Head women’s soccer coach Tim Champion’s policy for his student-athletes on the team is simple-if you don’t go to class, then you don’t play.
“Academics come first, and if they go to class, they are going to do really well,” Champion said. “We are flexible with practice times so if player has a conflict here or there, we work it out so that they don’t miss class.”
But Champion has never had many problems with his players not making grades, as women’s soccer led all other Saint Louis University sports last year with the highest number of Division-I athletes on the Atlantic-10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll with 20.
Moreover, Champion’s squads have had a history of success on both the pitch and in the classroom, as his teams have averaged a combined GPA of 3.5 in the last three to four years.
“The culture here is that academics are really important,” he said. “They [athletes] have to be able to do both, and do both well, but we have a lot of kids that work hard, so we haven’t had issues with academic eligibility in the past.”
The Billikens have always posted good numbers with student-athletes making the Honor Roll, but 2007 saw 26 more athletes than the previous year.
Women’s soccer is just one of the sports that contributes to SLU’s history of excellence in the classroom, though. For the spring 2007 semester, SLU led all league schools with 123 student-athletes named to the aforementioned Honor Roll, as announced June 19 by A-10 commissioner Linda Bruno.
“It is an honor to recognize these student-athletes who truly exemplify what the college experience is all about,” Bruno said. “Their commitment to excellence on and off the playing field is inspiring and should serve as an example to all.”
Part of the reason why women’s soccer and so many other sports have seen success with academics in addition to athletics is due to the emphasis that coaches put on what it means to be a student-athlete with their incoming recruits.
Champion said he lets his new players know that athletics is just one part of something bigger that they’re trying to accomplish during their college career and that it is incredibly important.
“We tend to get those kids that are highly motivated students anyway, but we make it clear up front that they are here to learn,” he said.
One of Champion’s recruits this year, Emily Kryzer, is currently juggling a D-I sport in addition to her pre-med emphasis.
“I talked to Janet Oberle when I came last year in September to check out SLU, and she just told me that it’s really hard, but that you can do it,” Kryzer said. “You just have to be smart about your study time.”
As far as maintaining sanity with the pre-med workload and a D-I sport, Kryzer said that everything is under control at this point since the team has not traveled much yet. When it comes down to leaving for weekends at a time, though, it becomes more of a necessity to complete work in a timely manner and not save it for the last minute.
“You just have to space yourself out and be smart with your time,” Kryzer said.
One of the advantages to playing a D-I sport, according to Champion, is that there is a whole team there for support if classes or schoolwork become too overwhelming.
Even with a team there for support, athletics and academics are two huge time commitments for collegiate athletes, and the ones that can budget there time accordingly are the ones that will excel in both arenas.
“I think players have learned from high school that they have to juggle a lot of things to compete at this level and play competitively,” Champion said. “They just have to spend their time wisely-they have to choose that these are some of the things they want to be good at.”
Bruno said that the fact that student-athletes at SLU have seen so much success is something to be celebrated. The A-10 office, stationed in Pennsylvania, does everything in its power to publicize the athletes’ accomplishments in newspapers and on its website.
“We think it’s important that the general public knows we recognize academic excellence, in addition to athletic excellence,” Bruno said.
All athletes need to get a well-rounded education that is no differnt from any other college student-they need to find other interests, according to Champion. Athletics is just one component of the athletes’ experience here, and having a diverse resum? will prepare them better for their experience after college.
“Most coaches understand that athletics are an important part of life, but it’s a four-year thing, and you need a degree to do anything,” Champion said. “The ultimate goal is to get a degree, academics are a more important component than athletics. I mean, everyone wants to win, but you can do that and have really good students at the same time.”
