On the road again, Or the plane, or the car, or the bus…
Sometimes an occasion arises when students have to miss class. For the student-athlete, the occasion presents itself on a regular basis.
The Aggies’ sports teams play in the WAC, with their opponents spread across six states. Not only do road trips take the Ags to Idaho and New Mexico, but also on 1,700-mile swings to Louisiana and 3,000-mile journeys to Hawaii.
“Our trips [before] have always been to California with the Big West,” said Ingrid Roth, senior volleyball player. “Now we travel much farther distances with the WAC, so the airport is our best friend.”
Roth said the volleyball team misses an average of two days of classes every week. Sometimes, when the athletes are hosting an opponent, no classes are missed.
Every once in a while, it’s much more extreme.
“My first year at USU, we missed 20 of the first 35 days of school due to travel,” Roth said.
Athletes must maintain a 2.0 grade point average to remain eligible to play, though most coaches encourage a 3.0. With how much class the athletes miss traveling, it can be hard.
Junior soccer player Charity Weston said, “It is hard to keep up with the reading, because when you’re on the road, you don’t really feel like doing it.”
“We actually have to spend most of our free time studying,” Roth said.
Since the student-athletes miss class so often, they have their share of make-up work and personal study time.
Chris Fawson, head of the economics department, said, “If students miss class or assignments, I try to work with them to complete the material, but I do that with all students, not just student-athletes.
“I have great admiration for student athletes who are dedicated to their academic studies and find the time and energy to keep up with a demanding academic and athletic schedule,” he said.
Weston said athletes can also receive help from tutors in any subject, just like any other student.
Volleyball player and sophomore Beth Hodge said, “Teachers don’t really treat us differently. Yes, they let us take our tests that we miss later, but they are required to do that.”
USU’s cross country team had only one home meet this season. After opening their campaign in Logan, they traveled to meets in Montana and Indiana in addition to their meets in Boise and Provo.
“It’s tough, but everybody has extra-cirricular activities that take them away from the classroom,” senior runner Clark Bryner said. “We’re lucky because our professors have to work with us.”
Some classes provide lecture notes or recordings on the Internet for students, so the traveling athletes can access this when on the road if they have access to the Internet.
Long road trips aren’t all boredom and studying, though.
“We sing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ at least once a trip and we bust out to Ludacris, Missy Elliot and Usher whenever we can,” Roth said.
The trips also don’t always go as planned.
“We accidentally left a girl at the L.A. airport on our way to Hawaii,” Hodge said.
-benwalker@cc.usu.edu