The yin and yang of college athletics

Pursuing excellence in and out of the classroom

The yin and yang of college athletics is that student-athletes find themselves caught between the expectation of excellence both in the classroom and on the field of competition.

Such has been the case from the earliest days of intercollegiate team sports, which can be traced to the second half of the 19th century, when the first competitions took place in crew, football, baseball, track & field, tennis, ice hockey and gymnastics.

At UConn, official competition began in 1896 with football, baseball and ice polo, the forerunner of hockey.

With the glare of the spotlight on every sport today, thanks to the 24/7 world of the Internet and cable television, more is expected of student-athletes than ever before in and out of the classroom.

The myth is that student-athletes don’t perform as well with their books as with their bodies.

The fact is that the 650 student-athletes who represent UConn on the field of play do better than hold their own in the classroom.They excel just as much in the classroom.

Forty-six percent of the Huskies earned a 3.0 or better grade point average last year in either or both semesters, many of them earning a place on the Dean’s List, which is achieved by only 25 percent of the undergraduate student body.

These academic achievements are noted throughout the year when regional Academic All-Star or national Academic All-American teams are announced. To date, more than 1,000 UConn student-athletes have earned such recognition.

In the past, some familiar names were included on this list, including Rhema Fuller ’07 (BUS) in football, and Emeka Okafor ’04 (BUS) and Rebecca Lobo ’95 (CLAS) in basketball.

Among the prominent names recognized for their academic achievements recently are football players Donald Brown ’10 (ED) and Tyler Lorenzen ’09 (BUS), soccer players Karl Schilling ’08 (CLAS) and Meghan Schnur ’08 (ED), and basketball player Mel Thomas ’08 (BUS).

During a half-time ceremony at Gampel Pavilion this past February, UConn celebrated the academic achievements of its student-athletes, including special recognition for those who earned a perfect 4.0 in 2007.

These Huskies included Phylicia George ’10 (CLAS), Mercedes Ball ’10 (CLAS) and Kaitlin Vaughn ’09 (CLAS) of track & field; Elizabeth Littlewood ’10 (CLAS) and Stephanie Bryant ’09 (CLAS) of rowing; William Magin ’10 (CLAS) of swimming & diving; Nicole Tritter ’09 (ED) of ice hockey; and Megan Doran ’11 (CLAS) and Joseph Michaels ’09 (CLAS) of tennis.

Special recognition went to the women’s tennis team, led by coach Glenn Marshall ’89 (SFA), which had the top GPA of 3.2.

Also recognized were the staff of the Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes, directed by Bruce Cohen, which assists student-athletes in meeting the challenges they face both in and out of the classroom.

As in athletics, statistics point to the high level of academic achievement at UConn, which is why top student-athletes are attracted to UConn as much for the quality of academic programs as for the quality of competition on the field.

As Hall of Fame baseball philosopher Yogi Berra would say, “You could look it up.”

Ken Best
Editor

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