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Student-Athletes and Grade ResponsibilitiesA look into student-athlete trends and what it takes to maintain their grades. “My how things have changed. The shorts have gotten longer, the new advances in the equipment for high school athletes, and there were no Wednesday grade checks,” said early 90’s CHS alumnus and current athletic director Nathan Slater. Nowadays, if students wish to remain a part of the team they must fill out a mandatory weekly grade check given to them by the coach. This grade check prompts us to consider the role of the “student-athlete” at Coronado. The term “student athlete” is used from grade school to college. Passing classes while playing sports is no easy feat, but willing participants must put in extra man hours to keep that “A”. Yet there are some cases that the work for one class might fall through the cracks and before you know it you are in trouble and scrambling to fix that grade. Even if you miss a whole week it is possible to make up everything and get back out there and win for the Dons. For example, Zach Kaim, a sophomore golfer, came down with a flu that laid him up for an entire week. Even with all the work, tests, and lectures from his teachers, he came back and hacked out all missing assignments in order to play. He raised his grades up enough to help the golf team out for the next few matches. Yet even with all his hard work throughout the season, his being sick finally caught up to him before the regional matches. Kaim had come to find out that he would not be able to play in the regional’s with his teammates due to his grades. Being absent for one day is hard enough to make up but with Kaim, being gone for almost two full weeks, it was just too much. For an athlete whose sport hasn’t started yet they need to take care of their grades before they can even step out of that locker room suited up for the game. Nicholay Zelenski, a sophomore on the varsity basketball team, was struggling a little bit with his science grade. With a 37% as an overall grade you would think he would have to ride the bench for the beginning of the season but Zelenski wasn’t going to have that. “All weekend I tried to finish up all the homework I was missing,” he commented. “[My teachers] gave me full credit for everything.” With full credit for all the work he did his overall grade was already showing a significant improvement. Now that he has his grades up to snuff with the make up work that he was doing, it also prepared him for the upcoming test. “I aced the test which helped me to get to the ‘B’ that I have now.” Randall Heinrichs, junior on the varsity football team, is another student that does the extra little things on and off the field. A few games into the season Heinrichs broke his arm in two places during a practice, but was still out there everyday with the team helping them anyway he could. With that type of dedication to his team, he made sure that he kept his grades up so he could be with his team every step of the way. Heinrichs is is still injured today but he still wears a brace and he still has to deal with the fact that he is without a left hand. Now that Heinrichs is done with football, he hopes his arm will heal for the upcoming baseball season. There is also the athlete that takes care of business on and off the field, in and out the pool. Just receiving a Gold Cord during the Minds in Motion ceremony, Adam Dickerson (12) does his work for school on a regular basis. As a varsity swimmer this year, Dickerson qualified for state, and in his classes he is turning in work that get him awards. “I wanted four classes with three of them as P.E.,” he laughed, but instead he is taking four honors classes, playing plays three sports and he is also a part of five different clubs here at Coronado, all very different but he seems to always find time to be part of all the meetings and all the extra activities they offer. After a swim practice he puts his cleats on and runs to the baseball field for another practice. Even with two practices he has a job at Hollister and he still finds enough time to do his “two hours of homework” a night. “I eat before I go to bed to retain my carbs and protein,” but that might not be till twelve, maybe even one in the morning. Coaches are always pushing their players to get their work done before they can play. With weekly grade checks, the coaches are always on top of the players grades. The wrestling coach, Mr. Beracy, even has an after practice study hall for his wrestlers. This is a place where they make sure to get done with all their homework or even finish up a project that is due. Coach Bill Guthrie runs a similar study hall before the late practices on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This study hall is for the players that may need a little help with a math problem or English assignment. With these study halls and dedicated students, the athletes are able to stay eligible for their fellow teammates. As you progress your game and get on a varsity team, you find the drive to do the work needed to keep a passing grade so you can help your teammates get that win over a rival school. On the varsity football team this year there was only “one athlete due to grades was ineligible to play,” commented Coach Slater. So even though the games have changed and there are new toys for the coaches to give their players to get better there are also new ways to make sure that they stay eligible. |
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