Pioneer student-athletes coached outside of athletics
Platteville, Wis.- The University of Wisconsin-Platteville athletic department has earned the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s All-Academic award for the past two decades, making it the longest active streak in the conference. To earn the award, student-athletes must obtain a higher grade point average than the general student body. Pioneer student-athletes have excelled in the classroom, but they could not have done it without the resources the university offers.
Platteville, Wis.- The University of Wisconsin-Platteville athletic department has earned the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's All-Academic award for the past two decades, making it the longest active streak in the conference. To earn the award, student-athletes must obtain a higher grade point average than the general student body. Pioneer student-athletes have excelled in the classroom, but they could not have done it without the resources the university offers.
UW-Platteville offers a wide range of academic resources, not only to student-athletes but to the full student population. Academic coaching and advising has long been a part of the student experience at UW-Platteville, but with collaboration between the retention staff and Athletic Director Dr. Kristina Navarro, they developed athletic academic coaching.
Academic Support Programs, led by Dr. Karen McLeer, has routinely offered faculty and staff the opportunity to become certified academic coaches over the past years. Student Success and Retention Specialist Haley Rusk, who is part of the Retention Team staff, was placed in charge of extending the existing academic coaching services to the athletic department as a pilot program in previous years.
Rusk, Heidi Hawk and Chad Harris are the main academic coaches for the athletic department, while Director of Academic Advising Kia Hendrickson is involved with men's soccer. Harris, the head baseball coach, is the liaison between the athletic department and academic support.
"We brought academic coaching to campus about five or six years ago," Hendrickson said. "We have several faculty and staff across campus who are certified academic coaches. The work that Haley and the retention team have done is taking what was already developed and just moving it into the athletic arena."
College students quickly learn that a key to success is time management, and for an athlete, this is even more important. It is something Rusk touches on from day one with her student-athletes.
"In my first meeting with a student-athlete, the first thing we talk about is time management and organization," Rusk said. "Those are the first two I tackle just because it is a good starting point. From there we can move on to other things, but time management and organization are two things I push from the beginning."
Hendrickson agreed and added, "I also talk to my student-athletes, and students in general, about balance. If you can balance your schoolwork with your personal life and your athletics, life is going to be less stressful."
While student-athletes are not required to meet with an academic coach, it is another resource made available by the university. Rusk works with men's basketball, baseball, men's and women's track and field, and men's and women's cross country. Head Men's Basketball Coach Jeff Gard requires all his student-athletes to meet with Haley, while other coaches recommend student-athletes to meet with.
While coaches are tasked with helping players grow and improve as athletes, the academic coaches are there to support their growth and improvement in the classroom. College can be overwhelming for incoming freshmen, as Logan Pearson, a member of the men's basketball team, learned. Pearson leaned on Rusk to help him with the transition.
"Haley really helped me with my time management and staying on top of classes and working around basketball and practice," he said. "If she saw me struggling, she got me set up with a tutor so we could stay on top of our grades."
Starting something new and having success is tough enough, but when the unique circumstances of the past year were factored in, the academic staff became more than advisors.
"Spring last year was tough, working with baseball when they had played six games and their season was cancelled," Rusk said. "I had student-athletes who were upset and frustrated. It was hard to keep some of them on board with classes. I felt more like a motivator to them to keep them engaged and talked to them about enjoying the other parts of being a student that they may miss out on during the season."
As athletic coaches want to create good habits in competition, Hendrickson wants to create good habits in the classroom as well.
"I worked on creating good habits with my student-athletes," Hendrickson said. "For example, men's soccer would practice in the morning and one of my students felt more productive in the morning. After men's soccer switched to the afternoon practice this spring, I talked with the student about still getting up early and being productive in academics, to create that good habit of being productive. We want to create that habit so when the fall season starts and the extra commitment for athletics is there, they will have good habits to be successful."
Student-athletes are competitive by nature. Rusk saw that early on with her student-athletes and tried to channel their athletic competitiveness into academic competitiveness.
"I know they are competitive on the field," Rusk said. "When I watch them, I can see when they are excited on the court from doing something positive, and I was like 'why can't we take that competitiveness and bring it to the classroom?' We needed to find a way to get them into that mindset of competing in the classroom as much as the field."
"It's when the light bulb goes on," Hendrickson added. "When they make the connection that the stuff they do on the field is stuff that they can do in their personal and academic life too. I point out to them that if they have a bad attitude going into a game or practice, they may not perform the greatest, so why take a bad attitude into the classroom?"
Academics can cause any student stress, but for a student-athlete, the stress level can increase.
"How do we limit that stress or anxiety that everyone has before an exam, quiz or turning in a paper?" Hendrickson said. "There are so many things that academic coaching can do that is so similar to the stuff they are hearing in every single practice. It is just a really great opportunity for any student, not just the student-athletes."
As the semester finishes with finals week – a moment the academic coaches have worked tirelessly to prepare student-athletes for – Rusk said she is excited to hear from her students, even late at night.
"I love when I get a text or email from one of my students telling me they got an A or B," Rusk said. "I got a text from a track runner at midnight on a Friday letting me know his score on a quiz he got back. I was excited for him, but for my work life balance I was not going to respond at that moment. I am very happy for them when they get excited about that. I can see that and see that their passion on the court or field translated into the classroom. When that happens, it means we did it. Now I am just a cheerleader, because they know what they are doing in the classroom. At that moment, it is kind of sad. It means that our meetings will slow down or stop, which I miss. In the end though, that is the goal for us, to see them light it up in the classroom."