Athletics vs Academics

Once upon a time I was a pretty good athlete. I went to junior college nationals twice in the intermediate hurdles. I qualified for nationals in the decathlon, and I finished fifth in the national indoor pentathlon. I even had dreams (or delusions) of qualifying for the Olympic trials, perhaps in 1984. But an interesting thing happened to me when I left junior college and moved on to my next college. I started taking my academics seriously.

I had always been a pretty average student in high school and in junior college. I got mostly “B”s with an occasional “A”, and an occasional “C”. Not grades to be ashamed of, but not grades to write home about either. I was certainly doing better than some on the track team. I remember one teammate who had become academically ineligible. Academically ineligible. That was really hard to do at my junior college. To stay eligible for sports you had to maintain a 1.5 grade average with a minimum of 8 credit hours. Two of those credit hours were going to be automatic “A”s by virtue of being on the track team. How did he accomplish this feat? I figure the only way he could have done this was by just not showing up for any class ever. That would do it.

When I moved on to the university, I was on scholarship. I had not been on a scholarship at the junior college because the college did not offer athletic scholarships. I was proud of myself for getting a scholarship at the university. I don’t know, maybe that instilled a work ethic in me. Maybe I didn’t want that money I was being given to go to waste. I had known athletes who got scholarships who were the complete opposite. I guess since they were getting an education for free, they didn’t value it. They wasted their time at college.

Whatever the reason, I worked hard at my classes. My grades went up. I was 4-point student my last three semesters of college. But . . . my athletic performance waned. Part of that was due to injury. But part was due to a shift in focus. A choice was made. I did not choose to do poorly in track, but I did choose to take my academics more seriously. Maybe some people can be good at everything, but for most of us, we need to focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is a great way to become mediocre at everything.

Do I regret my choice? No. Sometimes I get a little wistful about what could have been, maybe if I had gone to a different school or met different people. But I don’t regret focusing on my school work, getting a degree that actually meant something. It made me who I am, and I like the way I turned out.

Star Liner

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