2008 Woodie Awards
Athletes find balancing school, sports difficult
Nick Filipowski
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Sports
With final exams right around the corner, striking the right balance between schoolwork and athletics can become a hassle.
Nebraska boasts 255 Academic All-Americans all-time, and the next closest school in the nation is Notre Dame, with 196. In the Big 12 Conference, the next in line to surpass Nebraska is Texas, but it's well off the pace with 101.
Still, with only 86,400 seconds in a day, finding time for both academics and athletics can be a rough road.
For senior multi-event track and field athlete Kim Shubert - who was named to the All-American list last year - finding enough time to prepare for finals and upcoming events can mean making some tough decisions.
The track team heads to Kansas this weekend for the Ward Haylett Invite, and Shubert said the team has optional practices during finals week. But with only two weeks before the Big 12 Conference Championships begin, she and many other players don't want to take any time off from practicing.
In the four years she's spent between the classroom, weight room and the track, Shubert has balancing her academics and sports career down to a science.
A biology major, Shubert tries to maintain her daily schedule by waking up and lifting, going to class and studying, practicing and studying a little bit more. But even she knows all work and no play can be tiring.
"Usually at night is when you have a bigger amount of study time," she said. "But you can't study every night, too."
All her hard work has paid off, and not only does she boast a stellar track resume, but a perfect academic one as well.
"Actually, I have a 3.999," a laughing Shubert said, pausing between the second and third nine. "I got an A-minus in a lab once."
Shubert said the strain of academics creeps up more during the outdoor track season.
"It's kind of tough for the outdoor season because we start traveling," Shubert said. "Sometimes we leave on a Wednesday or Thursday and schoolwork can add up because it's toward the end of the year and crunch time."
One thing that has helped Shubert throughout her time as a student-athlete: she fully understands the payoff in the long run.
"In the classroom, if you're trying to memorize facts, it doesn't work," she said. "If you know why you're studying, it helps you understand the big picture. If you have a bigger goal in mind, it helps you make the small steps to get there."
Across campus and onto the baseball diamond, senior pitcher Thad Weber echoes the same sentiments.
A senior biological sciences major, Weber boasts a 3.11 GPA to go along with his 3.75 earned run average. In 10 starts, he is 8-2 with 58 strikeouts and 19 walks.
And, much like pacing himself on the mound, Weber knows reconciling academics and athletics is much like a balancing act - you have to find a happy medium.
"It's all about budgeting your time," he said. "There is only a certain amount of hours in a day but, you know, try to give a correct amount of time to your studies."
Weber said he's never had a scouting report or other baseball information regarding a game or practice pop into his head while in the classroom because he's focused at the task at hand.
The Nebraska baseball team is coming off a stretch of five games in five days, not including a doubleheader Saturday before finals week begins.
"It's a battle to give equal amounts of time to both, but you do the best you can," Weber said. "That's what being a student-athlete is all about. Obviously you're coming to the University of Nebraska to get a degree, and that's what you're here for first."
nickfilipowski@dailynebraskan.com
Nebraska boasts 255 Academic All-Americans all-time, and the next closest school in the nation is Notre Dame, with 196. In the Big 12 Conference, the next in line to surpass Nebraska is Texas, but it's well off the pace with 101.
Still, with only 86,400 seconds in a day, finding time for both academics and athletics can be a rough road.
For senior multi-event track and field athlete Kim Shubert - who was named to the All-American list last year - finding enough time to prepare for finals and upcoming events can mean making some tough decisions.
The track team heads to Kansas this weekend for the Ward Haylett Invite, and Shubert said the team has optional practices during finals week. But with only two weeks before the Big 12 Conference Championships begin, she and many other players don't want to take any time off from practicing.
In the four years she's spent between the classroom, weight room and the track, Shubert has balancing her academics and sports career down to a science.
A biology major, Shubert tries to maintain her daily schedule by waking up and lifting, going to class and studying, practicing and studying a little bit more. But even she knows all work and no play can be tiring.
"Usually at night is when you have a bigger amount of study time," she said. "But you can't study every night, too."
All her hard work has paid off, and not only does she boast a stellar track resume, but a perfect academic one as well.
"Actually, I have a 3.999," a laughing Shubert said, pausing between the second and third nine. "I got an A-minus in a lab once."
Shubert said the strain of academics creeps up more during the outdoor track season.
"It's kind of tough for the outdoor season because we start traveling," Shubert said. "Sometimes we leave on a Wednesday or Thursday and schoolwork can add up because it's toward the end of the year and crunch time."
One thing that has helped Shubert throughout her time as a student-athlete: she fully understands the payoff in the long run.
"In the classroom, if you're trying to memorize facts, it doesn't work," she said. "If you know why you're studying, it helps you understand the big picture. If you have a bigger goal in mind, it helps you make the small steps to get there."
Across campus and onto the baseball diamond, senior pitcher Thad Weber echoes the same sentiments.
A senior biological sciences major, Weber boasts a 3.11 GPA to go along with his 3.75 earned run average. In 10 starts, he is 8-2 with 58 strikeouts and 19 walks.
And, much like pacing himself on the mound, Weber knows reconciling academics and athletics is much like a balancing act - you have to find a happy medium.
"It's all about budgeting your time," he said. "There is only a certain amount of hours in a day but, you know, try to give a correct amount of time to your studies."
Weber said he's never had a scouting report or other baseball information regarding a game or practice pop into his head while in the classroom because he's focused at the task at hand.
The Nebraska baseball team is coming off a stretch of five games in five days, not including a doubleheader Saturday before finals week begins.
"It's a battle to give equal amounts of time to both, but you do the best you can," Weber said. "That's what being a student-athlete is all about. Obviously you're coming to the University of Nebraska to get a degree, and that's what you're here for first."
nickfilipowski@dailynebraskan.com
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