cupcakes from a hometown bakery on Northern Illinois' campus. The second hour we devoured Tina Fisher's chocolate chip cookies that her mother baked. The third hour was heart-shaped brownies and the fourth hour was homemade sugar cookies! See the tips aren't all that bad!

Anyways, off to Bowling Green we go. The Bobcats fell to the Falcons earlier this season 77-42 in Athens and tomorrow's matchup will not be an easy one. Cross your fingers for an Ohio upset.

Fun Fact: Two years ago, Ohio upset Bowling Green in double-overtime during the MAC Tournament to advance to the MAC Championship in Cleveland. It has been done before.

Go Bobcats!